Warcino
| Warcino | |
|---|---|
| Village | |
  Warcino | |
| Coordinates: 54°13′22″N 16°51′26″E / 54.22278°N 16.85722°E | |
| Country |
 Poland |
| Voivodeship | Pomeranian |
| County | Słupsk County |
| Gmina | Kępice |
| Population | 450 |
Warcino [varˈt͡ɕinɔ] (former German name: Varzin) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Kępice, within Słupsk County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland.[1] It lies in Pomerania on the left bank of the Wieprza river, approximately 3 kilometres (2 mi) southwest of Kępice, 30 km (19 mi) southwest of Słupsk, and 117 km (73 mi) west of the regional capital Gdańsk. The village has a population of 450.
The settlement, first mentioned in a 1485 deed, was part of the Duchy of Pomerania under Duke Bogislaw X (1454-1523). Subsequently held by nobles from nearby Zitzewitz (now Sycewice, Poland), it was incorporated into Brandenburg-Prussia in 1653.
In 1867 it was bought from the Blumenthal family for Otto von Bismarck by the grateful Prussian state for his services as Minister President during the Austro-Prussian War. Bismarck, though born in the Altmark of west-central Germany, had ties to Pomerania as he had spent several years of his childhood at his family's estates in Kniephof (now Konarzewo) near Naugard, and married Johanna von Puttkamer (of the Pomeranian German noble family Puttkamer) at nearby Kolziglow in 1847. Johanna died at Varzin in 1894 (preceding her husband by four years).
Varzin manor remained in the possession of the Bismarck family until the end of World War II. The last family resident, Countess Sybille von Bismarck (née von Arnim), daughter-in-law of Otto von Bismarck, declined to flee and, at age 81, committed suicide when the Red Army arrived in March 1945. She was buried in a family mausoleum on the grounds, which however was destroyed in 1957.[2] After the war, German residents of the area were expelled and the locale became the Polish Warcino. The manor house, converted into a forestry college, retained a huge depiction of Bismarck's horse, Schmetterling, on its walls.
Notable people
- Walter Flex, author of the Wild Geese poem, stayed at Varzin as a tutor of the Bismarck family in 1910-11.
- Theodor Fontane visited Varzin, which is mentioned in his novel Effi Briest.
- Marion Dönhoff rested at Varzin during her equestrian flight from East Prussia in 1945 and spent several days there with Sybille von Bismarck.
References
- ↑ "Central Statistical Office (GUS) - TERYT (National Register of Territorial Land Apportionment Journal)" (in Polish). 2008-06-01.
- ↑ Kuchenbäcker, Hans-Ulrich (ed.): Der Kreis Rummelsburg. Ein Schicksalsbuch. Pommerscher Zentralverband, Lübeck 1985, p. 270.
Coordinates: 54°13′22″N 16°51′26″E / 54.22278°N 16.85722°E