Belgard District

The Belgard District (German: Landkreis Belgard, Kreis Belgard) is a former district in Eastern Pomerania that existed from 1818 to 1945. The Belgard District belonged, successively, to Prussia, the German Empire, the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich. The district seat was the town of Belgard on the bank of Persante. The area under this former district is now split between two powiats: Białogard and Świdwin Counties, both of which are under the Polish West Pomeranian Voivodeship.

History

Belgard-Polzin district in the 18th century

In Pomerania, which had belonged to Brandenburg-Prussia since 1648, a district reform was carried out in 1724. The number of districts and associated district councils were significantly reduced in order lessen the strong territorial fragmentation that had arisen as a result of the complicated aristocratic possessions in Eastern Pomerania. The existing Belgard and Polzin districts were merged into Belgard-Polzinscher district on January 1, 1725.[1] The district included the towns of Belgard and Polzin, the royal office of Belgard, and a large number of noble villages and estates.[2][3]

As a result of the Prussian provincial authority decree of April 30, 1815, the district became a part of the region of Köslin in the Province of Pomerania. With the Pomeranian district reform of 1818, two villages of Brutzen and Groß Poplow under Netze District of West Prussia were added, and the district was renamed Belgard district after the seat of the district government.[4] In 1828, the villages of Jagertow and Kollatz, which until then were in communion districts of Belgard and Neustettin, were fully integrated into the Belgard district.

The district area in 1905

In 1871, Belgard district included the towns of Belgard and Polzin, 73 rural communities as well as 95 estate districts.[5] On September 30, 1929, as with the rest of the Free State of Prussia, a territorial reform took place in the Belgard district, in which all independent estate districts were dissolved and assigned to nrighboring rural communities.

In 1910, Belgard district covered an area of 1,132 square kilometers.[6] With the Prussian district reform of October 1, 1932, the district was significantly enlarged in the following ways:[7]

  • With the exception of the three communities of Labenz, Nuthagen and Rützow, the dissolved Schivelbein district was incorporated into Belgard district;
  • The Neu Buckow district, consisting of the three communities Groß Satspe, Klein Satspe and Neu Buckow, were transferred from the dissolved Bublitz district to the Belgard district.

In the further course of the 1930s, the district name Belgard (Persante) was introduced. On January 1, 1939, Belgard (Persante) district received the designation of Landkreis in accordance with the now uniform Reich regulation. As of 1939, a total of 79,183 inhabitants lived in the district of 1,649.49 square kilometers, with a population density of 48 inhabitants per square kilometers. 48% of the population lived in the three cities of Belgard (16,456), Bad Polzin (6,920) and Schivelbein (9,714). In terms of area, the district was the fourth largest in the province of Pomerania, and fifth in terms of population size.

In the spring of 1945, the district was controlled by the Red Army. After the end of World War II, the district was transferred from Soviet to Polish administration in the summer of 1945.

Demographics

Historic population
Year Population Source
1797 16,682 [8]
1816 18,808 [9]
1846 33,528 [10]
1871 44,102 [5]
1890 44,547 [11]
1900 47,097 [11]
1910 48,504 [11]
1925 53,918 [11]
1933 76,894 [11]
1939 77,062 [11]

Politics

District of Belgard: seal mark of the district administrator

District administrators

Term begin Term end Name
1723 Unknown Caspar von Wolden
1747 1753 Hans Joachim von Kleist
1753 1762 Ernst Friedrich von Podewils
1763 1770 Caspar Friedrich von Ramel
1772 1787 Friedrich Wilhelm von Winterfeld
1787 1808 Otto Bogislaff von Kleist
1808 1844 Hans Jürgen von Kleist-Retzow
1844 1851 Hans Hugo von Kleist-Retzow
1851 1865 Wilhelm von der Reck
1868 1884 Hans Wilhelm von Hagen
1886 1897 Jürgen von Kleist-Retzow
1899 1911 Wolf Friedrich von Kleist-Retzow
1911 1919 Gustav von Hagen
1919 1921 Carl Ahrendts
1921 1922 Walter Fehrmann
1923 1932 Hans Janzen
1932 1933 Walter Braun
1934 1935 Otto Busse
1935 1945 Erich Mehliß

Local government

The Belgard district was divided into towns, rural communities, and - until their complete dissolution in 1929 - into independent estate districts. With the introduction of the Prussian municipal constitution law on December 15, 1933, there was a uniform municipal constitution for all Prussian municipalities starting January 1, 1934. Following the introduction of the German Municipal Code on January 30, 1935, a uniform municipal constitution came into effect on April 1, according to which the previous state municipalities were now referred to as municipalities, and they were grouped into county-level divisions called Amtsbezirk. However, new county constitution was no created, so the district regulations created on March 19, 1881 for the provinces of East and West prussia, Brandenburg, Pomerania, Silesia and Saxony still applied.

