Editing Barczewo (section)

==History==
[[File:Barczewo - kościół św. Anny i św. Szczepana - ZJ001.jpg|thumb|left|[[Brick Gothic]] St. Anne church in the Old Town]]
[[File:Saint Anne church in Barczewo (inner view).jpg|thumb|left|Church of St. Anna (Inner view)]]
The town was first located in 1325 but was soon after destroyed by [[Lithuanians]]. The rebuild town was granted city rights in 1364. It was known at the time as ''Wartberg''.<ref name=Bar>[http://ramsko.webd.pl/umb2011/index.php/historia/3-historia Barczewo.pl] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426085516/http://ramsko.webd.pl/umb2011/index.php/historia/3-historia |date=April 26, 2012 }} {{in lang|pl}}</ref>

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 [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Kingdom of Poland]] in 1454.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Górski|first=Karol|title=Związek Pruski i poddanie się Prus Polsce: zbiór tekstów źródłowych|year=1949|publisher=Instytut Zachodni|location=[[Poznań]]|language=pl|pages=XXXVII, 54}}</ref> In 1466, after the [[Second Peace of Toruń]], the town was confirmed as part of [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Kingdom of Poland]].<ref>Górski, p. 99</ref> It was the place of fights of the [[Polish–Teutonic War (1519–1521)|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.<ref name=Bar/> During the [[Deluge (history)|Deluge]], [[Margraviate of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]] forced occupied the town in 1656.<ref name=Bar/> During the [[Great Northern War]], Polish and [[Swedish Empire|Swedish]] troops marched through the town.<ref name=Bar/> In 1772, after the [[First Partition of Poland]] it was annexed by the [[Kingdom of Prussia]]. In 1807, the town was occupied by [[First French Empire|France]].<ref name=Bar/>

According to German statistics Poles constituted 72% of population in 1825<ref name=":0"/> and 62% in 1861;<ref>Zabytkowe ośrodki miejskie Warmii i MazurLucjan Czubiel, Tadeusz Domagała, page 81, 1969</ref> [[Gerard Labuda]] and [[August von Haxthausen]] give the number of 1500 Poles and 590 Germans living in the town in 1825.<ref>Historia Pomorza: (1815-1850)gospodarka, społeczeństwo, ustrójGerard Labuda Poznańskie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk, page 163, 1993</ref><ref name=":0"/> The local monastery was [[German Mediatisation|secularised]] in 1810, in 1819/1820 Prussian authorities decided to close down the monastery that has been described as "the stronghold of Polishness." After the death of Father Tyburcjusz Bojarzynowski, last leader of the monastery, in 1834 it has been converted into a state prison.<ref name=Burgen>{{cite book|title=Burgen im Deutschordensstaat Preussen|first1=Malgorzata|last1=Jackiewicz-Garniec|first2=Miroslaw|last2=Garniec|year=2009|page=76|language=de}}</ref><ref>[http://ramsko.webd.pl/umb2011/index.php/historia/3-historia Na przełomie lat 1819-1920 postanowiono rozwiązać klasztor, który był twierdzą polskości. W 1821 r., dokonano sekularyzacji, zmuszając zakonników do opuszczenia klasztoru. Wraz ze śmiercią ostatniego gwardiana, o. Tyburcjusza Bojarzynowskiego (1830), ostatni zakonnicy opuścili klasztor, który tego samego roku całkowicie opustoszał] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426085516/http://ramsko.webd.pl/umb2011/index.php/historia/3-historia |date=April 26, 2012 }}</ref> According to {{ill|Wojciech Zenderowski|pl}} this was part of Prussian repressions against Poles as the monastery was seen as particularly problematic by Prussian authorities for being a center of [[Resistance movements in partitioned Poland (1795–1918)|Polish resistance]].<ref>Wojciech Zenderowski, „Wiadomości Barczewskie”, 1999, 86, s. 11</ref>

