The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Poznań, Poland.
Prior to 19th century
968 – Roman Catholic Diocese of Poznań established. 10th century – Poznań Cathedral built. 1038 City taken by forces of Bretislaus I, Duke of Bohemia. 11th C. – St. Michael church built. 1249 – Castle construction begins (approximate date). 1253 Town gains Magdeburg rights. Town Hall built. 1296 Wielkopolska Chronicle written. 1320 – Town becomes capital of the Poznań Voivodeship. 1341 – 29 September: Coronation of Adelaide of Hesse in Poznań Cathedral. 1493 – Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Johann von Tiefen paid homage to King of Poland John I Albert. 1518 – Lubrański Academy established. 1534 – Waga Miejska (weighing house) built. 1536 – Fire. 1551 – Flood. 1557 – Poznań native Josephus Struthius, renowned Polish professor of medicine and court physician to Polish kings, became mayor after gaining international recognition for his depiction of the human pulse and its use for diagnostic purposes. 1560 – Town Hall rebuilt on Market Square. 1563 – Cloth Hall rebuilt. 1573 – Jesuit College established. 1574 – 23 January: Elected King Henry of Valois stopped in Poznań on the way to his royal coronation in Kraków.. 1585 – First acquisition of citizenship in the city by a Scot (see also Scots in Poland).
1611 – King Sigismund III Vasa granted the Jesuit College in Poznań the status of an academy; origins of University in Poznań.
1655 Monastery of Oratory of Saint Philip Neri established. City taken by Swedish forces. 1677 – Jesuit printing press in operation. 1701 – Baroque Poznań Fara completed. 1704 – 9 August: Battle of Poznań during the Swedish invasion of Poland (1701–1706). 1710 – Plague. 1736 – Flood. 1763 – Prince Frederick Mounted Regiment of the Polish Crown Army stationed in Poznań. 1775 – 1st Polish Infantry Regiment of the Polish Crown Army stationed in Poznań.Gembarzewski, p. 26 1776 – Baroque Działyński Palace completed. 1777 – New Baroque Monastery of Oratory of Saint Philip Neri completed. 1786 – 7th Polish Infantry Regiment stationed in Poznań.Gembarzewski, p. 28 1787 – Odwach (guardhouse) on Market Square rebuilt. 1790 – 2nd Polish Artillery Brigade formed and garrisoned in Poznań. 1792 – Polish 9th Infantry Regiment relocated from Warsaw to Poznań.Gembarzewski, p. 29 1793 City annexed by Prussia in the Second Partition of Poland and included within the newly formed province of South Prussia City renamed "Posen." 1796 – Population: 16,124. 1800 – Śródka included within city limits.
19th century
1803 – Fire. 1806 Napoleon temporarily headquartered in city. Polish 11th Infantry Regiment formed in Poznań.Gembarzewski, p. 56 11 December: Treaty of Poznań signed. 1807 – Town becomes part of the Duchy of Warsaw. 1815 – Town becomes part of Prussia again. 1828 Poznań Fortress construction begins. September: Visit of Fryderyk Chopin. 1829 – Raczyński Library founded. 1839 – Fort Winiary built. 1841 – Scientific Help Society for the Youth of the Grand Duchy of Poznań established. 1842 – Bazar Hotel founded. 1846 Cegielski manufactory in business. February: "Insurrection." 1848 Greater Poland uprising. 20 March: Polish National Committee founded. 11 April–9 May: Stay of Polish national poet Juliusz Słowacki in Poznań. Szczecin–Poznań railway begins operating. 1849 – 25 October: Publication of Fryderyk Chopin's first obituary, by poet Cyprian Norwid.Plenzler, p. 4 1857 Society of Friends of Learning established. Museum of Polish and Slavic Antiquities (present-day National Museum) founded. Israelitische Brüdergemeinde synagogue built. 1859 – First Adam Mickiewicz monument in partitioned Poland unveiled. 1871 – Grand Duchy of Poznań abolished. 1872 – Kurjer Poznański newspaper begins publication. 1873 – First biography of Fryderyk Chopin, by Marceli Szulc, published in Poznań.