Districts, cities and communities

Administrative districts

The rural communities of the district were divided into 40 Amtsbezirk in 1932.[12] The towns of the district were not included.

List of Amtsbezirks as of 1932
Alt Schlage Arbhausen Ballenberg Bramstädt
Briesen Brunow Bulgrin Burzlaff
Buslar Dubberow Groß Poplow Groß Rambin
Groß Tychow Grüssow Kamissow Klanzig
Kollatz Kreitzig Kösternitz Langenhaken
Lankow Lülfitz Nelep Neu Buckow
Pumlow Rarfin Redel Reinfeld
Roggow Schlenzig Schlönwitz Schmenzin
Simmatzig Standemin Vietzow Warnin
Wopersnow Wusterbarth Zadtkow Zarnefanz

Cities and communes

At the end of its existence in 1945, Belgard district included three towns: Belgard, Bad Polzin and Schivelbein. There were also 126 municipalities:[11]

List of municipalities as of 1945
Alt Lülfitz Alt Sanskow Alt Schlage Arnhausen
Ballenberg Balsdrey Battin Berkenow
Boissin Bolkow Boltenhagen Bramstädt
Briesen Brunow Brutzen Buchhorst
Bulgrin Burzlaff Buslar Butzke
Damen Damerow Darkow Denzin
Dohnafelde Döbel Drenow Dubberow
Eichenfelde Gauerkow Glötzin Groß Panknin
Groß Rambin Groß Satspe Groß Tychow Grössin
Grüssow Gumtow Hohenwardin Jagertow
Kamissow Karsbaum Kartlow Kavelsberg
Kieckow Klein Panknin Klein Rambin Klein Satspe
Klempin Klemzow Klötzin Klützkow
Kollatz Kowalk Kösternitz Kreitzig
Kussenow Langen Lankow Lasbeck
Latzig Leckow Lenzen Liepz
Lutzig Mandelatz Meseritz Muttrin
Naffin Natztow Nelep Nemmin
Neu Buckow Neu Lülfitz Neu Sanskow Panzerin
Podewils Polchlep Poplow Pribslaff
Pumlow Pustchow Quisbernow Rarfin
Redel Redlin Reinfeld Repzin
Retzin Ristow Ritzig Roggow
Rostin Röhlshof Rützenhagen Sager
Schinz Schlenin Schlenzig Schlönwitz
Schmenzin Semerow Siedkow Silesen
Simmatzig Standemin Technow Teschenbusch
Tietzow Venzlaffshagen Vietzow Vorbruch
Vorwerk Völzkow Warnin Wartenstein
Wopersnow Wussow Wusterbarth Wutzow
Zadtkow Zarnefanz Zietlow Ziezeneff
Zuchen Zwirnitz

Dissolved estates

Name changes

Religion

The population of Belgard district has belonged almost entirely to the Protestant faith since the Reformation. In the census of May 17, 1939, 96.6% of the inhabitants identified themselves with Protestantism. The proportion of Roman Catholic Christians was 1.4%, and Gottgläubigen (God believers) made up 0.9%.

Protestant church

The parishes in the district belonged to the Ecclesastical Province of Pomerania of the Prussian Union of Churches. There were two church districts within the district's territory, namely Belgard and Schivelbein, whose boundaries largely coincided with those of the two former districts prior to 1932.

In 1931, the parishes of Karvin, Kerstin and Körlin were abolished, and the area was all integrated into the church district of Belgard. Meanwhile, Groß and Klein Satspe belonged to the parish of Seeger in the parish of Körlin; Tietzow and EWarnin were governed by the Schwellin parish in the Bublitz church district. When in the course of the dissolution of the district of Schivelbein Labenz, Nuthagen and Rützow were transferred to the district of Dramburg, the parishes of Labenz and Rützow remained with the church district of Schivelbein. Schlenzig became part of Petershagen in the church district of Kolberge and Ritzig, and would later become part of Wusterwitz in the church district of Dramburg.

With 58,750 members, the Belgard church district was one of the largest in the province. It comprised 18 parishes with 19 branch parishes with 22 pastors, 39 churches and 4 chapels.

The parish of Schivelbein had 26,689 parishioners in 13 parishes with 21 branch parishes, 14 pastors and 34 churches.

With the end of the Second World War, the number of Germans and thus also of evangelical Christians dwindled to a minimum. They were looked after by the parish office in Koszalin and belonged to the Diocese of Pomerania-Greater Poland of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland. In the Belgard Goergen Church, which now belongs to the Catholic Church in Poland, regular Protestant services are held in both Polish and German.

Catholic Church

In the first centuries after the Reformation, there were practically no Catholics in the Belgard area. In the middle of the 19th century, it is still reported that the few Catholic Christians in the Belgard district were cared for from time to time by clergymen from the Catholic community in Köslin or Kolberg.

From 1887, Holy Masses were held in Belgard in an inn hall. Church building plans fell through. In 1915, the first post-Reformation Catholic priest took office in Belgard. In a carriage shed of a master blacksmith, there was a room that was sufficient as an emergency church.

