Tychowo

Tychowo (Tëchòwò; Groß Tychow) is a town in Białogard County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-western Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Tychowo. It lies approximately 20 km south-east of Białogard and 125 km north-east of the regional capital Szczecin. It is located in the historic region of Pomerania.

The town has an approximate population of 2,500. It gained town status on 1 January 2010, and was the newest city in Poland as at July 2012.

History
Tychowo dates back to an early medieval Slavic settlement, which became part of the emerging Polish state in the 10th century. From the 12th century it was part of the Duchy of Pomerania, which split off from Poland as a result of the fragmentation of Poland into smaller duchies. The oldest known mention of the village comes from 1250. In the 15th century, the timber-framed church was built.

From 1701 the village was part of the Kingdom of Prussia, and from 1871 to 1945 it was part of Germany. During World War II the Germans established the Stalag Luft IV prisoner-of-war camp. The prisoners were mainly Americans, but also the British, Canadians, Russians, Poles, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, Czechs, French and one Norwegian. In February 1945, a German-perpetrated death march of Allied prisoners-of-war from the Stalag XX-B POW camp passed through the settlement. After the war the region became part of Poland again according to the post-war Potsdam Agreement.

Tychowo was granted town rights in 2010.

Sights
Among the town's landmarks are the 15th-century timber-framed church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a manor park, dating back to the 18th century and Trygław, i.e. the largest glacial erratic in Poland and one of the largest in Europe, listed as a natural monument.

Notable people

 * Karl Wilhelm von Kleist (1707-1766), German oberst
 * Hans Jürgen von Kleist-Retzow (1771-1844), German politician
 * Wolf Friedrich von Kleist-Retzow (1868-1933), German politician
 * Darius Kaiser (born 1961) a Polish-born German racing cyclist