Krotoszyn; from around 1850, predominantly Krotoschin

The name is derived from the personal name ‘Krotoch’ or ‘Krotosz’; which is derived from the Old Slavic word ‘krot’ or ‘krotuku’ (‘kind’ or ‘gentle’) or the Old Polish word ‘krotki’ (‘gentle’, ‘humble’).

The town of Krotoschin is situated at 51° 41’ north latitude and 17° 26’ east longitude, approximately 86 km south-east of Poznań, 50 km west of Kalisz, near the historic border with Silesia.

Krotoschin is situated in the south of the Greater Poland Voivodeship (Województwo wielkopolskie), in the southern part of the Kalisz Ridge, 135–140 metres above mean sea level.

Poland. Krotoszyn is the capital of the district of the same name (KrotoszynCounty) in the Greater Poland Voivodeship.

In the Middle Ages and the early modern period, Krotoschin belonged to the Kingdom of Poland. The Prussian King Frederick II (the Great, 1712–1786) acquired control of Krotoschin in 1779, a few years after the First Partition of Poland–Lithuania, although the region officially remained part of the Kingdom of Poland until the Second Partition in 1793. From 1806 to 1815, the town of Krotoschin and the Prussian domains, from which the Principality of Krotoschin later emerged, were part of the Duchy of Warsaw; and from 1815 onwards were once again part of the Kingdom of Prussia, initially within the Grand Duchy of Posen and, following the Spring of Nations, within the Province of Posen.

The Principality of Krotoschin was established in 1819. It comprised the estates of the Princes of Thurn and Taxis in Krotoschin, Adelnau/Odolanów, Orpischewo/Orpiszewo and Rozdrazewo/Rozdrażew. From 1871, it belonged to the German Empire.

In 1919, the Principality of Krotoschin became part of the Second Polish Republic, where it belonged to the Poznań Voivodeship (Województwo poznańskie). Following several years of legal proceedings between the Polish state and the Prince of Thurn and Taxis, it was initially placed under Polish supervision and administration. In 1927, the prince was expropriated and received compensation.

During the Second World War, the area came under German occupation; a Krotoschin district existed from 1939 to 1945. Since 1945, Krotoschin has once again been part of Poland.

The coat of arms of the Principality of Krotoschin features a shield divided into four quarters, with a golden rock in each of the first and fourth quarters on a blue background. In the second and third quarters, a silver cross is depicted on a red background in each. The colours of the Princes of Thurn and Taxis are red and blue. To this day, the coat of arms of the Principality of Krotoschin remains part of the coat of arms of the Princes of Thurn and Taxis.

The village of Krotoschin was first mentioned in a document in 1405 under the name ‘Crotoszino’. Even before 1415, Knight Wierzbięta of the Łódzia Krotowski noble family founded the town of Krotoschin a few kilometres south of the original settlement, based on Magdeburg city law.

In 1819, the House of Thurn und Taxis was compensated for the cession of the postal monopoly in the Prussian provinces on the right bank of the Rhine and in the Duchy of Westphalia with the four Prussian domain estates of Krotoschin, Adelnau, Orpischewo and Rozdrazewo as hereditary fiefs in lieu of the throne. In 1819, these estates were elevated to the Principality of Krotoschin, with the town of Krotoschin as its centre and seat of government.

The Principality comprised a total of 25,315 hectares of woodland and land for agricultural purposes (gardens, meadows, arable fields, ponds, etc.), which changed only slightly over the hundred years from the principality’s establishment to its dissolution following the First World War. In the vicinity of the principality, numerous German settlements sprang up following 1886 as part of targeted resettlement measures by the Prussian government. In 1914, the estates of Theresienstein (Folwark zamkowy), Sagenhof (Wróżewo) and Margarethenhof (Lutogniew) were sold to the Settlement Commission.

Following the First World War, the Greater Poland Uprising took place in the Province of Posen, as a result of which the majority of the province was incorporated into the re-established Polish state. Consequently, the Thurn und Taxis estates in the Province of Posen were also placed under Polish compulsory administration on 27 June 1919. The final expropriations were carried out on the basis of the Treaty of Versailles, which permitted the liquidation of the principality in return for compensation.

The following picture emerges regarding the religious breakdown in the town of Krotoschin^[2] :

* excluding garrison soldiers, ** all percentages are rounded

Between 1871 and 1913, the total population increased by 41 per cent. A key factor in this was the influx of people from rural areas. When determining the proportion of the population who were German on the basis of religious affiliation, it is assumed that Protestants, Jews and approximately eight per cent of Catholics made up the German section of the population. These calculations show that their proportion in the town of Krotoschin fell from 67 per cent to 52 per cent between 1880 and 1905. [^3] The sharp decline in the Jewish population can be explained by the fact that, from 1848 onwards, the legal restrictions on Jews that had been in force until then were abolished, enabling the poorer Jewish population in particular to migrate to wealthier parts of the country.

The estates in the Principality of Krotoschin, which were owned by the Prince of Thurn and Taxis, were for the most part leased to third parties. The Principality of Krotoschin was of great economic importance to the House of Thurn und Taxis; between 1867 and 1916, 20 per cent of the total income from its landholdings was generated here. The most important economic sectors, alongside agriculture and forestry, were brewing, spirits production (distilleries), the extraction and manufacture of building materials (brickworks, lime works) and the production of cereal products (windmills); to which were added income from leases.

• Werner Gerhard: Krotoschin and the Princely House of Thurn und Taxis. In: Heinz-Friedrich Koeppel: Farmers in the East. Under the Roofs of Thurn und Taxis. Schotten 2002, self-published, pp. 26–39.
• Dionizy Kosiński, Ryszard Marciniak, Jerzy J. Paryska (eds.): Krotoszyn. Historia [Krotoschin. History]. Vol. 2. Krotoszyn, Poznań 1996.
• Mariusz Kowalski: The Duchies of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Magnate State as a Political Region. Warsaw 2013 (Geographical Works 238).
• Kazimierz Krotoski: Dzieje miasta Krotoszyna. Miasto Krotoszyn i jego dziedzice za czasów polskich (od 1415 do 1779) [History of the Town of Krotoszyn. The Town and its Landlords in the Polish Period (1415–1779)]. Krotoszyn 1930.
• Erwin Probst: The Development of the Princely Administrative Offices since the 18th Century. In: Max Piendl (ed.): Contributions to the History, Art and Cultural Heritage of the House of Thurn und Taxis. Regensburg 1978 (Thurn und Taxis Studies 10), p. 267–351.

[1] According to Leszek C. Belzyt: Prussian Language Statistics (1825–1911) a Poles in the Prussian Partition, Masuria and Silesia [Prussian Language Statistics (1825–1911) and the Poles in the Prussian Partition, in Masuria and Silesia]. Zielona Góra 2013, p. 195.

[2] According to Paweł Anders: W czasach pruskich (1793–1918) [In Prussian Times (1793–1918)]. In: Dionizy Kosiński, Ryszard Marciniak, Jerzy J. Paryska (eds.): Krotoszyn. Historia [Krotoszyn. History]. Vol. 2. Krotoszyn, Poznań 1996, pp. 171–276, here pp. 180 and 209.

[3] According to Anders: In Prussian Times, p. 209.

Robert Kędzierski: Krotoschin/Krotoszyn (Principality). In: Online Encyclopaedia on the Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe, 2016. URL: ome-lexikon.uni-oldenburg.de/p44471 (as at 21 February 2022).