In the 18th century, the area of the future Netzekreis belonged to the
Netze District, which became part of the
Kingdom of Prussia with the
First Partition of Poland in 1772. From 1807 to 1815, the area was ceded by Prussia to the
Duchy of Warsaw. In 1815, it was restored to Prussia and became part of the
Bromberg Region in the
Grand Duchy of Posen, which became the Prussian
Province of Posen in 1848. It belonged to
Germany since 1871. The district was subjected to
Germanisation policies. After the end of
World War I and the restoration of
independent Poland, large parts of the
Province of Posen, as part of historic
Greater Poland, i.e. the cradle of the Polish state, were restored by
Germany to Poland as a consequence of the
Treaty of Versailles, however, small portions in the north remained part of Germany. Since 2 August 1919 the parts of the districts of
Czarnikau,
Filehne and
Kolmar that remained in Germany were jointly administered from
Schönlanke (Trzcianka). On 20 November 1919 the area was subordinated to the new administrative region of
Frontier March of West Prussia-Posen with its headquarters in
Schneidemühl (Piła). The formal merger of the three districts to form the new Netzekreis district took place on 15 December 1919. On 10 January 1920 the Treaty of Versailles came into effect, according to which all areas of the former districts of Czarnikau, Filehne and Kolmar south of the new
Germany–Poland border became again part of Poland. On 11 January 1921 the administrative region of "Frontier March of West Prussia-Posen" was renamed "Frontier March of Posen-West Prussia". On 1 July 1922 the new
Province of Posen-West Prussia was formed from the administrative region. The new
Schneidemühl region was formed on 1 August 1922, which was congruent to the province. In 1936, the municipality of Lukatz-Kreuz was renamed
Kreuz (Ostbahn) (Krzyż Wielkopolski) and was made a town. On 1 October 1938 the Netzekreis was incorporated into the
Province of Pomerania after the
Province of Posen-West Prussia was dissolved. For reasons of tradition, the
Schneidemühl Region was renamed "Frontier March of Posen-West Prussia" Region. During
World War II, the Germans operated a
forced labour subcamp of the
Stalag II-B prisoner-of-war camp in
Ługi Ujskie. On January 28, 1945, the retreating Germans committed a massacre of six Italian generals (
Giuseppe Andreoli,
Emanuele Balbo Bertone,
Ugo Ferrero,
Carlo Spatocco,
Alberto Trionfi,
Alessandro Vaccaneo) at
Kuźnica Żelichowska during a German-perpetrated
death march of prisoners of war. In the spring of 1945, the district was conquered by the
Red Army and then eventually restored to Poland after the war. == Municipalities ==