In the
early Middle Ages there was a
West Slavic or Lechitic
stronghold here, followed by a market settlement on the border between
Poland and
Lusatia. Probably its oldest name was
Żemrje. It is located within
Lower Lusatia, but at some times it also belonged to
Silesia, e.g. under the Polish rulers
Bolesław the Brave and
Henry the Bearded. After Bolko's death in 1368 it was seized as a reverted fief by the
Bohemian (Czech) Crown. In 1411, Czech King
Wenceslaus IV granted the town the
privilege of minting coins. In 1429, the
Hussites invaded the town. Town Hall When the Brandenburg Elector
Albert III Achilles of Hohenzollern acquired the nearby
Silesian towns of
Krossen (Krosno Odrzańskie) and
Züllichau (Sulechów) in 1482, the adjacent Sommerfeld area too came into the possession of Brandenburg and was incorporated into the
Neumark district. At the time, the town and the surrounding area were inhabited mainly by Slavonic
Sorbs. In 1496 and 1597 the town suffered from fires, and in 1527 1,100 inhabitants died of an epidemic. During the
Napoleonic Wars and
Polish national liberation fights in February 1813, Polish
uhlans quartered in the town. From 1816 on the town belonged to the
Prussian Province of Brandenburg. In 1846 Sommerfeld received a station on the
railway line connecting
Berlin with
Breslau (Wrocław). From 1871 to 1945 the town was part of Germany. During
World War II, the Germans established seven
forced labour camps in the town. The town was captured by the Soviets in February 1945, and in June it was handed over to Poland in accordance with the
Potsdam Agreement. During the war the town miraculously survived from any severe destruction and artillery fire, thus its medieval Old Town and Market Square are preserved to this day. In the years that followed World War II the remaining inhabitants of Sommerfeld were gradually
expelled and the town was resettled with ethnic
Poles, expelled from the pre-war Polish
Eastern Borderlands, annexed by the
Soviet Union. Initially, the new Polish administrative name was
Zemsz, however, it was later changed to Lubsko for unknown reasons. The name Zemsz is still used by some locals and historians alongside the current one. In 1947 the "Patria" cinema, and in 1964 the Lubsko Culture House was opened. ==Sights==