Culm

Culm, southwest of Graudenz, in West Prussia

Culm (later also written Kulm) is a German city in West Prussia in the District of Culm (Culmsche Kreis, later Kreis Culm; founded 8 July 1815), officially changed to Kulm (Weichsel) on 21 May 1941. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Culm/Kulm was founded in 1243 and disbanded in 1992.

It is today occupied by Poland, who call the city Chełmno.

History

Bismarck Tower

Culm/Kulm as many meanings throughout history:

• Culm/Kulm generally stands for the summit of a mountain, specifically for a Kegelberg or a knoll. The term and its derivations exist in various areas of Central Europe. These are loan words that have different origins depending on the region.

• Kulm as a territory or place was first recorded in 993 as a customs place (Zollplatz) of the Holy Roman Empire in Bohemia, a vassal duchy of the empire. According to lore, the Kulmer Steig was already used in 805 and 856 military campaigns to Bohemia. However, this is documented for the first time in 1040, when Margrave Ekkehard II of Meissen moved from Mainz to Bohemia with the Saxon army and a force of Archbishop Bardo and thus became involved in the conflict between Roman-German Emperor Heinrich III and Bretislav I, the Duke of Bohemia (First Battle at Chlumec). Afterwards, Bretislav had won a respite by offering his son as hostage, which he used to gain the support of Peter, King of Hungary, who sent 3,000 support troops for the Battle at Brůdek (German: Schlacht bei Stokau / Schlacht bei Biwanka) in August. Bretislav also fortified the passes of the Bohemian Forest and intended to ambush Heinrich, who was anticipating the attack and moved in several detachments. When Heinrich located the intended ambush, he sent a vanguard of 1,000 men into a side valley of the Chamb in order to enclose the enemy. This vanguard, led by Werner I of Maden, count of Winterthur, the bearer of the imperial banner (Reichsbanner), was caught up in the prepared sconces and almost completely destroyed. Heinrich's second wing, led by margrave Otto of Schweinfurt, was forced to retreat with heavy losses the following day. Heinrich III, when negotiations by his vassal loyal Gunther of Bohemia failed, started a second, successful campaign the following year, in August 1041, this time uniting with the forces of Eckard II near Prague, which forced Bretislav I surrender. Bretislav I now fulfilled his obligations as a vassal of the emperor in the years that followed. In the summer of 1042, he took part in Heinrich's campaign against the Hungarians. In 1126, there was a second battle between Sobeslaus I, Duke of Bohemia, and the Moravian prince Otto II the Black with assistance from the King of Germany Lothair of Supplinburg. In 1138, Sobeslaus I became archcupbearer of the Holy Roman Empire at the Reichstag of Bamberg. There has been evidence of a church in Kulm since 1352. One of the most important owners was the Geisinger family of mining entrepreneurs, Kölbel, who bought the town from the Lords of Rybnice in 1486. The greatest battle near Kulm, now a part of the Austrian Empire, was in 1813, when German-Austrian armies supported by the Imperial Russian defeated the French troops of Napoleon under General Dominique-Joseph René Vandamme on 29/30 August during the German campaign of 1813.

• Maria Kulm (Egerland), once the largest and most famous place of pilgrimage in western Bohemia. The place is between Eger and Falkenau. It is at least documented that the place was first mentioned in a document in 1341. In 1383, two priestly posts were donated for the pilgrimage site. In 1651, Archbishop Ernst Adalbert von Harrach, Grand Master of the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star, made Kulm an independent market town and at the same time gave the up-and-coming town the right to bear its own coat of arms.

• Culm (Reuss), a village in the principality of Reuss' younger line, district office and district court of Gera, with 182 inhabitants in 1910.

• Culm, as of 1940 Kulm, was a town founded 1815 in Bessarabia (now mainly Ukraine). In 1930, there lived 1,525 Germans and 62 others, in 1940 1,711 Germans and 51 others. The village in the Odesa Oblast is now named "Pidhirne".

• Kulm in Tauplitz/Bad Mitterndorf, Styria, Austria, is a ski-flying hill opened in 1950.

• Kulm District (Bezirk Kulm) is a district in the canton of Aargau, Switzerland. It is located west of Lake Hallwil and covers parts of the Wyna and Suhre valleys. The principal town is Unterkulm; the largest municipality is Reinach.

• Culm and Kulm are also districts of various towns in Germany, Austria and Czechia (Chlum).

• Culm and Kulm are also German surnames.

