Barczewo (until 1946 Wartembork; ) is a town in Olsztyn County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. As of December 2021, the town has a population of 7,483.

In 1440 the town joined the Prussian Confederation, at the request of which Polish King Casimir IV Jagiellon signed the act of incorporation of the region to the Kingdom of Poland in 1454. In 1466, after the Second Peace of Toruń, the town was confirmed as part of Kingdom of Poland. It was the place of fights of the Polish–Teutonic War of 1519–1521. In April 1520 a battle was fought in the vicinity, in November 1520 the town was successfully defended by the Poles, and in January 1521 the Teutonic Knights came back and launched artillery fire on the town, but eventually withdrew. Gerard Labuda and August von Haxthausen give the number of 1500 Poles and 590 Germans living in the town in 1825. According to this was part of Prussian repressions against Poles as the monastery was seen as particularly problematic by Prussian authorities for being a center of Polish resistance.

A Jewish Synagogue was built in 1847, and a Jewish cemetery from the 19th century exists as well. In 1885 a mass rally was organised by Poles, demanding among others that Polish children should be allowed to use their language in education In 1886 a bookstore with Polish books and publications was opened in the town and came into conflict with German authorities who wanted it to remove Polish language signs.

thumb|Town center in the 1930s

In the plebiscite of 1920 3,020 inhabitants voted to remain in Weimar German East Prussia, 140 votes supported reborn Poland. In the interwar era the town was the residence of the fictional Kuba spod Wartemborka, a pseudonym of a figure in Polish press in Warmia created by which ridiculed Germanisation efforts against Poles in the region. Polish organisations continued to thrive in the town, up until Second World War; as Nazi Party was elected to power in Germany, repressions intensified, eventually many Polish activists were either imprisoned or, like Pieniężny, murdered in Nazi concentration camps and prisons. During that war, the remaining Jewish community was murdered in the Holocaust. During the war, the German administration operated a Nazi prison in the town, with several forced labour subcamps in the region, including one in the town itself. Many inhabitants fled the town since 21 January 1945, and the last German units withdrew during the night of 30–31 January.

Historical population

  • 1825: 2,090 including by mother tongue 1,500 Poles (72%) and 590 Germans (28%).
  • 1837: 2,550 including by mother tongue 1,794 Poles (70%) and 756 Germans (30%).

Sites of interest

There is a preserved historic Old Town in Barczewo, with several distinctive monuments, including the Brick Gothic St. Anne church, and the Gothic-Renaissance-Baroque Saint Andrew church, which contains a Mannerist cenotaph of Andrew Báthory and Balthasar Báthory, cousins of Polish King Stephen Báthory. The Feliks Nowowiejski Museum, dedicated to Polish composer and organist Feliks Nowowiejski is located at his birthplace and family home in the Old Town. There are also remains of the old Barczewo Castle.

Transport

The Polish National road 16 and Voivodeship road 595 pass through the town. There is also a train station.

Sports

The local football club is Pisa Barczewo. It competes in the lower leagues.

thumb|Barczewo Town Hall

Twin towns and sister cities

Barczewo is twinned with:

  • Hagen am Teutoburger Wald, Germany

Notable people

  • Feliks Nowowiejski (1877–1946), Polish composer
  • Robert Pruszkowski (1907–1983), German Roman Catholic priest
  • Tomasz Zahorski (born 1984), Polish footballer

References

  • Official site
  • Local information
  • Jewish community of Barczewo on Virtual Shtetl