{{Short description|Town in West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland}} {{expand Polish|topic=geo|otherarticle=Połczyn-Zdrój|date=October 2012}} {{Infobox settlement | name = Połczyn-Zdrój | image_flag = POL Połczyn-Zdrój flag.svg | image_shield = POL Połczyn-Zdrój COA.svg | image_skyline = Połczyn Zdrój - panorama.jpg | image_caption = Panorama of the town | pushpin_map = Poland | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = {{POL}} | subdivision_type1 = Voivodeship | subdivision_name1 = West Pomeranian | subdivision_type2 = County | subdivision_name2 = Świdwin | subdivision_type3 = Gmina | subdivision_name3 = Połczyn-Zdrój | area_total_km2 = 7.21 | population_as_of = 2010 | population_total = 8372 | population_footnotes = <ref name=gus/> | population_density_km2 = auto | timezone = CET | utc_offset = +1 | timezone_DST = CEST | utc_offset_DST = +2 | coordinates = {{coord|53|46|N|16|6|E|region:PL|display=title,inline}} | elevation_m = | postal_code_type = Postal code | postal_code = 78-320<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.poczta-polska.pl/hermes/uploads/2013/02/spispna.pdf|title=Oficjalny Spis Pocztowych Numerów Adresowych|website=Poczta Polska|access-date=3 May 2026|language=pl|archive-date=22 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222162405/https://www.poczta-polska.pl/hermes/uploads/2013/02/spispna.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> | area_code_type = Area Code | area_code = (+48) 94 | website = {{URL|http://www.polczyn-zdroj.pl/}} | blank_name = Car plates | blank_info = ZSD | blank_name_sec2 = Voivodeship roads | blank_info_sec2 = 32px|link=Voivodeship road 163 32px|link=Voivodeship road 172 32px|link=Voivodeship road 173 }} '''Połczyn-Zdrój''' {{IPAc-pl|'|p|o|U|cz|y|n|-|'|z|d|r|u|I}} ({{Langx|csb|Pôłczëno}}; {{langx|de|Bad Polzin}}) is a spa town in Świdwin County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-western Poland,{{TERYT}} with 8,372 inhabitants (2010). It is situated on the Wogra River in the historic region of Pomerania.
== History == Połczyn-Zdrój dates back to an early medieval Pomeranian settlement.<ref name=pwn>{{cite web|url=https://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo/Polczyn-Zdroj;3960043.html|title=Połczyn-Zdrój|website=Encyklopedia PWN|access-date=1 February 2020|language=pl}}</ref> The territory became part of the emerging Polish state under Mieszko I around 967.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Labuda|first=Gerard|year=1993|title=Chrystianizacja Pomorza (X–XIII stulecie)|magazine=Studia Gdańskie|language=pl|location=Gdańsk-Oliwa|volume=IX|page=47}}</ref> Following the fragmentation of Poland, it formed part of the Duchy of Pomerania. Połczyn was a defensive stronghold located in the Białogard castellany.<ref name=pwn/> The town and its castle are mentioned in historical records from 1321 and 1331, respectively, which state that they belonged to a fief that the powerful noble Wedel family had obtained from the Pomeranian dukes.<ref>Heinrich Berghaus: ''Landbuch des Herzogtums Pommern und des Fürstentums Rügen''. Part III, Vol. 1, Anklam 1867, pp. 690-704, in German ([https://books.google.com/books?id=1dQAAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA690 Online])</ref> In the 15th century other families were in possession of the town.
In 1825, a brewery was founded.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dryja|first=Sławomir|title=200 lat browaru w Połczynie-Zdroju. Historia opowiedziana zdjęciami|year=2025|publisher=Wydawnictwo Księgarnia Akademicka|location=Kraków-Połczyn|language=pl|page=9|isbn=978-83-8368-321-8}}</ref> The town had three mineral springs of enhanced iron content and with a temperature between {{convert|9|and|11|°C|F}}, which were exploited in sanatoriums in order to cure rheumatism. Before World War I, the town was known as ''Polzin.'' It acquired the name ''Bad Polzin'' (i. e., "Bath Polzin", or "Polzin Spa") between the two World Wars.<ref>[http://data.jewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsys~shtetm~-523032 JewishGen page for Połczyn-Zdrój]</ref> Just before World War II, in 1939, the local brewery reached its highest production level in its pre-war history, with 65,000 hl.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dryja|first=Sławomir|title=200 lat browaru w Połczynie-Zdroju. Historia opowiedziana zdjęciami|year=2025|publisher=Wydawnictwo Księgarnia Akademicka|location=Kraków-Połczyn|language=pl|page=14|isbn=978-83-8368-321-8}}</ref>
[[File:Polczyn-Zdroj Borkowo pomnik ofiar germanizacji (1).jpg|thumb|left|Memorial to victims of Germanisation in World War II]] During World War II, the Germans established a camp for kidnapped Polish children intended for Germanisation.<ref name=pwn/> On 5 March 1945, the town was captured by the Poles<ref name=1wr>{{cite web|url=https://polczyn-zdroj.pl/news/1-wrzesnia-pamietamy|title=1 września. Pamiętamy|website=Połczyn-Zdrój|date=1 September 2021|access-date=10 November 2023|language=pl}}</ref> and after the end of the war it became again part of Poland, although with a Soviet-installed communist regime.
