Kartuzy was established about 1380 as a
monastery for
Carthusian monks descending from
Prague in the
Kingdom of Bohemia, after whom it received its name. The charterhouse was vested with large estates by the
State of the Teutonic Order. According to the
Second Peace of Thorn the area returned to the
Kingdom of Poland in 1466, within which it was administratively part of the
Pomeranian Voivodeship in the provinces of
Royal Prussia and
Greater Poland. The Carthusian monks had the nearby woodlands cleared out, and peasants from the neighbouring
Duchy of Pomerania were encouraged to settle and farm in the newly cleared areas. During the course of the
Protestant Reformation Kartuzy and its surrounding area were incorporated into the possessions of Cistercian
Oliwa Abbey in 1565. The area was annexed by
Prussia in the
First Partition of Poland in 1772. The Prussian government finally dissolved the monastery in 1826. Around that time the settlement was fairly insignificant. It began to play a greater economic role after 1841 when the lands of the monastery were parcelled out. From 1871 to 1920 it was also part of the
German Empire and belonged to the
Karthaus district in
Regierungsbezirk Danzig in the Prussian
Province of West Prussia. In 1894, Kartuzy, then officially
Karthaus, was connected to the Praust (
Pruszcz Gdański)-Lauenburg (
Lębork) railway line of the
Prussian State Railway. At the turn of the 20th century, the town had a Protestant church, a Catholic church and a synagogue. The town was appreciated as a climatic type of health resort. Many pensioners and other retired persons settled down here. According to the census of 1910, Karthuas had a population of 3,699, of which 1,937 (52.4%) were
Germans, 1,696 (45.9%) were
Kashubians and 50 (1.4%) were
Poles. When after
World War I the regulations of the
Treaty of Versailles became effective in 1920, Kartuzy was reintegrated into the re-established
Polish Republic where it was the seat of the Kartuzy County within the
Pomeranian Voivodeship and in 1923 it was granted
town rights. After the
invasion of Poland, which started
World War II, Kartuzy was
occupied by Germany, where it was administered as part of the newly formed province of
Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia, Regierungsbezirk Danzig. In mid-September 1939 the
SS Wachsturmbann "Eimann" and
Einsatzkommando 16 entered the town to carry out mass arrests and massacres of local
Poles as part of the
Intelligenzaktion Pommern. Around 4,000 Poles from Kartuzy and the county were arrested in September 1939. That same month, many local pre-war Polish activists, as well as railway, post and court employees, were murdered in massacres in the forests in
Gmina Somonino and at the Wzgórze Wolności, while 10 Polish priests were murdered in the forest near Kartuzy (see:
Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church in Poland). Poles from the village of
Egiertowo were also murdered in the Kartuzy forest. At the end of
World War II Kartuzy was captured by the
Red Army and afterwards it was restored to Poland. Kartuzy has long been a cultural center of the
Kashubians. Since 1947 a Kashubian Museum has featured numerous exhibits connected to
Kashubia and its inhabitants. The town has also set up a
bust to honor Dr.
Aleksander Majkowski, author of
The Life and Adventures of Remus, who practiced medicine in Kartuzy for a time and is buried here. In 2010, the
Kashubian Unity Day was held here. On March 28, 2010, after the
Holy Mass in the fourteenth-century collegiate church, Kashubes in colorful regional costumes with black-and-yellow flags passed through the streets to the Team of Schools No. 2 for Wybicki's Estate where the main celebrations were held. The town was administratively part of the
Gdańsk Voivodeship from 1975 to 1998. ==Coat of arms==