Szczecinek
Szczecinek ( ; ; ) is a historic city in Middle Pomerania, northwestern Poland, with a population of more than 40,000 (2011). Formerly in the Koszalin Voivodeship (1950–1998), it has been the capital of Szczecinek County in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999. It is an important railroad junction, located along the main Poznań - Kołobrzeg line, which crosses less important lines to Chojnice and Słupsk. The town's total area is . The turbulent history of Szczecinek reaches back to the High Middle Ages, when the area was ruled by Pomeranian dukes and princes. The majority of the city's architecture survived World War  II and, subsequently, its entire Old Town was proclaimed a national heritage monument of Poland. Location. Szczecinek lies in eastern part of West Pomeranian Voivodeship. Historically, it was included within Western Pomerania. In 2010, the city boundaries were expanded as the town merged with the following villages in Gmina Szczecinek: Gałowo, Marcelin, Godzimierz, Turowo, Parsęcko, Buczek and Żółtnica. History and etymology. In the Middle Ages a Slavic stronghold existed in present-day Szczecinek. It was part of the early Polish state in the 10th century, and as a result of the 12th-century fragmentation of Poland, it became part of  the separate Duchy of Pomerania. In 1310, the castle at the site of a former stronghold, and town were founded under Lübeck law by Duke Wartislaw IV of Pomerania and modelled after Szczecin () which is situated about to the west. The initial name was "Neustettin" (, , ). It was also known as "Klein Stettin" (, ). In 1707 the town was known in Polish as "Nowoszczecin", while the "Mały Szczecin" name gradually developed into the modern name "Szczecinek". The town was fortified to face the Brandenburgers, with a wall and palisades. In 1356 it was hit by the plague. Thankful for their survival, the  Dukes Bogislaw V, Barnim IV and Wartislaw V founded the Augustine monastery Marientron, on the hill on the southern bank of the Lake. It was plundered by Brandenburgers in 1470. From 1368 to 1390 it was the seat of an eponymous duchy under its only historic ruler Wartislaw V. Afterwards, it was ruled by Pomeranian duchies: Darłowo (Rügenwalde) (until 1418), Słupsk (until 1474, fief of Poland) and the united Duchy of Pomerania (until 1618). On 15 September 1423, the "great day of Neustettin", the Pomeranian dukes, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order and Nordic king Eric VII of Denmark , Norway and Sweden met to discuss defense against the union of Brandenburg and Poland. During the Thirteen Years' War, local dukes changed alliances several times. As a result, in 1455 several surrounding villages were looted by Teutonic Knights and in 1461 the town was sacked, looted and burned by Polish troops and Tatars because King Casimir IV Jagiellon wanted to take revenge on Eric II of Pomerania who supported the Teutonic Knights. In 1601 a Polish school was established, and in 1640 a gymnasium was founded, which as today's "I Liceum Ogólnokształcące" is one of the oldest high schools  in Pomerania. During the Thirty Years' War it was captured and plundered by the Swedes and Austrians. After the war, from 1653, the town was part of Brandenburg, from 1701 of Prussia and from 1871 to 1945 of Germany. During the Seven Years' War, in 1759 it was plundered by the Russians. In 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars and Polish national liberation fights, the town was captured by Poles led by Tomasz Łubieński. In 1881 Abraham Springer, great-grandfather of TV presenter Jerry Springer and a prominent member of the town's Jewish community launched an unsuccessful attempt to sue  agitator Dr Ernst Henrici, claiming that an inflammatory anti-semitic speech in the town led directly to the burning down of the synagogue on 18 February of that year. In 1914 the Regional Museum was established. In 1923 the Catholic Church of the Holy Spirit was built, then called the "Polish Church", as it was co-financed by local Poles. After the Nazis took power in Germany in the 1930s, new military barracks were built, and the invasion of Poland was carried out from the town at the beginning of World War II in 1939. During the war, three forced  labour camps were established and operated by the Germans in the town, and its prisoners were mostly Poles and Russians. In September 1944, the Germans made the first arrests of local members of the Polish underground organization "Odra", ultimately crushing it in the following weeks. In February 1945, the town was captured by the Red Army, and the local agricultural machinery factory, which used forced labour during the war, was plundered by occupying Russian forces. The town then passed to Poland, although with a Soviet-installed communist regime, which remained in power until the Fall of Communism in the 1980s . The town's German population was expelled in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement, and it was repopulated with Poles, expellees from former eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union and settlers from central Poland. The plundered agricultural machinery factory was relaunched by Poles in July 1945. The Polish anti-communist resistance ("cursed soldiers") was active in the town, and many of its members were arrested and sentenced to prison by the communists. The last "cursed soldier" of Szczecinek, Maria Sosnowska, died in 2018. In 2009 the town limits were expanded by including the neighbouring villages of Świątki and Trzesieka as  new districts. Cuisine. The officially protected traditional food of Szczecinek (as designated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland) is "krówka szczecinecka", a local type of krówka (traditional Polish candy). International relations. Szczecinek is twinned with: