Schweidnitz

Polish: Świdnica

Latin: Swidnicium (Henel 1613); Czech: Svídnice

The name Schweidnitz is of Slavic origin, but its meaning is unclear (either from świdwa = dogwood bush, according to Irgang; from świdnica, the Polish name for the Bögenwasser stream, according to Weczerka; or from swide, the Polish name for a species of willow found in the region). The phonetic connection to the boar (‘pig’) depicted in the coat of arms of 1501 may also have played a role in the naming. There is no definitive evidence for any of these possibilities. Nor can the theory that the name derives from a pagan robber named ‘Swido’ or ‘Swidno’, who lived in the 8th century in the area of present-day Schweidnitz, be proven with certainty.

Schweidnitz is situated around 50 km south-west of Breslau/Wrocław on the Schweidnitzer Weistritz, between Zobten/Sobótka and the Eulengebirge, at 50° 51′ north latitude and 16° 29′ east longitude.

Lower Silesia

Poland. Świdnica is the administrative centre of Świdnica County and forms part of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship (Województwo dolnośląskie). Since 2004, the town has been the seat of the newly established Diocese of Świdnica.

The coat of arms is quartered and features a golden crown in each of the first and fourth black quarters, a red griffin striding to the right in the second silver quarter, and a black boar leaping to the left in the third silver quarter. The town’s great seal from 1315 features a griffin striding to the right with an inscription, whilst the aldermen’s seal from 1335 depicts a boar facing left with stylised tendrils. The town’s small seal from 1452 features, beneath the royal crown, two chained shields bearing a boar (on the right) and a griffin (on the left), with an angel holding a scroll in the centre below them.

According to Crato von Krafftheim, Schweidnitz is said to have been founded in 1070 as a Slavic settlement, although the first documented reference to it dates from 1243. Around 1100, Peter Wlast (Piotr Włostowic[z]) is said to have built a wooden church in Schweidnitz. In 1163, the town, as part of Breslau, came under the rule of Bolesław I the Tall (Bolesław I Wysoki). Under Burgrave Henry I, a Franciscan monastery was founded in 1220 (according to Schickfuß), Henry III granted Schweidnitz a brewing charter in 1244. In 1250, Magdeburg law was introduced here and confirmed by Bolko II of Schweidnitz in 1363. A bailiff is mentioned for the year 1274. Between 1200 and 1350, large numbers of German craftsmen and farmers also settled in the Schweidnitz area. Henry III also encouraged the settlement of displaced Jews from Breslau. In 1283, the Order of the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star was summoned from Breslau to Schweidnitz and entrusted with the management of St Michael’s Hospital.

With Bolko I, the rule of the Dukes of Schweidnitz began in 1290; they improved the town’s fortifications and made the surrounding villages more defensible. Trade experienced a new upswing. Bolko’s son Bernhard endowed the Dominicans with a monastery and the Church of the Holy Cross (consecrated in 1311). In 1328, Duke Bolko II granted the Jews permission to build a synagogue. The Gothic parish church of St Stanislaus and St Wenceslas (Kościół par. ŚŚ. Stanisława i Wacława) was built between 1330 and 1386 on the site of a previous building mentioned in 1250, and was rebuilt after a fire by 1535. In the years 1361, 1374, 1389, 1391 and 1406, the town was partly severely destroyed by major fires, but was always quickly rebuilt. In 1413, 1495, 1497 and on several occasions thereafter, the plague struck Schweidnitz. Following the death of Duchess Agnes in 1392, the town, together with the Duchy of Schweidnitz, passed to the Crown of Bohemia.

The Reformation had already been paved the way for in the Schweidnitz area by the Hussites as early as the 15th century and quickly gained followers. As early as 1522, the new doctrine was being preached with the approval of the incumbent vicar; in the hereditary principalities of Schweidnitz and Jauer/Jawor, which were directly subject to the Bohemian Crown, Protestants built numerous new churches and established congregations.

In 1575, Emperor Maximilian II stripped the town of its high court following a fatal incident in Schweidnitz involving an imperial knight, denied it the right to freely elect its council, and transferred the provincial and manorial courts as well as the chancelleries of the principalities to Jauer. This dealt a considerable blow to the town’s reputation, even though its rights were restored in 1580.

