page_title: Kwidzyn
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Kwidzyn / History
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Dom von Kwidzyn (Marienwerder)
context_page_description: Kwidzyn is a town in northern Poland on the Liwa River, with 38,553 inhabitants. It has been a part of the Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999, and was previously in the Elbląg Voivodeship. It is the capital of Kwidzyn County.
context_section_description: The Pomesanian settlement called Kwedis existed in the 11th century. In 1233, the Teutonic Knights built the Burg Marienwerder and established the town of Marienwerder (now Kwidzyn) the following year. In 1243, the Bishopric of Pomesania received both the town and castle from the Teutonic Order as fiefs, and the settlement became the seat of the Bishops of Pomesania within Prussia. The town was populated by artisans and traders, originating from towns in the northern parts of the German empire. A Teutonic knight, Werner von Orseln, was murdered in Marienburg (Malbork) in 1330. He was among the first to be buried in the newly erected cathedral of the town.
  St. Dorothea of Montau lived in Marienwerder from 1391 until her death in 1394; future pilgrims visiting her shrine would contribute to the flourishing economy.
  The Prussian Confederation was founded in the town on March 14, 1440. After the defeat of the Teutonic Knights in the Thirteen Years' War, the western part of their monastic state of the Teutonic Knights would be annexed by the Kingdom of Poland and would form the Polish province of Royal Prussia. The remainder, known as Teutonic Prussia, to which Marienwerder belonged, was placed under Polish suzerainty as a fief. In 1525, the Teutonic state was transformed into a secular and Lutheran duchy under the last Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Albert, a political foundation only possible with the consent of the Polish King Sigismund I the Old. In 1618 the ducal rights were inherited by the Brandenburg branch of the House of Hohenzollern and in 1657 the Brandenburg dukes severed ties with the Polish crown and in 1701 elevated their realm to the sovereign Kingdom of Prussia.
  The town of Marienwerder meanwhile had become the capital of the District of Marienwerder. In 1772 the Marienwerder district was integrated into the newly established Prussian Province of West Prussia, which consisted mostly of territories annexed in the First Partition of Poland.
  By the enlargement of its administrative functions, the population of the town started to grow and in 1885, it numbered 8,079. This population was mostly composed of Lutheran inhabitants, many of whom were engaged in trades connected with the manufacturing of sugar, vinegar and brewing as well as dairy farming, fruit growing and the industrial construction of machines.
  As a result of the Treaty of Versailles after World War I, the Marienwerder district was divided. The parts west of the Vistula were incorporated into the Polish Second Republic. The parts east of the Vistula, to which the town of Marienwerder belonged, took part in the East Prussian plebiscite which was organized under the control of the League of Nations. In Marienwerder 7,811 votes were given to remain in East Prussia, and therefore Germany, and 362 for Poland.
  On November 10, 1937, when the Nazi regime was in power in Germany, a Polish private high school was opened. It was forcibly closed down on August 25, 1939.
  On January 30, 1945 during World War II, the town was captured by the Soviet Red Army. The Red Army established a war hospital in the town for 20,000 people. The town centre was burned and pillaged by Soviet soldiers.
  After World War II, the region was placed under Polish administration by the Potsdam Agreement, under territorial changes demanded by the Soviet Union. Most of the people of the town and district were Germans who fled or were expelled by Polish authorities, and were to be replaced with Poles, some of whom had themselves been expelled from the Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union. In 1947, Ukrainians from the Soviet border regions were forced to settle in the area as a result of Operation Vistula.
caption: Kwidzyn castle in 2010
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