1875 – Polish Theatre and Stare Zoo established. 1877 – Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul expelled from Śródka. 1879 – Poznań Central Station opens. 1885 Historical Society of Posen Province founded. Population: 68,315. 1886 – Prussian Settlement Commission established to coordinate German colonization in the Prussian Partition of Poland. 1891 – Richard Witting becomes mayor. 1893 – Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul came back to Śródka. 1895 Drukarnia i Księgarnia św. Wojciecha publisher in business. Population: 73,239. 1896 – Piotrowo and Berdychowo become part of city. 1898 – Electric tramway begins operating. 1900 – Górczyn, Jeżyce, Łazarz, and Wilda become part of city.
20th century
1900–1939 1902 – Kaiser Wilhelm Library and Kaiser Friedrich Museum open. 1903 – Royal Academy opens. 1905 – Population: 136,808. 1907 – Sołacz becomes part of city. 1910 Grand Theatre opens. Imperial Castle built. Higher State School of Machinery founded. 1912 – Warta Poznań football club formed.
1918 3 December: The first session of the Polish Provincial Sejm (parliament) of the former Prussian Partition of Poland in Poznań. 27 December: Greater Poland Uprising (1918–19) against German rule begins. 28 December: City liberated by Polish insurgents. 1919 6 January: Battle of Ławica, won by the Polish insurgents. 4 April: Poznań University founded. Poznań Observatory founded. 27 October: Wielkopolskie Muzeum Wojska (military museum) opened. 1921 – Poznań Fair begins. 1922 – Lutnia Dębiec football club formed. 1923 – Kronika Miasta Poznania (journal of city history) begins publication. 1925 – Dębiec, Główna, Komandoria, Rataje, Starołęka, Szeląg, and Winogrady become part of city. 1927 Poznań Radio Station established. Ilustracja Poznańska begins publication. 15th Poznań Uhlan Regiment monument unveiled. 1928 – Czarna Trzynastka Poznań wins its first and only Polish men's basketball championship. 1929 – Warta Poznań wins its first Polish football championship. 1930 Tadeusz Kościuszko monument unveiled. Population: 266,742. AZS Poznań wins its first Polish men's basketball championship. Association of Friends of the Sorbs established. 1933 – Golęcin and Podolany become part of city. 1935 – Lech Poznań wins its first Polish men's basketball championship.
World War II (1939–1945)
1939 September: During the invasion of Poland at the beginning of World War II, near Słupca, the Germans bombed a train with Polish civilians fleeing the Wehrmacht from Poznań. Poznań Nightingales (choir) secretly founded. 10 September: German troops invade Poznań, beginning of German occupation. 10 September: Inhabitants of Poznań were among the victims of a massacre of Poles committed by German troops in Zdziechowa.Wardzyńska (2009), p. 91 12 September: The Einsatzkommando 1 and Einsatzgruppe VI paramilitary death squads entered the city to commit various crimes against the population.Wardzyńska (2009), p. 113 September: Mass arrests of Poles by the occupying forces.Wardzyńska (2009), p. 116 September: City made the headquarters of the central district of the Selbstschutz, which task was to commit atrocities against Poles during the German invasion of Poland.Wardzyńska (2009), p. 63 September: Tajna Polska Organizacja Wojskowa (Secret Polish Military Organization) Polish resistance organization founded. October: Infamous Fort VII concentration camp established by the Germans for imprisonment of Poles arrested in the city and region during the Intelligenzaktion.Wardzyńska (2009), p. 190 October: (Poznań Military Organization), (National Fighting Organization), Ojczyzna (Homeland) and Komitet Niesienia Pomocy (Relief Committee) Polish resistance organizations founded. 16, 18, 20, 26, 28 October: Mass executions of 71 Polish prisoners in Fort VII. Among the victims were teachers, merchants, farmers, craftsmen, workers, doctors, lawyers, editors of Polish newspapers. 