A Jewish Synagogue was built in 1847, and a Jewish cemetery from the 19th century exists as well.<ref name=sztetl/> During the [[January Uprising]] in 1860s in the [[Russian Partition]] of Poland, the town was the local centre of supplying medicine, food and even firearms to Polish rebels, with the Polish society in the town becoming active in war effort and led by {{ill|August Sokołowski|pl|August Sokołowski (powstaniec)}}.<ref>Dzieje Warmii i Mazur w zarysie, Tomy 1-2, Jerzy Sikorski, Stanisław Szostakowski, Ośrodek Badań Naukowych im. Wojciecha Kętrzyńskiego w Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, page 300, 1981.</ref> In 1885 a mass rally was organised by Poles, demanding among others that Polish children should be allowed to use their language in education<ref>Przebudzenie narodowe Warmii, 1886-1893 Andrzej Wakar, Wydawnictwo Pojezierze, page 23, 19821</ref> 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.<ref>Słownik pracowników książki polskiej, Tom 1, Irena Treichel Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, page 97, 1972</ref>
[[File:Town hall in Barczewo 2022 (1).jpg|thumb|200px|Barczewo Town Hall in 2022]]
In the [[East Prussian plebiscite|plebiscite]] of 1920 3,020 inhabitants voted to remain in [[Weimar Germany|Weimar German]] [[East Prussia]], 140 votes supported reborn Poland.<ref name=Bar/><ref>{{cite book|title= Charakterystyka zasobów i analiza stanu dziedzictwa kulturowego i krajobrazu kulturowego Gminy Barczewo |publisher= Dziennik Urzedowy Województwa Warminsko-Mazurskiego |page=31| language=pl}}</ref> 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 {{ill|Seweryn Pieniężny (1890-1940)|pl|Seweryn Pieniężny (syn)}} which ridiculed [[Germanisation]] efforts against Poles in the region.<ref>Słownik biograficzny katolicyzmu społecznego w Polsce: Tom 2 Ryszard Bender, Ośrodek Dokumentacji i Studiów Społecznych, page 187 1994</ref><ref>Teoretyczne, badawcze i dydaktyczne założenia dialektologii Sławomir Gala, Łódzkie Towarzystwo Naukowe, page 332 - 1998</ref> Polish organisations continued to thrive in the town, up until [[World War II|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]].<ref name=Bar/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ipsb.nina.gov.pl/a/biografia/seweryn-pieniezny-junior|title=Seweryn Pieniężny|website=www.ipsb.nina.gov.pl|language=pl|access-date=2019-03-01|archive-date=2019-03-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190302031507/https://www.ipsb.nina.gov.pl/a/biografia/seweryn-pieniezny-junior|url-status=dead}}</ref> During that war, the remaining Jewish community was murdered in the [[Holocaust]].<ref name="sztetl">{{cite web|url=http://www.sztetl.org.pl/en/city/barczewo/ |title=sztetl.org |publisher=sztetl.org |access-date=2013-10-10}}</ref> During the war, the Germans operated a Nazi prison in the town, with several [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labour]] subcamps in the region,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=100000988|title=Zuchthaus Wartenburg|website=Bundesarchiv.de|access-date=24 October 2021|language=de}}</ref> including one in the town itself.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=100000255|title=Außenkommando "Ostwallbau" des Zuchthauses Wartenburg (Ostpr.)|website=Bundesarchiv.de|access-date=24 October 2021|language=de}}</ref> Many inhabitants fled the town since 21 January 1945, and the last German units withdrew during the night of 30–31 January.<ref name=Bar/> The town was occupied by Soviet troops without a fight on 31 January 1945. The Russians then plundered the town and carried out mass deportations of remaining people into the USSR, especially to [[Siberia]].<ref name=Bar/> On 22 May 1945 the town, now destroyed at 60%, was handed over to Polish officials.

As part of territorial changes demanded by the [[Soviet Union]], Polish rule was accepted at the [[Potsdam Conference]], however, on preliminary terms. After 173 years, the town was reintegrated with Poland.<ref name=Bar/> On 9 March 1946 the prison in Barczewo has also been transferred to Polish authorities. Between 1965 and his death in 1986 it held the former Gauleiter and President of East Prussia [[Erich Koch]]. After introduction on [[Martial law in Poland]] Barczewo prison also seen opposition activists detained including [[Władysław Frasyniuk]], [[Adam Michnik]], [[Stefan Niesiołowski]], [[Leszek Moczulski]], [[Romuald Szeremietiew]] and Józef Szaniawski.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://barczewo.pl/dla-turystow/zabytki-barczewa/zaklad-karny-penitentiary-justizvollzugsanstalt/ | title=Zakład Karny }}</ref>