Pyrzyce [] (, Kashubian: Pirzëce), is a town in Pomerania, north-western Poland, with 13,331 inhabitants (2007)

Capital of the Pyrzyce County in West Pomeranian Voivodeship (since 1999), previously in Szczecin Voivodeship (1975-1998).

History

An anonymous medieval document of about 850, called Bavarian Geographer, mentions the tribe of Prissani having 70 strongholds (Prissani civitates LXX).

The settlement was first mentioned in 1125 by bishop Otto von Bamberg, who baptized the first Pomeranians here. Throughout the German Ostsiedlung the oldest church was built in 1250, an Augustinian cloister in 1256 and a monastery of the Franciscan order in 1281.

In 1263 the town received Magdeburg law. By the Contract of Pyritz of March 26, 1493 the Dukes of Pomerania recognized the right of succession of the House of Brandenburg. After the death of the last Pomeranian Duke and by the Treaty of Westphalia the town became part of Brandenburg-Prussia in 1648 within the rest of Farther Pomerania.

Pyritz was the first town in Pomerania to implement the Lutheran Reformation in 1524^[1].

A large fire destroyed almost the whole town in 1496 and in 1634, during the Thirty Years' War, it was again largely destroyed by a conflagration.

In 1818 the town became the seat of the district administration (Kreis Pyritz) and was connected to the railway system in 1882. As part of Prussia the town was located in unified Germany of 1871.

At the end of World War II Soviet Red Army conquered the town throughout the Pomeranian Offensive. Following the post-war boundary changes, Pyritz was renamed Pyrzyce and became Polish. Its German population was expelled and the town was populated with Poles, many themselves expellees from Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union.

Population

1875: 7.442
1880: 8.123
1890: 8.247 (79 Catholics, 236 Jews)
1925: 9.085
1933: 10.084 (9739 Lutherans, 178 Catholic, 3 other Chistians, 87 Jews)
1939: 11.287 (10.515 Lutherans, 270 Catholics, 8 other Christians, 27 Jews)^[2]
1950: ? inhabitants
1960: 5.500 inhabitants
1970: 8.800 inhabitants
1975: 10.800 inhabitants
1980: 11.600 inhabitants
1990: ? inhabitants
2000: 13.200 inhabitants

Famous people

• Danuta Bartoszek
• Karl Gützlaff (1803-1851), missionary
• Otto Hintze (1861?1940), historian
• Margarete Neumann (1917-2002), author

Twin Towns

• Bad Sülze, Germany
• Korbach, Germany
• Hörby, Sweden
• Vysoké Mýto, Czechia
• Goleniów, Poland
• Z?ocieniec, Poland

External links

• Official city webpage (in Polish)
• Satellite photo from Google Maps

References

da:Pyrzyce de:Pyrzyce eo:Pyrzyce id:Pyrzyce jv:Pyrzyce nl:Pyrzyce nds:Pyritz pl:Pyrzyce pt:Pyrzyce ro:Pyrzyce ru:?????? sk:Pyrzyce uk:??????

---

Source: Wikipedia | The above article is available under the GNU FDL. | Edit this article