22 October: First expulsion of Poles carried out by the German police. November: Transit camp for Poles expelled from the city established by the occupiers.Wardzyńska (2017), p. 145 8, 18, 29 November: Further executions of over 30 Polish prisoners in Fort VII. Among the victims were merchants, craftsmen, editors of Polish newspapers.Wardzyńska (2009), p. 191 11 November: Special Staff for the Resettlement of Poles and Jews (Sonderstab für die Aussiedlung von Polen und Juden) founded by the Germans to coordinate the expulsion of Poles from the city and region, known as the Central Bureau for Resettlement (UWZ, Umwandererzentralstelle) since 1940.Wardzyńska (2017), p. 35 12–16 November: German police and SS massacred 60 Polish prisoners of the Fort VII concentration camp in the forest of Dębienko near Poznań.Wardzyńska (2009), p. 192 December: Further executions of 14 Polish craftsmen in Fort VII. The Germans massacred over 630 Polish prisoners of the Fort VII concentration camp, incl. 70 students of Poznań universities and colleges and 70 nuns, in the forest of Dopiewiec near Poznań. Ernst Damzog, former commander of the Einsatzgruppe V, was appointed the police inspector for both Sicherheitspolizei and Sicherheitsdienst in German-occupied Poznań.Wardzyńska (2009), p. 54 Tadeusz Kościuszko and 15th Poznań Uhlan Regiment monuments destroyed by the Germans.
1940 January: Further executions of 67 Poles in Fort VII. Among the victims were teachers, local officials, engineers, artists, priests, professors and merchants. 27 January, 20 February, 5 March, 25 April: The Germans massacred over 700 Polish prisoners of the Fort VII concentration camp, incl. 120 women, in the forest of Dębienko. February: The regional branch of the Union of Armed Struggle begins to organize. February, April and May: Further executions of 21 Poles in Fort VII. March: Several Polish resistance organizations merged into the (Military Organization of the Western Lands). Early 1940: The Germans massacred over 2,000 Polish prisoners of the Fort VII concentration camp in the forest of Dopiewiec. Spring: (Independent Poland) resistance organization starts operating in Poznań. April: First arrests of members of Wojskowa Organizacja Ziem Zachodnich carried out by the Germans. 20 April: Over 100 Poles were arrested by the Germans in the city in just one day.Wardzyńska (2009), p. 213 June: Bureau of the Government Delegation for Poland for Polish territories annexed by Germany founded. 1 August: Stalag XXI-D prisoner-of-war camp for Allied POWs established by the occupiers. Autumn: Regional branch of the Bataliony Chłopskie resistance organization established. Autumn: Wojskowa Organizacja Ziem Zachodnich crushed by the Germans. Surviving members joined the Union of Armed Struggle. Adam Mickiewicz monument destroyed by the Germans.
1941 The German labor office in Poznań demanded that children as young as 12 register for work, but it is known that even ten-year-old children were forced to work. Spring: Komitet Niesienia Pomocy joined the Union of Armed Struggle. May: The Polish resistance movement facilitated escapes of British prisoners of war from the Stalag XXI-D POW camp. 1942: Mass arrests of members of the Komitet Niesienia Pomocy resistance organization carried out by the Germans. 1943 20–21 February: A flying unit of the Union of Armed Struggle and Home Army carried out a spectacular operation to burn down Wehrmacht warehouses in the local river port. February: First Soviet POWs brought by the Germans to Stalag XXI-D. 14 September: Kidnapped Polish children from Poznań were deported to a camp for Polish children in Łódź, which was nicknamed "little Auschwitz" due to its conditions. October: Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler delivers Posen speeches. Lake Rusałka created. December: First Italian POWs brought by the Germans to Stalag XXI-D. 1944 April: Fort VII concentration camp dissolved. Aerial bombing by U.S. forces. 1945 January–February: Battle of Poznań. February: Stalag XXI-D POW camp dissolved.