Kościan

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title: "Kościan" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["cities-and-towns-in-greater-poland-voivodeship", "kościan-county", "intelligenzaktion-massacre-locations", "sites-of-massacres-of-poles-in-world-war-ii"] topic_path: "geography" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kościan" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

FieldValue
nameKościan
image_skylineKościan- Kościół, Ratusz, Wieża ciśnień.JPG
image_captionChrist Church, Town Hall and Water Tower
image_flagPOL Kościan flag.svg
image_shieldPOL Kościan COA.svg
pushpin_mapPoland
pushpin_label_positionbottom
subdivision_typeCountry
subdivision_name
subdivision_type1Voivodeship
subdivision_name1Greater Poland
subdivision_type2County
subdivision_name2Kościan
subdivision_type3Gmina
subdivision_name3Kościan (urban gmina)
leader_partyPO
leader_titleMayor
leader_nameSławomir Kaczmarek
established_titleEstablished
established_date12th century
established_title3Town rights
established_date313th century
elevation_min_m75
elevation_max_m85
area_total_km28.75
population_as_of2014
population_total23952
timezoneCET
utc_offset+1
timezone_DSTCEST
utc_offset_DST+2
coordinates
postal_code_typePostal code
postal_code64-000
area_code+48 65
blank_nameCar plates
blank_infoPKS
blank_name_sec2Highways
blank_info_sec2[[File:S5-PL.svg
blank1_name_sec2National road
blank2_name_sec2Voivodeship roads
blank2_info_sec2[[File:DW309-PL.svg
websitehttp://www.koscian.pl
::

| name = Kościan | image_skyline = Kościan- Kościół, Ratusz, Wieża ciśnień.JPG | imagesize = | image_caption = Christ Church, Town Hall and Water Tower | image_flag = POL Kościan flag.svg | image_shield = POL Kościan COA.svg | pushpin_map = Poland | pushpin_label_position = bottom | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = | subdivision_type1 = Voivodeship | subdivision_name1 = Greater Poland | subdivision_type2 = County | subdivision_name2 = Kościan | subdivision_type3 = Gmina | subdivision_name3 = Kościan (urban gmina) | leader_party = PO | leader_title = Mayor | leader_name = Sławomir Kaczmarek | established_title = Established | established_date = 12th century | established_title3 = Town rights | established_date3 = 13th century | elevation_min_m = 75 | elevation_max_m = 85 | area_total_km2 = 8.75 | population_as_of = 2014 | population_total = 23952| population_density_km2 = auto | timezone = CET | utc_offset = +1 | timezone_DST = CEST | utc_offset_DST = +2 | coordinates = | postal_code_type = Postal code | postal_code = 64-000 | area_code = +48 65 | blank_name = Car plates | blank_info = PKS | blank_name_sec2 = Highways | blank_info_sec2 = [[File:S5-PL.svg|32px|link=Expressway S5 (Poland)]] | blank1_name_sec2 = National road | blank2_name_sec2 = Voivodeship roads | blank2_info_sec2 = [[File:DW309-PL.svg|32px]] | website = http://www.koscian.pl Kościan () () is a town on the Obra canal in west-central Poland, with a population of 23,952 inhabitants as of June 2014. Situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship, it is the capital of Kościan County.

History

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Koscian_kosciol_Swietego_Ducha.jpg" caption="Gothic]] Holy Spirit Church"] ::

Kościan was founded in the 12th or 13th century, when it was part of the Duchy of Greater Poland of the fragmented Polish realm. It was granted town rights in the second half of the 13th century, which were later confirmed by King Władysław Jagiełło in 1400. From 1332 Kościan was a royal town of Poland. It was a county (powiat) seat in the Poznań Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province. In the 15th century Kościan was famous for its cloth production. King Casimir IV Jagiellon granted Kościan cloths the first industrial trademark in the history of Poland. At the time Kościan was the second largest city within historic Greater Poland (behind Poznań).

Kościan was captured by the Swedes during the Swedish invasion of Poland (the Swedish Deluge) in 1655, but was soon recaptured by a partisan unit led by Krzysztof Żegocki. Kościan was annexed by Prussia in the Second Partition of Poland in 1793. After the successful Greater Poland uprising of 1806, it was regained by Poles and included with the short-lived Duchy of Warsaw. The 12th Polish Infantry Regiment was formed in Kościan in 1806. In 1815 it was reannexed by Prussia. In 1918, Poland regained independence, and shortly afterwards the Greater Poland uprising broke out, which goal was to reunite the town and region with the reborn Polish state. On 29–30 December 1918, local Polish scouts stole more than 900 machine guns, rifles and pistols from a German military warehouse and Kościan was liberated.