Schweidnitz initially suffered relatively little from the Thirty Years’ War, but the quartering of thousands of Mansfeld and Wallenstein soldiers in the early 1620s, famine, devastation and, not least, material and financial losses caused considerable damage. The population fell to 200 people (1648). Added to this was the fact that the hoped-for religious freedom failed to materialise, and it was not until 1710, following the Convention of Altranstadt, that the bell tower of the Friedenskirche could be consecrated.

Under Frederick the Great, although the quartering of troops—due to Prussian troop movements during the Silesian Wars—did not diminish, there was no further devastation or harassment; nevertheless, the war-related damage was considerable. Towards the end of the century, the Prussian king provided financial support for the town’s reconstruction.

The political situation at the start of the new century was initially stable, until the Napoleonic Wars began to affect Schweidnitz. In 1805, Napoleon sought bases in Silesia from which he could launch targeted military operations against Prussia. Schweidnitz, alongside Glatz/Kłodzko, was developed into one of the strongest Prussian fortresses in Silesia and was of great strategic importance. However, the town was captured by French troops and remained under occupation until 1808. Until 1813, as a result of this military experience, the local council invested primarily in repairing the fortifications, which set back Schweidnitz’s economic development. It was not until 1867 that the fortifications were finally demolished, paving the way for urban expansion that facilitated the growth in traffic and trade.

In 1810, secularisation also took place in Schweidnitz: those monasteries that did not serve as hospitals or schools were assigned to the town and repurposed for a wide variety of uses.

In the revolutionary year of 1848, tensions between the garrison and the bourgeoisie erupted into riots and fighting.

The transition from the German Empire to the Republic took place relatively peacefully in Schweidnitz. In addition to the restrictions common throughout the German Empire regarding the development of industry and trade following the Treaty of Versailles, Schweidnitz was also affected by high unemployment. The NSDAP, founded in Silesia in 1925, enjoyed a surge in support in the 1932 elections, and the Schweidnitz National Socialist Georg Trzeciak won a seat in the Prussian State Parliament. Political ‘Gleichschaltung’ took place here as in other parts of the Reich. The persecution of the Jews led to the destruction of the synagogue and Jewish shops in Schweidnitz in 1938.

Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, a lawyer from nearby Kreisau/Krzyżowa, founded a resistance group which met twice in 1942 and once more in 1943 at his estate to plan a new political order for Germany following the defeat of the Nazi regime. However, the ‘Kreisau Circle’ was uncovered, and some of its members were executed.

In January 1945, the Soviet Army reached Silesia; the front came to a halt approximately 10–15 km east of Schweidnitz. On 8 May 1945, Soviet troops entered the town, which had suffered little damage.

Up to 1300, only German personal names are attested. Between 1301 and 1326, 208 personal names are attested; of the 163 names that can be identified, 158 are German and five are Polish.^[1] In 1550, Schweidnitz had a population of approximately 5,000; in 1580, approximately 6,000; and in 1648, 200 (figure uncertain). In 1745, 7,000 people lived here; in 1794, 9,100; in 1816, 9,850; and in 1861, 15,000. Population trends in the 20th century: 28,000 in 1900, in 1920 33,500, in 1937 35,500, in 1946 21,448, in 1960 39,100 and in 1983 58,000 inhabitants.^[2] In 2011, the town had a population of approximately 60,000.

The goldsmith’s trade, which flourished in the Middle Ages, is documented by a list of master craftsmen dating from 1378; 14 names from the pewterers’ guild are also mentioned as early as 1379. The Schweidnitz Town Pharmacy Regulations, issued by the magistrate in 1563, are the first printed Silesian pharmacy regulations.

