Editing Piła (section)

===Nazi rule and Second World War===
With the onset of the Nazi period and the beginning of the [[Gestapo]]'s harassment of political and racial undesirables, the climate for Schneidemühl's shrinking Jewish community (which had reached over 1,000 members during the mid-19th century) changed irreversibly — institutionalized [[antisemitism]] had arrived in Schneidemühl.{{Cn|date=July 2022}}

In March and September 1938, a ''Verwaltungsgliederung,'' or administrative reform, merged the three territorially unconnected parts of the Frontier March of Posen-West Prussia province into the respective neighbouring Prussian provinces of [[Province of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]], [[Province of Silesia|Silesia]] and [[Province of Pomerania (1815–1945)|Pomerania]] — placing the bulk of former Posen-West Prussia with the [[Deutsch Krone (district)|districts of Deutsch Krone]], [[Flatow (district)|Flatow]], ''Netzekreis'', [[Schlochau (district)|Schlochau]] and Schneidemühl into Pomerania. Schneidemühl remained the headquarters of the [[Regierungsbezirk|government region]], reduced by the districts ceded to Brandenburg and Silesia, but enlarged by four previously Brandenburgian and Pomeranian districts and renamed as {{ill|Posen-West_Prussia|de|Regierungsbezirk_Schneidemühl|lt=Frontier March of Posen-West Prussia Region}} (''Regierungsbezirk Grenzmark Posen-Westpreußen'') for reasons of tradition, as of 1 October 1938.
[[File:Pila Albatros.JPG|thumb|A monument commemorating Poles imprisoned in the German Nazi camp ''Albatros'' in 1939]]
During the [[Kristallnacht|pogrom of 9/10 November 1938]] the freestanding structure of Schneidemühl's 100-year-old [[synagogue]] became a prime target for the Nazis who set fire to it. In 1939, in the city and the region, the Germans carried out mass arrests of Polish activists,<ref>{{cite book|last=Wardzyńska|first=Maria|year=2009|title=Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=[[Institute of National Remembrance|IPN]]|page=80}}</ref> who then were imprisoned in a temporary camp in the city before deportation to [[Nazi concentration camps]], some were even tortured.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Cygański|first=Mirosław|year=1984|title=Hitlerowskie prześladowania przywódców i aktywu Związków Polaków w Niemczech w latach 1939-1945|journal=Przegląd Zachodni|language=pl|issue=4|pages=49, 60}}</ref> In October 1939, a German camp for [[Sinti]] and [[Romani people]] was established.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=100000795|title=Lager für Sinti und Roma Schneidemühl|website=Bundesarchiv.de|access-date=25 October 2020|language=de}}</ref> The city's 300-year-old Jewish community was destroyed when on 21 March 1940, on the order of Gauleiter Schwede-Coburg, the last remaining Jews, together with more than 500 Jews of the surrounding area within an {{convert|80|km|0|abbr=on}} radius, were arrested and held prisoner in various locations in the city. A large number of them were subsequently taken to the [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labour]] camp [[Radinkendorf]] and the [[Głowno|Glowno]] prisoner camp outside of Poznań and held there in detention under inhuman conditions. Over the following two years they were taken to various labour camps, hospices, hospitals in Pomerania, [[Bielefeld]] and Berlin. Those who had not committed suicide or had perished during that period were deported to concentration camps, the last in 1943.<ref>Cullman, Peter Simonstein, 'History of the Jewish Community of Schneidemühl: 1641 to the Holocaust,'  Bergenfield, NJ : Avotaynu, 2006;  DS135.P62P4728 2006.</ref> During World War II a camp for civil prisoners-of-war named "Albatros" was established. Poles [[Expulsion of Poles by Nazi Germany|expelled]] from [[Gmina Dziemiany]] in [[Gdańsk Pomerania]] were used as forced labour in the local aviation industry.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wardzyńska|first=Maria|year=2017|title=Wysiedlenia ludności polskiej z okupowanych ziem polskich włączonych do III Rzeszy w latach 1939-1945|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=IPN|page=129|isbn=978-83-8098-174-4}}</ref> Also seven forced labour subcamps of the [[Stalag II-B]] [[German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II|prisoner-of-war camp]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://stalag2b.free.fr/leskommandos.htm|title=Les Kommandos|website=Stalag IIB Hammerstein, Czarne en Pologne|access-date=25 October 2020|language=fr}}</ref> and a forced labour camp, which was subordinate to the local prison, were operated in the city.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=2650|title=Außenkommando des Haftanstalt Schneidemühl in Schneidemühl bei der "Maschinenfabrik HA Schneidemühl"|website=Bundesarchiv.de|access-date=25 October 2020|language=de}}</ref> Several British POWs escaped, and then the [[Polish resistance movement in World War II|Polish resistance]] facilitated their further escape through the port of [[Gdynia]] by sea to [[Sweden]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Chrzanowski|first=Bogdan|title=Organizacja sieci przerzutów drogą morską z Polski do Szwecji w latach okupacji hitlerowskiej (1939–1945)|journal=Stutthof. Zeszyty Muzeum|language=pl|volume=5|page=29|issn=0137-5377}}</ref> The local [[Home Army]] also maintained contact with Polish POWs held in the [[Oflag II-C]] camp.<ref>{{cite book|last=Chrzanowski|first=Bogdan|year=2022|title=Polskie Państwo Podziemne na Pomorzu w latach 1939–1945|language=pl|location=Gdańsk|publisher=IPN|page=57|isbn=978-83-8229-411-8}}</ref>

The city became part of the [[Pomeranian Wall]] line of fortifications. In 1945 the town was declared a [[German World War II strongholds|fortress]] by [[Adolf Hitler]]. During the [[East Pomeranian offensive]] it was captured by the joint [[First Polish Army (1944-1945)|Polish]] and [[Red Army]] forces after two weeks of heavy fighting on 14 February 1945.<ref>Beevor, A (2002) Berlin: The Downfall 1945 Penguin Books P91</ref> 75% of the city was destroyed and almost 90% of the historic city centre was in ruins.