On November 12, 1920, the foundation stone of a new church was laid, and the topping-out ceremony was celebrated on December 16, 1920. After the parish apartment could be occupied on July 25, 1921, the ceremonial consecration of the new church on Pankniner Straße took place on August 24, 1921. In 1925, the community had around 300 members.

In the summer of 1945, St. Mary's Church and St. George's Church in Belgard were dedicated to the Polish Catholic Church. The small church on Pankniner Straße was only used for communion and vicarage.

In Schivelbein with a catchment area to Dramburg and Rummelsburg, a dedicated pastor was hired in 1863. A private apartment rented in 1858 served as the chapel room. In 1868 the rented chapel was replaced by a separate mission house with a chapel, school and apartment under one roof. In 1883 the congregation was left to its own devices due to a lack of priests, and masses were held sporadically in Kolberg and Köslin.

It was not until 1900 that the community received its own pastor again. At the time, Schivelbein had 29 Catholics among its 7,700 inhabitants. In 1925 there were 50 Schivelberiners among 400 members of the entire parish.

Jewish religious community

In 1826 a synagogue was built in Belgarder Jägerstraße. Until the First World War, there was neither overt nor hidden antisemitism. That changed in the 1920s, when the son of the master baker Klotz was shot during the Kapp Putsch in Heerstrasse, it was claimed that the fatal shot had come from a Jewish house, that of Herr Moses. Only gradually after this event did the situation calm down again.

The community had about 130 members in 1933. A boycott day was proclaimed on April 1, 1933, and SA men gathered in front of all Jewish shops. But at the time, there were repeated rallies of sympathy for the Jews.

Traffic

Belgard and the former district town of Schivelbein had already been connected in 1859 to the Stargard–Köslin line of the Berlin-Stettiner Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft line (111), as well as the 111n branch line to Kolberg.

A line of Prussian Eastern Railway was connected to the town in 1878. In 1897, the Prussian State Railways ran a branch line from Schivelbein to Bad Polzin (111m); From there it was built in 1903 on the one hand to Gramenz and on the other hand to Falkenburg (111k+m).

Finally, the district town of Belgard became the starting point for two narrow-gauge railways, which were put into operation by the “ United Small Railways of the Districts of Köslin, Bublitz, Belgard ” in 1905 to Schwellin in the district of Köslin and in 1909 to Rarfin (113v+w).

Notable people

  • Rudolf Virchow (1821 - 1902), German physician and politician, was born in Schivelbein. His mother came from Belgard.

Galleries

References

  1. Die Behördenorganisation und die allgemeine Staatsverwaltung Preussens im 18. Jahrhundert. University of California. Berlin, P. Parey. 1894. p. 171.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  2. Fabri, Johann Ernst (1793). Geographie für alle Stände (in German). Schwickert. p. 538.
  3. "Pommersche Kreiskarte. Blatt 2 - Książnica Pomorska". zbc.ksiaznica.szczecin.pl. Retrieved 2023-02-03.
  4. "Die Reform der Verwaltungsbezirke in Brandenburg und Pommern 1809 - 1818 / mit Unterstützung der Histor. Komm. für die Provinz Pommern von Berthold Schulze". digital.ub.uni-potsdam.de. 1931. p. 94. Retrieved 2023-02-03.
  5. Die Gemeinden und Gutsbezirke des Preussischen Staates und ihre Bevölkerung. 3, Die Gemeinden und Gutsbezirke der Provinz Pommern und ihre Bevölkerung : nach den Urmaterialien der allgemeinen Volkszählung vom 1. December 1871. Verlag des Königlichen Statistischen Bureaus. 1874.
  6. "Willkommen bei Gemeindeverzeichnis.de". www.gemeindeverzeichnis.de. Retrieved 2023-02-03.
  7. "Verordnung über die Neugliederung von Landkreisen vom 1. August 1932". wiki.genealogy.net. Retrieved 2023-02-03.
  8. Hassel, Johann Georg Heinrich (1805). Statistischer Umriss der sämtlichen europäischen Staaten in Hinsicht ihrer Grösse, Bevölkerung, Kulturverhältnisse, Handlung, Finanz- und Militärverfassung und ihrer aussereuropäischen Besitzungen: ¬Die statistische Ansicht und Specialstatistik von Mitteleuropa. 1 (in German). Vieweg. p. 44.
  9. Stein, Christian Gottfried Daniel (1819). Handbuch der Geographie und Statistik des preußischen Staats (etc.) (in German). Voss. p. 232.
  10. Bureau, Prussia (Kingdom) Königliches Statistisches (1849). Mittheilungen des Statistischen Bureau's in Berlin (in German). p. 316.
  11. "Landkreis Belgard". Archived from the original on March 24, 2016. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
  12. "Der Kreis Belgard". Archived from the original on December 6, 2012. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
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