Gmina Torzym

Gmina Torzym is an urban-rural gmina (administrative district) in Sulęcin County, Lubusz Voivodeship, in western Poland. Its seat is the town of Torzym, which lies approximately 16 kilometres (10 mi) south of Sulęcin, 49 km (30 mi) south of Gorzów Wielkopolski, and 51 km (32 mi) north-west of Zielona Góra.

The gmina covers an area of 374.87 square kilometres (144.7 sq mi), and as of 2006 its total population is 6,796 (out of which the population of Torzym amounts to 2,456, and the population of the rural part of the gmina is 4,340).

Villages

Apart from the town of Torzym, Gmina Torzym contains the villages and settlements of Bargów, Bielice, Bobrówko, Boczów, Debrznica, Drzewce, Drzewce-Kolonia, Gądków Mały, Gądków Wielki, Garbicz, Grabów, Jelenie Pole, Koryta, Kownaty, Lubin, Lubów, Mierczany, Pniów, Prześlice, Rojek, Rożnówka, Tarnawa Rzepińska, Walewice and Wystok.

Neighbouring gminas

Gmina Torzym is bordered by the gminas of Bytnica, Cybinka, Łagów, Maszewo, Ośno Lubuskie, Rzepin and Sulęcin.

Torzym

Torzym [ˈtɔʐɨm] (German: Sternberg in der Neumark) is a town in Sulęcin County, Lubusz Voivodeship, in western Poland, with 2,466 inhabitants (2004). It is the administrative seat of the urban-rural Gmina Torzym. The town is located about 36 km (22 mi) east of the border with Germany at Słubice.

History

The fortress arose in the Lubusz Land, which had been sold by the Silesian duke Bolesław II the Bald of Legnica to Brandenburg and the Archbishopric of Magdeburg in 1248. It was located on the road to Poznań and probably named after Konrad von Sternberg, Archbishop of Magdeburg from 1266 until 1277. From 1287 the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg were sole rulers of Lubusz, who from about 1300 called the whole area east of the Oder river Sternberger Land, the nucleus of the larger Neumark territory. The settlement received town privileges in 1375.

Heavily devastated during the Vistula–Oder Offensive of the Red Army in the last weeks of World War II (On 31 January 1945), the town fell to the Republic of Poland by the implementation of the Oder-Neisse line in 1945. It was initially renamed as "Toruń Lubuski", but was later changed as Torzym by Polish authorities. After 1945 the native German population was expelled and replaced with Poles.