Schweidnitz Central Station (postcard: before 1945)
[Herder Institute, Marburg, Image Archive, Inv. No. 109491]

Following the French occupation, freedom of trade was restored as early as 1808 and compulsory membership of guilds was abolished, enabling a number of factories and craft workshops to spring up in the years that followed. In 1834, Christian Gottlieb Schlag’s organ-building firm was established in Schweidnitz; together with the businesses of Richard Landau and Robert Kollibay, he made organ building in and for Silesia an important economic factor and continued the region’s musical tradition at a craft level. In 1844, Schweidnitz was connected to the Breslau –Waldenburg/Wałbrzych railway line, which significantly accelerated the town’s industrialisation. Companies from the engineering, electrical and broadcasting industries, as well as furniture and toy factories, established themselves there. In 1882, Richard Max Krause founded a terracotta factory in Schweidnitz, which operated successfully until he was forced to file for bankruptcy in 1930 as a result of the Great Depression. The town, which grew rapidly after the Second World War, is now home to, amongst others, the electrical and textile industries, furniture manufacturing and leather processing businesses. Foreign investors have established supply businesses for the automotive industry.

As early as 1522, Lutheran preachers appeared in Schweidnitz and found a number of citizens who embraced the new doctrine. Following Emperor Maximilian II’s decree of 1565 on the free practice of religion, Protestant life began to flourish in Schweidnitz. In accordance with church doctrine, school education was also reformed in the spirit of Philipp Melanchthon.

With the arrival of the Liechtenstein dragoons under Count Dohna in 1629, the Counter-Reformation in the town reached unprecedented proportions: Forced conversion was enforced vigorously and, in some cases, violently; attendance at Catholic schools became compulsory for children, and the Protestant ministers were forced to leave the town. Although the dragoons left Schweidnitz after a year, the Jesuits then moved in to continue the re-Catholicisation. In 1632, Swedish and Saxon troops entered the town and, in turn, drove out the Jesuits, Dominicans and Minorites.

Although the Peace of 1648 did not resolve the issue of religious affiliation in the Habsburg hereditary lands, Swedish intervention ensured that the Peace of Westphalia contained special provisions allowing, as an exception, one Protestant wooden church each to be built in the Habsburg hereditary principalities of Glogau/Głogów, Jauer and Schweidnitz, each was permitted, by way of exception, to erect a Protestant wooden church (‘Peace Churches’). In 1654, a new church ordinance, the ‘Augsburg Confession’, was issued for the town; in 1656–1657, the Holy Trinity Peace Church in Schweidnitz was built. Nevertheless, Protestant citizens in the region continued to suffer under Counter-Reformation measures. The Treaty of Altranstädt in 1707 between Charles XII of Sweden and Emperor Joseph I reaffirmed the religious guarantees of the Letter of Majesty of 1619 and the provisions of the peace treaty of 1648, so that the situation eased somewhat.

Religious strife did not resurface in the Schweidnitz parish until 1937–38, when a fifth parish post was to be filled by a priest who belonged to the ‘German Christians’; however, the outbreak of the Second World War meant that this dispute was not pursued further.

To this day, the parish church of St Stanislaus and Wenceslas remains the centre of Catholic parish life. During the Seven Years’ War, the church was used as a grain store; from 1778 to 1780, it was confiscated once more. Although the 500th anniversary of the start of construction was celebrated in 1830, but due to Prussia’s restrictive religious policies, it was not until 1867 that permission was granted to hold a Corpus Christi procession; however, this was revoked again in 1870 in the wake of the Church Struggle. It was not until the 1880s that a thaw in church policy began to take hold, which gradually bore fruit in Schweidnitz as well (the return of the Ursulines and the Sisters of St Hedwig). The work of the Catholic parish was also hampered during the Nazi regime. Overall, the ratio of Protestants to Catholics (from 1890 onwards) was approximately 3:2.

Jews are first mentioned in 1285. In 1453, the Jews were expelled from Schweidnitz. It was not until 1799 that a Jew settled there again. Even in the 19th and 20th centuries, only a few Jews lived in Schweidnitz.^[3]

Schweidnitz is rich in architectural monuments: the Catholic parish church of St Stanislaus and Wenceslas and, above all, the Protestant Holy Trinity Church (added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2001) are particularly worth mentioning. Also worthy of note are the Baroque Jesuit College, the Baroque town residence of the Abbots of Grüssau, and the town hall – which has been rebuilt several times – and now houses a museum of commercial history. The town houses in the old town date mainly from the 16th and 17th centuries, whilst the residential area in the north-west of Schweidnitz tends to feature historicist and Art Nouveau styles.