West Prussia

Culm, near the village of Althausen, was given to the first bishop of Prussia, Christian (d. 4 December 1245 in Marburg, Hessia), by Duke Konrad I of Masovia in 1222 and awarded to the Teutonic Order by Roman-German Emperor Friedrich II. in 1226. The Order established a new settlement (better location) about two kilometers to the south in 1232. On 28 December 1233, initiated by Hochmeister Hermann von Salza and Hermann Balk, Thorn and Culm received German town law, in particular as a modification of Magdeburg rights. Named after the town it was signed in, the original document (Culmer Handfeste; Latin: Ius Culmense) was lost in 1244 when the town hall burned due to an attack by Swantopolk II, Duke of Pomerelia. The renewed charter of 1 October 1251 was based on a copy in Thorn, but the rights were reduced. It's scope gradually extended over most of the Order's land and to many German/Polish cities. It was recorded in 1394; later it was called the "Alten Culm" to distinguish it from the new versions of the 16th century. The aldermen of the Culmer Oberhof were responsible for Danzig, Königsberg and other cities in the Culmer Land. In East Prussia, the Culmer Law applied until 1620, in West Prussia until the introduction of the Prussian General Land Law in 1794, and in Danzig until 1857.

Swantopolk II, Duke of Pomerelia, who lost his sphere of influence as early as 1236 and found protection and asylum with the Teutonic Knights, turned upon them in 1242, although previously known as a supporter of the Roman Catholic Church and Christian causes, and besieged Culm in 1244; but it was successfully defended by the courageous local women (most knights and men were on expedition). Around 1245/50, the settlement was moved a few kilometers downstream to its current location and fortified against the heathen Prußen. The first mention of a Bishop in Culm is from 1246, but he moved his seat to Culmsee a few years later; the Bishops resided in Löbau. A Dominican monastery was founded around 1238 as the first monastery founded by the Teutonic Order in Prussia, followed in 1258 by a Franciscan monastery, and around 1266 by a Cistercian convent.

In 1387, the Pope permitted the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order to found a university in Kulm. As a hub in transit trade, Kulm later became a member of the Hanseatic League (until 1437). In 1440, Culm became a founding member of the Prussian Confederation, a truculent league opposed to the rule of the Teutonic Knights and the high taxation they imposed. In 1453, it was forced to submit to the crown of Poland, but was returned to the Order in 1457. Since 1466, as a result of the imposed Second Peace of Thorn, Elbing, Danzig, Thorn and Culm became a part of the province of Royal Prussia, an "autonomous German corporate state under a Polish crown". In effect, a vassal province under feudal superiority. They were given the status of city republics, similar to the free and Imperial cities of the Holy Roman Empire. The region possessed certain privileges such as the minting of its own coins, its own Diet meetings, its own military, and its own administrative usage of the German language.

West Prussia was part of the royal portion, as an autonomous German region, for which the overlordship rested with the Kingdom of Poland. In 1473, the brothers (Brethren of the Common Life) living in the Culm brothers' house founded a private school in Culm, which Nicolaus Copernicus also attended. From 1505, the Bishops of Kulm were the landlords of the town. In 1525, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, Albert von Hohenzollern, adopted Lutheranism and assumed the title of Duke as hereditary ruler of Prussia, still under the overlordship of Poland in the Prussian Homage. The area became known as the Duchy of Prussia.

In 1772, following the First Partition of Poland, the town of Culm became a part of the Kingdom of Prussia. Between 1807 and 1815, Culm was part of the short-lived Napoleonic Polish Duchy of Warsaw, being re-claimed by Prussia at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The cathedral chapter (Domkapitel) and Bishop moved their seat to Pelplin in 1824. The cadet house (Kadettenhaus) of the Prussian Army, founded by Frederick the Great in 1776, was relocated to Köslin on 1 October 1890. In 1900, 11,079 people lived in Culm (Kulm) with the garrison (Jäger Battalion No. 2 and Machine Gun Battalion No. 4), the majority were Catholics, 3,530 Protestants and 339 Jews.

WWI

In 1919, after WWI, the Treaty of Versailles ceded the provinces of Posen and most of West Prussia to Poland. Only small parts of the provinces remained with Germany. This was summarized as the border mark of Posen-West Prussia, and Schneidemühl became the new provincial capital. The Poles massively repressed their national minorities throughout the country, the subject of countless complaints lodged with the League of Nations. Forced expulsions and other reprisals in West Prussia reduced the German population.

WWII

In the Poland Campaign in 1939, the Wehrmacht conquered Poland and the liberated Culm became a city in the German Reich until May 1945. After the end of the Second World War, the German population, unless evacuated beforehand, was murdered, abducted or expelled. Kulm was put under "Polish administration" by the Soviet Union and the Poles now call the city Chełmno (in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship).

Notables

• Auguste Adams (1833–1911), from Rosnowo near Culm, mother of Herman Lehmann who was abducted by Amerindians in Texas
• Heinz Guderian (1888–1954), Generaloberst of the Wehrmacht, Commander of the Panzer troops and Chief of the Army General Staff
• Friedrich-Carl Cranz (1886–1941), Lieutenant General and recipient of the Knight's Cross in World War II
• Hermann Löns (1866–1914), journalist and writer
• Walter Schilling (1895–1943), Lieutenant General and recipient of the Knight's Cross in World War II
• Max Sperling (1905–1984), Colonel and recipient of the Knight's Cross in World War II
• Erich von Tschischwitz (1870–1958), General of the Infantry of the Reichswehr

External links

• Culm (Kulm) an der Weichsel (Archive)
• Advertising stamps and seal stamps