Middle Ages which surrounded the town The region was part of Poland during the reign of the first Polish ruler
Mieszko I and during the early part of the reign of his successor,
Bolesław I the Brave. It broke away along with most of Pomerania in the pagan revolt that occurred around 1005, but was reconquered by the Polish king in the early 1100s. The
Battle of Niekładź took place in the area of Gryfice in 1121, in which Polish ruler
Bolesław III Wrymouth defeated
Wartislaw I, Duke of Pomerania and
Swietopelk I, Duke of Pomerania. The area was part of the
Duchy of Pomerania, a vassal state of
Poland, which later on separated itself from Poland as a result of the
fragmentation of Poland. In 1262
Wartislaw III, Duke of Pomerania founded a town under
Lübeck law on the
Rega river to attract
German settlers. After his death, his successor,
Barnim I, Duke of Pomerania, named the settlement
Civitat Griphemberch super Regam (
Middle High German 'Griphemberch' meaning Griffin's mountain) after the coat of arms symbol of the
Dukes of Pomerania. In 1365 the town entered the
Hanseatic League and prospered due to the right of free navigation on the Rega, despite the 350-year
conflict over rafting on the Rega river. A town wall was built and at the end of the 13th century the construction of the
St. Mary's church was begun. In a document of 1386 a Latin school is mentioned, which is generally called the oldest in Pomerania.
Modern era In the 16th century, the local Germans pursued a policy of
Germanisation towards the indigenous population, which, however, did not bring results quickly. At that time, some of the indigenous peasants fled to
Poland, while
Scottish immigrants settled in the town. As a result of the
Thirty Years' War, the population of the town decreased dramatically. Local
Poles and
Jews were subjected to increased repressions, after the
Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933. After the German
invasion of Poland,
forced labourers from Poland were brought to the town. During
World War II, the Germans operated four
forced labour subcamps of the
Stalag II-D prisoner-of-war camp in the town. At the end of World War II, on 5 March 1945, the Soviet
Red Army conquered the town, and on March 8, Poles entered the town. Approximately 40 per cent of the town was destroyed, however many historical monuments stayed intact or were reconstructed. Following the
post-war boundary changes, the town became part of Poland. Initially called
Zagórze, it was eventually given the Polish name
Gryfice. The Germans who did not escape during the battle with the Soviets,
were expelled and the town was populated with
Poles,
some of them expellees themselves from
Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union. The post-war administration of Gryfice was created with the participation of the just-freed Polish forced labourers. After the war, the life of the town was being rebuilt. In 1945, the first post-war schools, a hospital and a cinema were opened and the following year a mill, a
gasworks and a
marmalade factory were opened. In 1948 a sugar factory was established, which already in 1951 was one of the leading sugar factories in Poland. From 1975 to 1998, it was administratively located in the
Szczecin Voivodeship. ==Demographics==