Pomeranian stronghold at modern Budzistowo According to Piskorski (1999) and Kempke (2001), Slavic and Lechitic immigration reached
Farther Pomerania in the 7th century. First Slavic settlements in the vicinity of Kołobrzeg were centered around nearby deposits of salt and date to 6th and 7th century. In the late 9th century, the
Pomeranian tribes erected a
fortified settlement at the site of modern part of Kołobrzeg county called
Budzistowo near modern Kołobrzeg, replacing nearby
Bardy-Świelubie, a multi-ethnic emporium, as the center of the region. The
Parseta valley, where both the emporium and the stronghold were located, was one of the
Pomeranians' core settlement areas. The stronghold consisted of a fortified
burgh with a suburbium. The
Pomeranians mined salt They also engaged in fishing, and used the salt to conserve foodstuffs, primarily
herring, for trade. Other important occupations were
metallurgy and
smithery, based on local iron ore reserves, other crafts like the production of combs from horn, and in the surrounding areas, agriculture. Important sites in the settlement were a place for periodical markets and a tavern, mentioned as
forum et taberna in 1140.
Piast Poland and conversion During
Polish rule of the area in the late 10th century, the chronicle of
Thietmar of Merseburg (975–1018) mentions
salsa Cholbergiensis as the see of the
Bishopric of Kołobrzeg, set up during the
Congress of Gniezno in 1000 and placed under the
Archdiocese of Gniezno. In 1013 Bolesław Chrobry removed his troops from Pomerania in face of war with Holy Roman Emperor
Henry III. A previous Polish siege of the burgh had been unsuccessful; although the duke had fled the burgh, the Polish army was unable to break through the fortifications and the two gates. The army had however looted and burned the suburbium, which was not or only lightly fortified. In the 12th-century Polish chronicle
Gesta principum Polonorum Kołobrzeg was named a significant and
famous city. During the subsequent
Christianization of the area by
Otto of Bamberg at the behest of Bolesław, a St. Mary's church was built. before the dukes became vassals of
Denmark in 1185 and the
Holy Roman Empire in 1227. Besides St. Mary's, a St. John's church and a St. Petri's chapel were built. A painting of the town of Kołobrzeg from the 13th century is located in the Museum of Polish Arms in the city.
From the late Middle Ages to the Thirty Years' War During the
Ostsiedlung, a settlement was founded by German settlers some kilometres off the site of the Slavic/Lechitic one. It was located within the boundaries of today's downtown of Kołobrzeg and some of the inhabitants of the Polish town moved to the new settlement. and more settlers arrived, attracted by the duke.
Hermann von Gleichen, German bishop of
Kammin also supported the German colonisation of the region. while St. Mary's in the former Pomeranian stronghold was turned into a nuns' abbey. Already in 1248, the
Kammin bishops and the
Pomeranian dukes had interchanged the
terrae Stargard and Kolberg, leaving the bishops in charge of the latter. In 1345, the bishops became
Imperial immediate dukes in their secular reign. When the property of the
Bishopric of Kammin was secularized during the
Protestant Reformation in 1534, their secular reign including the Kolberg area became intermediately ruled by a Lutheran titular bishop, before it was turned into a
Sekundogenitur of the
House of Pomerania. During the
Thirty Years' War, Kolberg was
occupied by imperial forces from 1627 to 1630, and
thereafter by Swedish forces.
