Wyrzysk commune (Poland)

Pila county, Wielkopolskie Vojvodship

Last modified: 2009-08-22 by jarig bakker
Keywords: wyrzysk |
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• Wyrzysk city and commune flag
• Wyrzysk variant flag
• Wyrzysk Coat of Arms

• Poland
• Polish municipalities and counties
• Wielkopolskie counties and communes
• Pila county

Wyrzysk city and commune flag

In the Middle Ages the Noteć became a natural border between the regions of Greater Poland and Pomerania, which long resisted the expansion of the Polish Piast dynasty, German margraves, and since the 13th century also the Teutonic Knights. With time, people adopted the name Krajna for the area to the north of the Noteć. The Polish prince Bolesław the Wrymouth (1106-1138) conquered the castles on the Noteć and incorporated Krajna into his state. Over the following centuries, Krajna was connected with Greater Poland.

The first preserved mention of Wyrzysk dates back to 1326; the name of the place was then recorded in the so-called Greater Poland Codex. Wyrzysk was probably granted the royal charter before 1450; in 1565 it became a town under the so-called Magdeburg law. As a result of series of wars in the second half of 17th century and beginning of 18th Wyrzysk became in fact a village. Wyrzysk was annexed by Prussia in 1772 following the first Partition of Poland. The city rights were renewed in 1773 by the Prussian King Frederick the Great who made the town a centre administering the construction of the Bydgoszcz Canal and the regulation of the Noteć. From 1807 to 1815 the town was a part of Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw and subsequently it was given back to Prussia as a result of Congress of Vienna. It remained Prussian until the end of First World War.

In 1772, after the first partition of Poland, Krajna was incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia. The Prussian ruler and his successors aimed at fast Germanisation of the captured land. The methods which served this purpose included the introduction of Prussian administration and education, encouraging and supporting Prussian settlement and purchase of estates from the Polish gentry. Thus Wyrzysk was sold by Karol Rydzyński to King Frederick II himself as early as 1773.
In 1807-1815 the Wyrzysk area belonged to the Duchy of Warsaw and in 1815 it was recaptured by the Prussians.
In 1818 Wyrzysk became the seat of a county in the Grand Duchy of Poznań.

The period of Prussian rule accelerated the economic development and progress, especially in agriculture, in which the Prussians abolished the law of corvée at the beginning of the 19th century. The conflict arose especially during the Kulturkampf period. However, the pressure of Germanisation encountered the growing resistance of the Polish population of Krajna, which stuck doggedly to its native language and the Roman Catholic religion. This found expression in establishing Polish associations, choirs, sports clubs, banks and self-help organizations.

Wyrzysk was given to newly re-born Poland by Treaty of Versailles, although 53 percent of its population were Germans at that time. Most of them preferred to move to Germany as so called optants. From 1939 to 1945 the city was occupied by Germany and was put into the new created province of Danzig-West Prussia.
Wyrzysk has been recovered by Poland in 1945. (wiki)

Wyrzysk (Virsitz) was the birthplace of Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun (1912-1977) an American (earlier German) rocket engineer (V-2, ICBMs, Saturn V, for the Nazis and the USA).

Arms and flag adopted on February 8, 2001 (resolution # XXIV/2/01)
"Arms: on the white shield red deer running to the left with the golden cross on its head and on the green grass. Behind the deer a solitary green tree.
Arms are based on the image from the documents of 1730.

Flag: rectangular piece of cloth in the ratio 5:8 composed of three horizontal color bands: blue-white-green..
Bands blue and green are qual and are 1/2 of the width of the white band. On the white band the Arms of the commune (without the shield) are placed."

It bothered me a lot, the vagueness of the "Statut",  lack of illustrations, so I went into mighty trouble and sifted through thousands of documents and got at least partial answer.
Obtained the proof sheets for the Arms and the flag, but only in black and white, so am still unsure what is the proper color of the upper stripe (don't understand any of the color codes or palettes - CMYK ?

Jens sent me a Wyrzysk flag some years ago with the upper stripe red, but both wiki and Lajsikonik have it blue, making it not so tautological with the Arms. (there is no description given in the law).
Arms: concept by Alfred Znamierowski: graphics by Piotr Dąbrowski
Flag: concept and graphics by Alfred Znamierowski.
Chrystian Kretowicz, 21 Nov 2008

Wyrzysk variant flag

Wyrzysk Coat of Arms