Introducing Puszczykowo - CLIL Polska

Puszczykowo (once known in German: Unterberg) is a town in Poznań County, Poland, with 9,331 inhabitants (as of 2015). It is located about 12 km (7.4 mi) south of Poznań, the town is surrounded by the Wielkopolski National Park (with the town located within the park buffer zone). From 1934–54, it was a collection of 4 villages, the main of which was called Puszczykowo, and gained town rights in 1962. From 1975–98 the town administratively belonged to the regional capital Poznań. Today it is the seat of its own town and commune authorities. The first time Puszczykowo name appears in written sources in the form of Posczucowo was in 1387, although Niwka, a settlement within the town limits was mentioned as early as 1302. Residential buildings, characteristic of the most representative present-day town, date to the close of the 19th century. The railway line leading to Wroclaw and station building were built in 1856. In the Interwar period the excursion traffic on Sundays and holidays was so great that trains from Poznań ran every 10 minutes. To avoid interference with the long-distance traffic an additional track had to be built for them. Also popular were steamboat trips. In the 1950s the steamboat, "Janek Krasicki",and in later years, motorboat "Dziwożona" cruised from Poznań to Puszczykowo. The outbreak of the Second World War, in 1939, spared the settlement despite the bombing of the nearby ferry crossing in the village of Rogalinek. However, a large population of Polish families were forced to leave their homes and to seek refuge in what was called General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (Generalna Gubernia). The homes of those forced out were provided for the resettlement of Germans from the East. The nearby Jeziory, now the seat of the Greater Poland National Park, was during the war the hunting lodge retreat of Arthur Greiser a Nazi German politician, SS-Obergruppenführer, Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter (Reich Governor) of the German-occupied territory of Wartheland. The palace was the design of the designers Otto von Estorff and Gerharda Winkler, accepted by Albert Speer, Hitler’s favourite himself. The Germans recognized the calm beauty and used it as a location for a hospital of their armed services. After the liberation it, and the Gaukinderheim were taken over by the Polish Red Cross and treated the ill and wounded of the Polish and Russian Armed forces. After the war the medical properties of the local climate were used when a medical hospital for children with lung problems was established in the nearby Osowa Góra, and later with the construction of a large hospital in Puszczykowo itself. This unit was to serve as a special hospital for the Polish Railways, as it was located on the major Poznań-Wrocław route. Since then, the hospital has changed ownership and profile, but it remains one of the biggest employers in the town, providing services for the people from the nearby towns and villages. Another building, during the German occupation, was adopted to hold the "Children's Home" (Gaukinderheim Puschkau). The camp was established to Germanise children from Poland and the then Protectorate of Czechia and Moravia. In the years 1942-1944, there were about 40 children, including 7 from the Czech Republic. All of them were made available for adoption to be brought into German families. . Following 1962 many public buildings were built. New primary and secondary schools were built and the old one expanded. Since 1998, a tourist route, called the Kórnik Route, has been directed through Puszczykowo. Following the accession to the EU and the launch of a visionary EUROVELO project back in 1997, the town has also been incorporated into the European cycle route network, the largest of its kind in the world. EUROVELO 9 route Baltic-Adriatic may not be the longest EuroVelo route but it doesn't mean that this route does not have a lot to offer. Rivers, seas and forests are on the checklist. Both routes take you through some picturesque parts of the forests as well as the local attraction - the home and study of Arkady Fiedler, the traveler and writer, most famous in Poland and abroad for his Battle of Britain report of Squadron 303 and the exploits of Polish pilots during World War II. The museum was opened to the public on January 1, 1974 in the Fiedler family house (villa). The 1926 villa was purchased in 1946 by Arkader Fiedler, traveller and writer, after his return from exile. In 1948 also two sons moved here with Fiedler’s Maria née Maccariello. The museum holds a collection of exhibits from his travels and is open to visitors. This highly popular collection and the Arkady Fiedler’s office writing office are the most important attraction,. From 1973, adaptation work was carried out for the Fiedlers especially by the builders Feliks Skrzypczak and the artist Zygmunt Konarski. The surrounding garden has been turned into a Park of Tolerance with numerous monuments from different cultures a full sized replica of Christopher Columbus’ La Santa Maria a medium-sized nau (carrack) type sailing ship and a full scale replica of a Hurricane to illustrate one of the authors most famous books - Squadron 303 - turned into 2 different movies in the recent days. Since 1991, it has been visited by over a million guests. Today the town is within easy reach of the regional capital Poznań with the Ławica airport. Furthermore, it is within an easy reach by car and suburban bus network. Finally, with the introduction of the EuroVelo network Puszczykowo is set on the 2,050 km long, EuroVelo 9 - Baltic-Adriatic Amber route. In 2012 tennis player Angelique Kerber, one of the best tennis players with Polish roots, moved to Puszczykowo and set up her own tennis school - Tennis Centre Angie.