Modern era: In Prussia Kolberg, with most of
Farther Pomerania, was granted to
Brandenburg-Prussia in 1648 by the
Treaty of Westphalia and, after the signing of the
Treaty of Stettin (1653), and in accordance with the
Treaty of Grimnitz, was part of the
Province of Pomerania. In the 1690s,
French Huguenot immigrants and merchants from the
Netherlands settled in the city, however, due to the bankruptcy of the merchants, the hired French preacher left for
Warsaw in 1700, and several merchants went back to the Netherlands. It became part of the
Kingdom of Prussia in 1701. In the 18th century, trade with Poland declined, while the production of textiles was developed. and after his release, he tried to organise a chaplaincy for the many Polish soldiers stationed in Kolberg. In the 19th century the city had a small but active Polish population that increased during the century to account for 1.5% of the population by 1905. The Polish community funded a Catholic school and the Church of Saint Marcin where masses were held in Polish (initially throughout the season, after about 1890 all year). Dating back to 1261 Kolberg's Jewish population amounted to 528 people in 1887, rising to 580 two years later, and although many moved to Berlin after that date they numbered around 500 by the end of the Nineteenth century. Between 1924 and 1935, the American-German painter
Lyonel Feininger, a tutor at the
Staatliches Bauhaus, visited Kolberg repeatedly and painted the cathedral and environs of the town. In the May elections of 1933, the
Nazi Party received by far the most votes, 9,842 out of 19,607 cast votes. When the Nazis took power in Germany in 1933, the Jewish community in Kolberg comprised 200 people, and the antisemitic repression by Germany's ruling party led several of them to flee the country. A Nazi newspaper, the
Kolberger Beobachter, listed Jewish shops and business that were to be boycotted. Nazis also engaged in hate propaganda against Jewish lawyers, doctors, and craftsmen. At the end of 1935, Jews were banned from working in the city's health spas. In 1938, all Jews in Kolberg, as all over Germany, were renamed in official German documents as "Israel" (for males) or "Sarah" (for females). In the beginning of 1939, Jews were banned from attending German schools and the entire adult population had its driving licenses revoked. A labour subcamp of the
Stalag II-D prisoner-of-war camp for
Allied POWs was also operated in the city by Germany. In 1944, the city was selected as a fortress —
Festung Kolberg. The 1807 siege was used for the last
Nazi propaganda film,
Kolberg shortly before the end of the war by
Joseph Goebbels. It was meant to inspire the Germans with its depiction of the heroic Prussian defence during the
Napoleonic Wars. Tremendous resources were devoted to filming this epic, even diverting tens of thousands of troops from the front lines to have them serve as extras in battle scenes. Ironically, the film was released in the final few weeks of Nazi Germany's existence, when most of the country's cinemas were already destroyed. On 10 February 1945, the German torpedo-boat T-196 brought about 300 survivors of the , which had been sunk by
Soviet submarine S-13 to Kolberg. As the
Red Army advanced on Kolberg, most of the inhabitants and tens of thousands of refugees from surrounding areas (about 70,000 were trapped in the
Kolberg Pocket), as well as 40,000 German soldiers, were evacuated from the besieged city by German naval forces in
Operation Hannibal. Only about two thousand soldiers were left on 17 March to cover the last sea transports. Between 4 and 18 March 1945, there were
major battles between the
Soviet and
Polish forces and the
German army. Because of a lack of anti-tank weapons, German destroyers used their guns to support the defenders of Kolberg until nearly all of the soldiers and civilians had been evacuated. During the fights, Polish soldiers' losses were 1,013 dead, 142 MIA and 2,652 wounded. On 18 March, the
Polish Army re-enacted ''
Poland's Wedding to the Sea'' ceremony, which had been celebrated for the first time in 1920 by General
Józef Haller. After the battle the city for several weeks was under Soviet administration, the Germans that had not yet fled were
expelled and the city was plundered by the Soviet troops. Freed Polish forced laborers remained and were joined by Polish railwaymen from
Warsaw destroyed by the Germans. File:Kolobrzeg c1890-1905 LOC 00729u.jpg|Kolberg between 1890 and 1905 File:Kolberg Strandschloss Rosengarten 1900.jpg|Strandschloss (Beach Castle) in Kolberg c. 1900 File:Kolobrzeg1945.JPG|80% of the city destroyed in 1945 File:Kołobrzeg.jpg|Ratuszowy Square, Kołobrzeg in 2019
Post-war Poland After
World War II the region became again part of Poland, under territorial changes demanded by the
Soviet Union and the Soviet-installed Polish Communist regime at the
Potsdam Conference. Most Germans that had not yet fled were
expelled from their homes in accordance with the
Potsdam Agreement. The town was resettled by Polish citizens, many of whom were themselves
Polish refugees from regions east of
former eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union, from where they had been displaced by Soviet authorities. In 2000 the city business council of Kołobrzeg commissioned a monument called the Millennium Memorial as a commemoration of "
1000 years of Christianity in Pomerania", and as a tribute to Polish-German Reconciliation, celebrating the meeting of King
Bolesław I of Poland and King
Otto III of
Germany, at the
Congress of Gniezno, in the year 1000. It was designed and built by the artist
Wiktor Szostalo in welded stainless steel. The two figures sit at the base of a 5-meter cross, cleft in two and being held together by a dove holding an
olive branch. It is installed outside the Basilica Cathedral in the city center. ==Climate==