Inowrocław
Inowrocław (; ) is a city in central Poland with a total population of 72,561 in December 2019 (72,786, June 30, 2019). It is situated in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999, previously in the Bydgoszcz Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is one of the largest and most historically significant cities within Kuyavia. Inowrocław is an industrial town located about southeast of Bydgoszcz known for its saltwater baths and salt mines. The town is the 5th largest agglomeration in its voivodeship, and is a major railway junction, where the west–east line (Poznań–Toruń) crosses the Polish Coal Trunk-Line from Chorzów to  Gdynia. History. The town was first mentioned in 1185 as Novo Wladislaw, possibly in honor of Władysław I Herman or after the settlers from Włocławek. Many inhabitants of Włocławek settled in Inowrocław fleeing flooding. In 1236, the settlement was renamed Juveni Wladislawia. It was incorporated two years later by Casimir Konradowic. In medieval Latin records, the town was recorded as "Juniwladislavia". As a result of the fragmentation of Poland into smaller duchies, after 1230 Inowrocław was the capital of the Duchy of Kuyavia, and from 1267 to 1364 it was the capital of the Duchy of Inowrocław, before it became  part and capital of Poland's Inowrocław Voivodeship, which covered northern Kuyavia along with the Dobrzyń Land. The voivodeship later also formed part of the larger Greater Poland Province of the Polish Crown. Inowrocław was a royal city of the Polish Crown. The town's development was aided by the discovery of extensive salt deposits in the vicinity during the 15th century. It was an important city of late medieval Poland. In 1321, a Polish-Teutonic trial was held in Inowrocław regarding the Teutonic occupation of Gdańsk Pomerania, while the city itself was occupied by the Teutonic Knights from 1332  to 1337. King Casimir III the Great often stayed in the city, and in 1337 he held a meeting with King John of Bohemia in the local castle. A strong garrison was located in the city during the Polish-Teutonic War (1409-1411), and it was the main base of King Władysław II Jagiełło after his victory in the Battle of Grunwald. Inowrocław was occupied and plundered by Swedish troops during the Deluge in the 1650s, and was annexed to the Kingdom of Prussia in February 1772 during the First Partition of Poland and added to the Netze District. Following  the Franco-Prussian Treaty in July 1807, Inowrocław was transferred to the newly created Duchy of Warsaw, which was a client state of the French Empire. The city was a headquarters for Napoleon Bonaparte during his 1812 invasion of Russia. Following the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Inowrocław (as first Inowraclaw and later Inowrazlaw) was transferred back to Prussia as part of the Grand Duchy of Posen. Initially, until 1838 the mayors were still Poles, then Germans. Despite Germanisation attempts, the city was an important center of the Polish resistance during the partitions. It flourished after the establishment of a  railway junction in 1872 and a spa in 1875. The city and the region were given the Germanized name "Hohensalza" on December 5, 1904. It was electrified in 1908. Interbellum. After the end of World War I, in November 1918, Poland regained independence and Polish insurgents re-captured the city in January 1919. Restoration to the re-established sovereign Polish state was confirmed in the Treaty of Versailles (which came into effect on January 10, 1920), and the historic name Inowrocław was restored. High unemployment resulting from trade embargoes led to violent confrontations between workers and the police in 1926  and hunger strikes killed 20 in 1930. Inowrocław was part of Poznań Voivodeship until 1925, when it became an independent urban district. This district was briefly assigned to Great Pomerania during the reform of Polish regional administration just before World War II. World War II. Captured by the German 4th Army during the invasion of Poland on September 11, 1939, Inowrocław was again renamed Hohensalza and initially administered under the military district ("Militärbezirk") of Posen before being incorporated into Nazi Germany first as part of the "Reichsgau" of Posen (1939) and then as part of Reichsgau Wartheland (1939–1945). The "Einsatzgruppe  IV" entered the city on September 12–15, 1939, to commit various atrocities against Poles. Poles arrested during the "Intelligenzaktion" were held in the local prison and in a transit camp, and afterwards mostly murdered in the prison or in the nearby Gniewkowo forest, while some were deported to Nazi concentration camps. In a large massacre, on the night of October 22–23, 1939, the Germans murdered 56 Poles in the prison, including numerous teachers. Families of the victims were expelled, alike local Polish activists and craftsmen, whose workshops were handed over to German colonists in accordance to the Nazi "Lebensraum" policy . In total, the Germans expelled a few thousand Poles from the city, including over 2,900 already in 1939. Several Poles from Inowrocław were also murdered by the Russians in the large Katyn massacre in April–May 1940. Multiple local members of the Home Army, a major Polish resistance organization, were imprisoned and murdered by the Germans in the prison camp in Żabikowo in 1944–1945. Between 1940 and 1945, Hohensalza was used as a resettlement camp for Poles and an internment camp for Soviet, French and British prisoners of war. Germany also operated a forced labour camp in the city. Recent  period. Inowrocław returned to Poland and its original name following the arrival of the Soviet Red Army on January 21, 1945. The last German air raid occurred on April 4, 1945, when a single aircraft dropped four fragmentation bombs and fired on travelers waiting at the Inowrocław train platform. Between 1950 and 1998, the town was part of Bydgoszcz Voivodeship, but the 1999 reforms left it part of Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. Sport. The most popular sports in the city are basketball and football. Notable teams: