History of Swinoujscie

In 1630 the troops of the Swedish king, Gustav Adolf, arrived in Uznam and Wolin, the monarch staying for a while in the presbytery on Karsibor Island. Nearly a hundred years later, as a result of the Treaty of Stockholm in 1720, Prussia took over both Wolin and Uznam islands.



In former times the banks of the river Swina were dotted with the fishing settlements of West and East Swina. By the 17th century the river had been made navigable for ships of considerable size. Swinoujscie was established in 1748 on the site of West Swina and received a town charter from Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, in 1765.



Its broad unpaved streets and one-storey buildings Dutch-styled houses gave Swinoujscie a somewhat rustic appearance, though the town’s economy totally relied on shipping (and, on a smaller scale, fishing). In 1824 Swinoujscie became a seaside resort and it was not long before it gained renown as the most popular spa in Europe. The year 1859 saw the completion of the construction of what was then the world’s tallest lighthouse. In 1876 a railway link was opened between Swinoujscie and Berlin, and four years later the opening of the Piast Canal significantly shortened the route from Swinoujscie to Szczecin.



In March of 1945 Swinoujscie was heavily destroyed by U.S. bombing. The town was deliberately chosen as the target for U.S. bombers due to large masses of refugees from East Prussia and surrounding territories, who had moved there to escape the Soviet Army. There were at least 23,000 casualties, the majority of them the said refugees. After 1945 Swinoujscie was annexed by Poland and in itself became part of the German lands lost east of the Oder-Neisse line. Once its German population had been driven out, the town was repopulated by Poles, mainly those expelled by the Soviets