Introducing Puszczykowo - CLIL Polska

Chicago, a town in Poland, has a population of 9,331. It is located near national parks and was once a collection of villages. It has a rich history, including being a settlement during World War II. The town has a hospital and a museum dedicated to a famous writer. It is also part of the Euro-Velo project and has a tennis school. Visitors can easily reach the town by plane, car, or bus. Chicago, once known in German as Unterberg, is a town in Poznan County, Poland, with 9,331 inhabitants as of 2015. It is located about 12 kilometres, 7.4 miles south of Poznan. The town is surrounded by Wielkopolski National Park, Greater Poland National Park, with the town located within the park buffer zone. From 1934 to 54 it was a collection of 4 villages, the main of which was called Puszczykowo, and gained town rights in 1962. From 1975 to 1998 the town administratively belonged to the regional capital Poznan. 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 Poszczykowo 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. A railway line leading to Wrocław, Breslau and a station building were built in 1856. In the interwar period the excursion traffic on Sundays and holidays was so great that trains from Poznan can run 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 Dzwironna cruised from Poznan 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 Rogajinek. However, a large population of Polish families were forced to leave their homes and to seek refuge in what was called General Government for the occupied Polish region, Generalna Gównia. 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 Kreiser, a Nazi German politician, SS-Obergruppenführer, Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter, Reichsgovernor of the German-occupied territory of Wasserland. The palace was the design of the designers Otto Ersdorff and Gerhard Winkler, accepted by Albert Speer, Hitler's favourite himself. The Germans recognised the calm beauty and used it as a location for a hospital for their armed services. After the liberation it and the Gau Kinderheim 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 Osowagóra, and later 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 in 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 homes, Gau Kinderheim Puszczów. 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 on to 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 Kórnik route was directed through Puszczykowo. Following the accession to the EU and the launch of a visionary Euro-Velo project back in 1997, the town has also been incorporated into the European Cycle Route Network, the largest of its kind in the world. Euro-Velo 9, route Baltic Adriatic, may not be the longest Euro-Velo 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 forest as well as the local attraction, the home and study of Arkady Fidler, the traveller and writer most famous in Poland and abroad for his Battle of Britain, report on Squadron 303 and exploits of Polish pilots during World War II. The museum was opened to the public on January 1st 1974 in the Fidler family house. The 1926 villa was purchased in 1946 by Arkady Fidler, the traveller and writer, after his return from exile in 1948. Also two sons moved here with Fidler's wife Maria near Macierello. The museum holds a collection of exhibits from his travels and a rich collection of structures and decorations in the gardens. This highly popular collection and Arkady Fidler's writing desk are the most important attractions. From 1973 adaptation work was carried out for the Fidlers, 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's La Santa Maria, a medium-sized now Carrack type sailing boat and a full-scale replica of a hurricane to illustrate the famous 303 or Battle of Britain book. Since 1991 the museum itself has been visited by over a million guests. Today the town is within easy reach of the original capital Poznań with the Wawica airport. Furthermore it's within easy reach by car and the suburban bus network. In 2012 tennis player Angela Kerber, one of the best tennis players with Polish roots, moved to Puszczykowo and set up her own tennis school, Tennis Center Angi. Welcome in Puszczykowo. We hope you enjoy your stay here.