In the summer of 1945, the communist authorities announced that the population has to leave their home after harvest. However, after the Potsdam Conference evictions were officially postponed to spring 1946. In-officially, the administration was mandated to continue expulsions. According to German witness reports, starting end of October 1945, each night 100-150 Germans to be expelled were forced out of their homes, plundered and sometimes raped. <ref>{{cite book|series=Dokumentation der Vertreibung der Deutschen aus Ost-Mitteleuropa|title= Die Vertreibung der deutschen Bevölkerung aus den gebieten östlich der Oder-Neisse|volume=2|pages=735|publisher=Deutscher Taschenbuch|year=1984}}</ref>
The town's first post-war mayor was Benedykt Polak, former prisoner of the Oflag II-C German prisoner-of-war camp.<ref>{{cite book|last=Garczyński|first=Tadeusz|year=1977|title=Połczyn Zdrój i okolice. Przewodnik|language=pl|publisher=Wydawnictwo Poznańskie|page=20}}</ref><ref name=1wr/> The local brewery was seized by the Soviets, who agreed to hand it over to Poland; however, they continued to occupy it for several months until February 1946, despite the appointment of Aleksander Stromenger as the Polish director of the brewery in November 1945.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dryja|first=Sławomir|title=200 lat browaru w Połczynie-Zdroju. Historia opowiedziana zdjęciami|year=2025|publisher=Wydawnictwo Księgarnia Akademicka|location=Kraków-Połczyn|language=pl|pages=15–16|isbn=978-83-8368-321-8}}</ref> Stromenger, a member of the Home Army resistance movement and participant of the Warsaw Uprising, rewarded with the Cross of Valour and Virtuti Militari, was dismissed in November 1948 and subsequently arrested by the communists on charges of subversive activity in 1950.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dryja|first=Sławomir|title=200 lat browaru w Połczynie-Zdroju. Historia opowiedziana zdjęciami|year=2025|publisher=Wydawnictwo Księgarnia Akademicka|location=Kraków-Połczyn|language=pl|pages=16, 18|isbn=978-83-8368-321-8}}</ref>
In July 1996, after heavy rainfall, the town suffered a flood, after which a new retention reservoir was built between 2000 and 2003.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ekowodrol.pl/o-nas/realizacje/przeciwpowodziowy-zbiornik-retencyjny-polczyn.html|title=Przeciwpowodziowy zbiornik retencyjny Połczyn Zdrój na rzece Wogrze w miejscowości Połczyn Zdrój, woj. zachodniopomorskie|website=EkoWodrol|access-date=1 February 2020|language=pl}}</ref>
==Demographics== {{Historical populations|align=left|cols=2|1880|4724|1890|4632|1900|4956|1910|5160|1925|5959|1939|6920|1950|4949|1960|7593|2010|8372 |source=<ref>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Dokumentacja Geograficzna|volume=3/4|year=1967|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=Instytut Geografii Polskiej Akademii Nauk|page=39}}</ref><ref name=gus>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|url=https://stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/PUBL_l_ludnosc_stan_struktura_31_12_2010.pdf|title=Stan i struktura ludności oraz ruch naturalny w przekroju terytorialnym w 2010 r.|year=2011|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=Główny Urząd Statystyczny|page=109|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111113152513/https://stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/PUBL_l_ludnosc_stan_struktura_31_12_2010.pdf|archive-date=13 November 2011}}</ref>}} {{clear|left}}
== Gallery == <gallery widths="140"> 660629 Połczyn Zdrój E. Skórska.JPG|Park Zdrojowy (Spa Park) Polczyn-Zdroj sanatorium Gryf.jpg|Sanatorium Gryf Połczyn Zdrój - panoramio (18).jpg|Sanatorium Podhale Sanatorium Borkowo w Połczynie-Zdroju (1).jpg|Sanatorium Borkowo, Germanisation camp for kidnapped Polish children during World War II Połczyn-Zdrój, kościół NMP 2025 08 25 190414.jpg|Our Lady of Perpetual Help church </gallery>
==Notable residents== * Anton von Krockow (1714–1778) a Prussian lieutenant general. * Karl Schröder (1884–1950) a German communist politician and writer * Friedl Behn-Grund (1906–1989) a German cinematographer <ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005650/ IMDb Database] retrieved 19 October 2018</ref> * Volker Vogeler (1930–2005) a German film director and screenwriter <ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0900988/ IMDb Database] retrieved 19 October 2018</ref> * Bernd Heinrich (born 1940) a biologist and long distance runner * Susan Denberg (born 1944) a German-Austrian model and actress <ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0218911/ IMDb Database] retrieved 19 October 2018</ref> * Rosemarie Zens (born 1944) a German writer and photographer * Robert Atzorn (born 1945) a German television actor <ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0041222/ IMDb Database] retrieved 19 October 2018</ref> * Stanisław Wziątek (born 1959) a Polish politician, elected to Sejm in 2005 * Janusz Janowski (born 1965) a Polish painter, jazz drummer and art theorist * Olgierd Moskalewicz (born 1974) a Polish footballer, over 420 pro appearances * Sławomir Nitras (born 1973) a Polish politician and political scientist, elected to the Sejm in 2015. * Piotr Kosiorowski (born 1981), Polish footballer, over 200 pro appearances * Szymon Pawłowski (born 1986), Polish footballer, over 275 pro appearances and 17 for Poland * Joanna Zachoszcz (born 1993) a Polish swimmer, competed in the women's 10 km at the 2016 Summer Olympics * Leo Levy (1881–1938) a German merchant from the Jewish Levy family, a doctor of chemistry, and a soldier in Wilhelm II's Imperial Army during World War I.
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.polczyn-zdroj.pl/ Official town webpage]
{{commons category|Połczyn-Zdrój}} {{Gmina Połczyn-Zdrój}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Cities and towns in West Pomeranian Voivodeship Category:Populated riverside places in Poland Category:Sites of Nazi war crimes in Poland Category:Spa towns in Poland Category:Świdwin County