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Poznań

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The correct title of this article is Poznań. It appears incorrectly here due to technical restrictions.

Poznań (German name: Posen, see also other names) is a city in west-central Poland with over 578,000 inhabitants (1999). Located by the Warta River, it is one of the oldest Polish cities, an important historical centre and the capital of Greater Poland, the cradle of the Polish state, and Poland's capital in the mid-tenth century during the early Piast dynasty. Poznań's impressive cathedral is the earliest church in the country, containing the tombs of the first Polish rulers: duke Mieszko I and king Boleslaus the Brave.

Today the city is a vibrant centre for trade, industry, and education. Poznań is Poland's 5th largest city and 4th biggest industrial centre. It is also the administrative capital of the Greater Poland Voivodship.

Poznań
Coat of Arms of Poznań Flag of Poznań
Coat of Arms of Poznań (Flag of Poznań)
Motto: none
Poznań on a map
Voivodship Greater Poland Voivodship
Municipal government Rada miasta Poznań
Mayor Ryszard Grobelny
Area 261,3 km2
Latitude
Longitude 		52°17'34'' N - 52°30'27'' N
16°44'08'' E - 17°04'28'' E
Population
 - total (2002)
 - density
578 900
2215/km²
Area code (+48) 61
Car registration marks PO 0001 do PO 99999
Official site (in Polish)

Geography

Location


city area 261,3 km² (2002)
geographical location: 52°17'34N - 52°30'27N, 16°44'08E - 17°04'28E
highest point: Mt. Morasko 154 m asl
lowest point: Warta river valley: 60 m asl

Name of the city

Without the special characters, the name is sometimes also spelled Poznan in English, it is also referred to, in Polish language, as Stołeczne Miasto Poznań, German Haupt- und Residenzstadt Posen (name used between 20 August 1910 and 28 November 1918) , Latin: Posnania, civitas Posnaniensis.

Earliest surviving reference to the city were by Thietmar in his chronicles: episcopus Poznaniensis ("Bishop of Poznań", 970) and ab urbe Poznani ("by" or "from the city Poznań", 1005).

Early spellings include: Posna and Posnan.

The name probably comes from a personal name Poznan and means the Poznan's town. It is also possible the name comes directly from the verb poznać which means "to know, to recognize".

Administrative division

Poznań metropolitan area, consisting of the autonomous towns of Poznań, Ostrów, Ostrówek, Środka, Chwaliszewo, Łacina, was integrated into one city in 1793–1800. Rapidly growing city was extended by the joining of the neighbouring villages of Grunwald, Łazarz, Górczyn, Jeżyce, Wilda, Winogrady, Piątkowo and Rataje. Today, Poznań is divided into 5 districts, which are further divided onto several dozens of neighbourhoods. The districts are:

File:Districts of Poznan.png
Local government districts of Poznan
Goats on the town hall

Culture

The annual Malta Theatre festival is probably the most characteristic cultural event of the city. Henryk Wieniawski Violin Festival is held every 5 years. Annual classical music festival is held in the city, on which the Basel Boys Choir took part several times. to be continued...

Famous people

(in alphabetical order)

Education

Main article: Education in Poznań

Poznań is home to few state-owned universities and a number of smaller, mostly private-run colleges and institutions of higher education. Adam Mickiewicz University (abbreviated UAM) is one of the most influential and biggest universities in Poland.

Economy

Poznań has been an important trade centre since the Middle Ages. In 19th century however local heavy industry became to grow. Several major factories were founded, including the steel mill and railway factory of Hipolit Cegielski.

Nowadays Poznań is one of the major centres of trade with Germany. Many Western-European companies started their Polish branches there or in the nearby localities of Tarnowo Podgórne and Swarzędz.

For a list of major Poznań-based corporations see Major corporations in Poznań

Sports

Lech Poznań, Polish football club
Lech Poznań, Polish football club

Politics

Municipal politics

Since 1989 (the end of the communist era), Poznań municipality and metro area have invested heavily in infrastructure, especially transportation and improved public administration. This has effected in a massive investment from foreign companies in Poznań itself, as well as in communities west and south of Poznań (namely, Kornik and Tarnowo Podgorne).

Most foreign investors are German and Dutch companies (see "Major corporations" above), with a few others. Investors are mostly from the food processing, furniture, automotive and transport & logistics industries. Foreign companies are primarily attracted by low labour costs, but also by the relatively good road and railway networks in the vicinity, good vocational skills of workers (heritage of the communist era) and relatively liberal employment laws. As compared with Germany, there are far fewer restrictions, e.g. on shop opening hours.

Worth noticing is also the positive attitude of public administration towards investments, and less annoying "red tape" than elsewhere in Poland.