World War II

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Koscian,_town_hall,_plaques.jpg" caption="Memorial at the site of public executions of Poles carried out by the Germans on October 2 and October 23, 1939"] ::

During the German occupation of Poland (World War II), the Polish population was subject to mass arrests, executions, expulsions, deportations to Nazi concentration camps and confiscation of property. In Kościan, the Germans operated a prison for Poles from both the town and the region, many of whom were later transported to the infamous Fort VII in Poznań. On November 7 and 9, 1939, 66 Polish craftsmen, merchants, farmers, local officials and workers, previously held in the local prison were massacred in the nearby forest. Further such massacres were carried out by the Germans in December 1939 and in January and February 1940. The local high school principal was among Polish teachers and principals murdered in the Dachau concentration camp. Over 50 Poles, including local activists, intelligentsia and the families of victims of executions, were expelled in 1939, while 2,139 Poles were expelled in 1940, and their houses were then handed over to German colonists as part of the Lebensraum policy. 534 patients of the local psychiatric hospital were gassed by the Germans in January 1940, and afterwards patients from psychiatric hospitals in Germany were transported to Kościan and also gassed. The occupiers established and operated a forced labour subcamp of the Stalag XXI-D prisoner-of-war camp in the town.

The Polish resistance movement was active, including local units of the Union of Armed Struggle/Home Army, Narodowa Organizacja Bojowa and the Pakt Czterech secret scouting organization. Two Polish underground newspapers were printed in the town. In mid-1941, the Gestapo crushed the Pakt Czterech organization and arrested its members, who were then sent to Nazi concentration camps, however, they survived. In October 1941, the Gestapo arrested the founders of the local unit of the Narodowa Organizacja Bojowa, who were then sentenced to death and executed the following year. In 1944, the Germans arrested Leon Ciszak and Franciszek Bawor, leaders of the local units of the Union of Armed Struggle and Home Army, who were then imprisoned in the notorious camp in Żabikowo and soon sent to concentration camps. Bawor died in the Mauthausen concentration camp, whereas Ciszak survived and returned to Kościan after the war.

Transport

Kościan is bypassed to the west by the S5 expressway.

Kościan has a station on the Poznań-Wrocław railway line.

Buses connect Kościan to Poznań and to Leszno.

Sports

The local football club is . It competes in the lower leagues.

Notable people

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Kościan is twinned with: ::data[format=table] | | | | |---|---| ::

Gallery

File:Ratusz w Kościanie.jpg|Town hall, which currently houses the Regional Museum File:Kościół Św. Ducha na Placu Niezłomnych - panoramio.jpg|Christ Church built in 1666 File:Kościański Canal in Koscian (3).jpg|Kościański Canal File:Pomnik Jana Pawła II na Placu Niezłomnych - panoramio.jpg|District court and Pope John Paul II Monument File:Pomnik Floriana Marciniaka - panoramio.jpg|Florian Marciniak Monument File:Park miejskikoscian.jpg|Municipal park

References

References

  1. [http://www.stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/PUBL_L_ludnosc_stan_struktura_30_06_2009.pdf Główny Urząd Statystyczny: Ludność. Stan i struktura w przekroju terytorialnym (2009)] {{webarchive. link. (2010-02-15)
  2. "Historia Kościana".
  3. Plater, Leon. (1846). "Opisanie historyczno-statystyczne Wielkiego Księztwa Poznańskiego". Księgarnia Zagraniczna.
  4. Gembarzewski, Bronisław. (1925). "Rodowody pułków polskich i oddziałów równorzędnych od r. 1717 do r. 1831". Towarzystwo Wiedzy Wojskowej.
  5. The Polish [[Greater Poland uprising (1794). Greater Poland uprising]] of 1794 began in Kościan.Plater, p. 207-208
  6. Gembarzewski, Bronisław. (1925). "Rodowody pułków polskich i oddziałów równorzędnych od r. 1717 do r. 1831". Towarzystwo Wiedzy Wojskowej.
  7. "29/30 grudnia 1918".
  8. Wardzyńska (2009), pp. 117, 190
  9. Wardzyńska (2009), pp. 200-201
  10. Wardzyńska (2009), p. 201
  11. Wardzyńska (2009), p. 216
  12. Wardzyńska, Maria. (2017). "Wysiedlenia ludności polskiej z okupowanych ziem polskich włączonych do III Rzeszy w latach 1939-1945". [[Institute of National Remembrance.
  13. Wardzyńska (2009), p. 217
  14. "Work Camps".
  15. . (1998). "Encyklopedia konspiracji Wielkopolskiej 1939–1945". *Instytut Zachodni*.
  16. . "Encyklopedia konspiracji Wielkopolskiej 1939–1945".
  17. . "Encyklopedia konspiracji Wielkopolskiej 1939–1945".
  18. . "Encyklopedia konspiracji Wielkopolskiej 1939–1945".
  19. . "Encyklopedia konspiracji Wielkopolskiej 1939–1945".

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cities-and-towns-in-greater-poland-voivodeshipkościan-countyintelligenzaktion-massacre-locationssites-of-massacres-of-poles-in-world-war-ii