Sztutowo

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Coordinates: 54°19′N 19°11′E / 54.317, 19.183
Sztutowo
Sztutowo
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Pomeranian
Powiat	Nowy Dwór Gdański County
Gmina	Sztutowo
Government
- Mayor	Janusz Charliński
Population (2006)
- Total	2,988
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	82-110
Area code(s)	+48 55
Car Plates	GND

Sztutowo (German: Stutthof) is a village in Nowy Dwór Gdański County, part of the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland. It is located about 38 km (24 mi) east of Gdańsk on the northeastern edge of the Vistula Delta, at the base of the Vistula Spit on the Baltic coast.

1 History
2 Economy
3 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Early history

Sztutowo has been known since the beginning of the 13th century as a fishing settlement in the Pomerelian region. A day's journey from Gdańsk (Danzig) on the Hanseatic post road to Königsberg, it was conquered by the Teutonic Knights in 1308. It eventually came under the control of the Dukes of Eastern Pomerania. A coaching inn and stud farm (German: Stute "mare"; Gestüt "stud" + Hof "court, estate") were founded in 1432 to provide refreshment and fresh horses for the coaches, and the settlement developed into a village.

[edit] Later history

After the Thirteen Years' War ended in 1466, the village became part of the autonomous Polish province of Royal Prussia. At that time an estate and manor were founded in Sztutowo, and an agrarian settlement developed nearby. It is recorded that Tsar Peter the Great of Russia stayed in Sztutowo in 1716. The village was annexed by King Frederick the Great of Prussia in 1772 during the First Partition of Poland. A later lessee of the manor was the father of the German pessimist philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer, who was born there in 1788.

As Stutthof, the village became part of the German Empire upon the Prussian-led unification of Germany in 1871. After the defeat of Imperial Germany in World War I, the village became part of the territory of the Free City of Danzig.

[edit] World War II

At the beginning of World War II in 1939, the Nazis built the Stutthof concentration camp nearby, which received its first prisoners on September 2 of that year. The camp eventually developed into a huge complex with branches throughout northern Poland by the time it was liberated in May 1945 by the Red Army. More than 110,000 persons of twenty-five nationalities from nineteen countries were imprisoned, and it is estimated that more than 60,000 of them perished here. Located to the west of the current village, the site is now a Polish national museum.

[edit] Economy

Sztutowo is an agricultural, fishing, and tourist center, with numerous guest houses, spas, campgrounds, and recreational facilities. It has numerous seaside activities and a close proximity to a Polish national nature preserve and bird sanctuary.