Literature and scholarship also had their place in Schweidnitz. Thomas Stoltzer, who became renowned as a composer far beyond Silesia, was born here around 1470. One of Silesia’s most eminent scholars, Caspar Ursinus Velius, was born here around 1493. He was tutor to Maximilian II, then historiographer to Ferdinand I, and was also active as a Neo-Latin poet. The headmaster of the Latin school was Laurentius Corvinus, who played a key role in spreading Humanism throughout Silesia. The sermons of Esaias Heidenreich and the hymns of Joachim Sartorius are associated with Luther’s circle. Daniel Czepko von Reigersfeld (1605–1660) lived in Schweidnitz from 1636 as a parish priest and, in addition to numerous devotional poems, also wrote historiographical works as well as the epic poem *Coridon and Phyllis*. Benjamin Schmolck (1672–1737), a pastor in Schweidnitz from 1702, reached broad sections of the population with his more than 1,200 hymns. Their personal tone and catchiness place them, as works of poetry, within the sphere of Pietism. Johann Christian Günther (1695–1723) lived in Schweidnitz for over five years and drew significant inspiration for his poetic work from his time there: from his teacher Leubscher and his great love, Magdalena Eleonore Jachmann.

Schweidnitz’s significance as a centre of literature waned in the 19th century. In 1860, the Heege publishing house established itself here as one of Silesia’s leading publishers of works in the local dialect, also publishing works by one of Silesia’s most famous dialect poets, Carl von Holteis.

For the writer Armin Müller, who was born in Schweidnitz in 1928 and lived in Weimar, his hometown became a place of painful remembrance.

As a town with a grammar school, Schweidnitz also had a theatrical tradition: initially, it was the Jesuits’ school plays that were performed here, followed by plays by travelling theatre companies, until a permanent theatre was finally opened in 1822.

• Werner Bein, Ulrich Schmilewski (eds.): Schweidnitz through the Ages. Würzburg 1990.
• Artur Hryniewicz: Świdnica/Schweidnitz. In: Ernst Badstübner, Dietmar Popp, Andrzej Tomaszewski, Dethard von Winterfeld (eds.), Sławomir Brzezicki, Christine Nielsen (eds.): Dehio Handbook of Art Monuments in Poland. Silesia. Munich, Berlin 2005, pp. 925–936.
• Wacław Korta (ed.): Świdnica. Zarys monografii miasta [Schweidnitz. Outline of a City Monograph]. Wrocław, Świdnica 1995 (Monografie Regionalne Dolnego Śląska).
• Theo Johannes Mann: History of the Town of Schweidnitz. A Journey through 700 Years of German Culture in Silesia. Reutlingen 1985.
• Leonhard Radler: Schweidnitz. In: Hugo Weczerka (ed.): Handbook of Historical Sites. Silesia. Stuttgart 1977 (Kröners Taschenausgabe 316), pp. 491–496.

• um.swidnica.pl/pages/pl/strona-glowna.php (the town’s multilingual website)
• kosciolpokoju.pl/ (Church of Peace, Świdnica)
• www.herder-institut.de/bildkatalog/wikidata/Q387396 (images of Schweidnitz/Świdnica in the image archive of the Herder Institute, Marburg)

[1] Data taken from Heinz Stoob, Peter Johanek (eds.): *Schlesisches Städtebuch*. Stuttgart et al., 1995 (*Deutsches Städtebuch. Handbuch städtischer Geschichte* 1), p. 398.

[2] The figures up to this point are taken from Stoob, Johanek (eds.): *Silesian City Book* (note 1), p. 398.

[3] In 1849, 174 Jews lived in Schweidnitz; in 1880 the figure was 339; in 1925, 150; and in 1939, 25. These figures are taken from Stoob, Johanek (eds.): *Schlesisches Städtebuch* (note 1), p. 402; the figure for 1939 is taken from Michael Rademacher: *German Verwaltungsgeschichte von der Reichseinigung 1871 bis zur Wiedervereinigung 1990*. URL: treemagic.org/rademacher/www.verwaltungsgeschichte.de/schweidnitz.html (accessed 10 August 2021).

Detlef Haberland: Schweidnitz/Świdnica. In: Online Encyclopaedia on the Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe, 2013. URL: ome-lexikon.uni-oldenburg.de/p32251 (as at 30 July 2021).