Szczecin

The center of Szczecin:

Rome was not built in one night and also Szczecin will not be rebuilt in a night. The pre-war Stettin has only been partially restored, but the work continues unabated. The Pomeranian Greifen (Dukes) dynasty (Zamek Ksiazat Pomorskich) is the highlight of the city's tourists sights.

The white castle overlooks the old town and dates back to the 14th century, although it was only rebuilt in its current form in 1577. You can climb the bell tower. It was totally destroyed during WWII by Allied carpet bombing. Inside you can find the castle museum with various exhibitions. Below the castle is the old market square where partly the houses have been rebuilt to their old style.

One of these is the Gothic town hall from the 13th century, which now houses the historical museum. The building came almost (and miraculously) undamaged from the ravages of WW2. Because Szczecin had to relinquish many buildings to the capital Warchau, unfortunately the old center could not be rebuilt entirely. It is now a fairly cozy square with terraces, restaurants and cafes. 

Other important buildings are the Gothic Jacob's church, Lutheran Stadtkirche, after 1945 Roman Catholic cathedral (restored 1971-1982) and the two medieval city gates. The Oderpromenade, built for new government buildings and the city museum by Mayor Haken (1878-1907) and therefore called Hakenterrasse, renamed Waly Chrobrego after 1945, is another attraction. Finally, it’s possible for a number of years now to book a tour via the information centre to go through the underground corridors of Szczecin. 

Other attractions:

• The Filharmonia Szczecin, an architecturally award-winning modern concert hall built in 2014.

Szczecin is the capital of historic Pomerania. In the 5th century BC a kind of defense because of trade between Scandinavia and Central Europe had already been established here (at nowadays Szczecin). A fortress made of earthen walls and wooden shelters came into being as a center for the Germanic tribe of the Rugians, who left her in the 7th century, after which the Slavic tribe of the Pomorsans took over in the 8th century.

It became an important place for storeages of goods and it wouldn’t take long before the Dukes of Pomerania moved in. In the mid 10th century those dukes joined up with the Polish king but a century later they distanted themselves again from him. Bishop Otto von Bamberg was ordered to baptize the population in the 2nd decade of the 12th century. In addition, he had the heathen temples for the deity Triglav devastated to set up churches in their places. The dukes eventually had to make a choice between German, Danish and Polish sovereigns.

In 1181 they took over the German emperor as their upperlord, with whom Pomerania became a part of the German Empire (Holy Roman Empire). More and more settlers from the German empire populated that city and the Slavic population gradually disappeared to the neighborhoods and villages around it, insofar as they were not assimilated into the bourgeoisie. In 1272 the city joined the Hanseatic League, in which it distinguished itself as a fish market. The population doubled to 10,000 inhabitants in the 15th century. But then the city had already relinquished its first place in the ranking of Baltic cities east of the Oder to Danzig. 

The Thirty Years' War made the decline complete with the extinction of the line of dukes family (1637). The city and its surroundings now came under the sovereignty of the Swedish king (1648), and lost their economic significance to keep little more than a strategic military one. After the Great Northern War Sweden had to relinquish the city to Prussia (1721).

In October 1806, Emperor Napoleon conquered Stettin on the Prussians, which in 1813 recaptured the city from the French. With Prussia, the province of Pomerania became part of the German Empire in 1870 again. The city, as the port of Berlin, would become the most important German Baltic port with a strategically important industry. After Hamburg and Bremen, Stettin was the third German seaport in size. Therefore, at the end of WW2, it would become a target of Allied air bombardments, which left little of the ports and the old town center. Half of the buildings were lost. Also because the Red Army passed in the last weeks of the war. 

Germany had to hand over a quart part of its territory in 1945, namely the provinces east of the Oder and the Neisse to Poland. Although Stettin was to the west of the Oder, but to deprive Berlin of its seaport and to guarantee Poland the strategic power over the Oder estuary, after discussion the city and its surroundings were left to Poland to be annexed to Czechoslovakia. 

In the provisions of Potsdam, Stettin was left with the Soviet zone (later GDR) but on July 5, 1945, the Soviet occupying authorities deposed the newly-arranged communist German city council, after which the German population was expelled and replaced by new Polish inhabitants. Although the GDR recognized the Oder-Neissegrens without reservation, it retained reservations for Stettin for a long time, which were only expressed in the internal diplomacy of the Eastern Bloc.