Investment into transportation was mostly in the public transport area. While number of cars grew at least twice since 1989, the policy of improving public transport gave good effects. Limiting car access to the city centre, building new tram lines (inc. Poznanski Szybki Tramwaj) and investing in new rolling stock (such as modern Combino trams by Siemens and Solaris low-floor buses) actually increased ridership. This is a notable success, even considering that Polish society possesses about half of "old EU" purchasing power and thus not everybody can own a car.

Future investments into transportation include the construction of a "third ring road" around the city, and the completion of A2 (E30) highway towards Berlin. In the public transport area (and non-car transportation), further investment must be made into the development bicycle paths (and the linking of presently existing ones), and an attempt is presently made of developing Karlsruhe-style light rail system for commuters. All that is made more complicated (and more expensive) by the heavy neglect of transportation throughout communist era.

Poznań constituency

Members of Sejm elected from Poznań constituency

Members of European Parliament elected from Poznań constituency

History

File:Poznan ratusz.jpg
Poznań town hall

Main article: History of Poznań, see also: History of Poland

Historical summary:

Poznań it is one of the oldest Polish cities, an important historical center and the capital of Greater Poland, the cradle of the Polish state, and Poland's capital in the mid-tenth century during the early Piast dynasty. Poznań's impressive cathedral is the earliest church in the country, containing the tombs of the first Polish rulers: duke Mieszko I and king Boleslaus the Brave. Poznań was the capital city of Greater Poland region and one of the biggest Polish cities. Lubrański Academy, second Polish university (in fact this wasn't "full" university, because students to get science tittle had to go to Cracow) was established in 1519.

Poznan was the capital of the Greater Poland area when it came under control of Prussia in 1793, its administrative area renamed to South Prussia. The area was liberated from without by the armies of Napoleon and from within by local Polish resistance fighters, and was part of the Duchy of Warsaw from 1807 to 1815. Poznan was capital of the Poznan department. Following the defeat of Napoleon, the Greater Poland area returned to Prussia, ostensibly as an autonomous Grand Duchy of Poznan, but was reclassified as a Prussian province in 1830. This situation remained until the end of World War I, though Prussia and its provinces became part of the German Empire in the unification of 1871. Poznan was the capital of the area during all periods of Prussian control, with the official name "Posen". This was a period of great building projects, including a new theater and the Kaiser's Residence in a park setting at the western edge of the old town.

Between the two World Wars, the area was part of the restored Poland (see: Great Poland Uprising). During World War Two, the area became part of Nazi Germany as the Reichsgau Wartheland, capital in Poznan. After the war, the area once again was part of the restored Poland, and the city has been capital of the surrounding area through administrative district boundary changes in 1957, 1975 and 1999, currently administrating Województwa wielkopolskie, one of 16 provinces in the nation.

Historical population

In Kingdom of Poland

1600 about 20,000 inhabitants
about 1650 after Polish-Swedish war of 1655-57: settlement of 200-300 Scots
1655-1657 about 14,000 inhabitants
1700-1709 about 12,000 inhabitants. Northern War, city captured and looted by the Swedes, the great plague kills 9000, some 75% of population
1732 4000 inhabitants (notes of Jan Rzepecki - town scribe)
1733 6000 inhabitants
1768-1772 fighting between the Bar Confederates and Prussian troops, but reforms of Komisji Dobrego Porządku gives growth up to 15,000 inhabitants before 1793 (inc. about 20% Germans, 30% Jews)

in South Prussia

1793 12,000 - 13,000 inhabitants

in Grand Duchy of Poznan

1816 18,000 (inc. 67% Poles, 22% Jews and 11% Germans with 24,000 soldiers at the garrison)
1824 22,000 inhabitants
1831 31,000 inhabitants

in Province of Posen

1848 42,000 inhabitants (43% Poles; 40% of Germans; 17% of Jews) (and 3000 soliders at the garrison)
1850 43,000 inhabitants
1860 43,000 inhabitants and 6000 soliders at the garrison
1861 51,000 inhabitants
1867 47,000 civil inhabitants (47% Germans; 38% Poles and 15% Jews
1870 54,400 inhabitants
1871 65,000 inhabitants (inc. garrison)
1885 4800 soldiers at the garrison
1890 69,627 inhabitants (data of census) (inc. 51% Poles)
1895 73,200 inhabitants
1900 110,000 inhabitants and 7000 soldiers at the garrison
1905 136,800 inhabitants
1910 156,696 civil inhabitants (data of census) (inc. 57% Poles) and 6200 soldiers at the garrison
1913 10,000 soldiers at the garrison
1917 156,357 inhabitants (from government data)
1918 156,091 inhabitants (from government data)
in Second Polish Republic
*Data taken from number of deaths, births and migration numbers
1919 158,185 inhabitants*
1920 162,902 inhabitants*
September 3, 1921 169,422 inhabitants (census data; inc. 92,089 women)
1922 178,229 inhabitants*
1923 185,521 inhabitants*
1924 193,228 inhabitants*
1925 220,023 inhabitants*
1926 226,828 inhabitants*
1927 237,048 inhabitants*
1928 248,426 inhabitants*
1929 261,597 inhabitants*
1930 266,742 inhabitants*
December 9, 1931 246,698 inhabitants (census data) inc. 236,200 Poles, 100 Russians, 200 Ukrainians, 6400 Germans, 1100 Jews and 100 others; inc 131,929 woman
1932 248,763 inhabitants*
1933 252,667 inhabitants*
1934 255,557 inhabitants*
1935 260,444 inhabitants*
1936 265,271 inhabitants*
1937 268,794 inhabitants*
1938 272,653 inhabitants*
June 1, 1939 274,155 inhabitants (probably up to 10,000 inhabitants more)
Reichsgau Wartheland*
*German data used in trial of Arthur Greiser
September 1, 1940 287,862 inhabitants (81% Poles; 18% Germans; 2% others)
January 1, 1941 296,790 inhabitants (80% Poles; 20% Germans; 1% others)
August 1, 1941 308,051 inhabitants (77% Poles; 23% Germans; 1% others)
February 1, 1942 318,208 inhabitants (75% Poles; 25% Germans; 1% others)
January 1, 1943 326,572 inhabitants (74% Poles; 26% Germans; 1% others)
October 1, 1943 327,026 inhabitants (73% Poles; 26% Germans; 1% others)
April 1, 1944 323,747 inhabitants (71% Poles; 28% Germans; 1% others)
1939 - 1945 During WWII, about 8 600 pre-war inhabitants were murdered (inc. about 1,500 Jews); 3,620 were taken to Germany as slave workers (20% of them died); 38,256 inhabitants of Polish nationality was resettled to GG, over 60,000 were deprived of their property and expelled from their homes (ger. Verdrägung, pol. rugi). Approximately 90,000 Germans were settled in the city.

In general: during WWII 14,413 of the pre-war inhabitants died. From this number: 4,025 died as an effect of the combat, 2,255 were executed by German authorities, 6,382 died in concentration camps and prisons; 735 died as slave workers in Germany, 1,070 died of diseases and starvation.

Until now, approx. 2,000 persons are still missing. Additional 1,500 of the inhabitants were permanently injured during the war, while another 800 people returned seriously injured from camps and prisons.

in the Third Polish Republic

1946 268,000 inhabitants
1950 320,700 inhabitants
1960 408,100 inhabitants
1970 471,900 inhabitants
1975 516,000 inhabitants
1980 552,900 inhabitants
1990 590,049 inhabitants; (maximum) from 1990 migrations from the city to the surrounding areas of Poznań County
1995 581,772 inhabitants
2000 572,900 inhabitants
March 31, 2002 571,571 inhabitants inc. 305,567 woman (53%)
May 2002 578,900 inhabitants (data of census) inc. 309,000 woman (54%), population density: 2187 inhabitants/sq.km
Population Forecast 2020
2020
2020 forecast: Poznań City 584,500 (small increase)


2020 forecast: Poznań County 305,500 (significant increase)
2020 forecast: Poznań Metro Area 890,000

Bibliography

  • collective work, Poznań. Dzieje, ludzie kultura, Poznań 1953
  • K. Malinowski (red.), Dziesięć wieków Poznania, t.1, Dzieje społeczno-gospodarcze, Poznań 1956
  • collective work, Poznań, Poznań 1958
  • collective work, Poznań. Zarys historii, Poznań 1963
  • Cz. Łuczak, Życie społeczno-gospodarcze w Poznaniu 1815-1918, Poznań 1965
  • J. Topolski (red.), Poznań. Zarys dziejów, Poznań 1973
  • Zygmunt Boras, Książęta Piastowscy Wielkopolski, Wydawnictwo Poznańskie, Poznań 1983
  • Jerzy Topolskiego (red.), Dzieje Poznania,Wydawnictwo PWN, Warszawa - Poznań 1988
  • Alfred Kaniecki, Dzieje miasta wodą pisane, Wydawnictwo Aquarius, Poznań 1993
  • Witold Maisel (red.), Przywileje miasta Poznania XIII-XVIII wieku. Privilegia civitatis Posnaniensis saeculorum XIII-XVIII. Władze Miasta Poznania, Poznańskie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk, Wydawnictwa Żródłowe Komisji Historycznej, Tom XXIV, Wydawnictwo PTPN, Poznań 1994
  • Wojciech Stankowski, Wielkopolska, Wydawnictwo WSiP, Warszawa 1999


See also:

External links:

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