Lubusz Voivodeship - History

History

By conquest the first leaders of the Polans, Mieszko I and especially Boleslaw I added a number of surrounding territories to the newly established core Polish state, and Lebus Land or Lubusz in Lusatia came under Polish rule. Part of the historic province was located on the western bank of the Oder River, where the main settlement Lubusz, later known as the German town of Lebus, was located.

In 1226 Lebus Land came under direct jurisdiction of the Holy Roman Empire, and around 1250 it was acquired by the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg. After World War II it was thus sometimes referred to as "the first Polish province to fall to German expansionism" (see Drang nach Osten). The Lebus Land stayed with Brandenburg throughout (as Electorate within the Holy Roman Empire until 1806, as Prussian Province of Brandenburg since 1815, with Prussia as part of the new Empire of Germany since 1871 till its end.

In 1945, the conquest of eastern Germany by the Soviet Red Army was followed by the redrawing of Poland's borders. The east part of the Lubusz (Lebus) region was transferred to Poland, where in communist propaganda it was referred to as part of the "Regained" or "Recovered Territories". That part of the population which had not fled east of the Oder or been killed was rapidly expelled, and replaced by Poles from central and former eastern Poland.

In the administrative reforms of 1998, the original proposals made no provision for a separate Lubusz voivodeship – Gorzów would have been part of West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Zielona Góra would have been in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, and other parts of the region were assigned to Greater Poland Voivodeship. However, as a result of popular protests, these proposals were eventually amended to increase the number of voivodeships to 16, leading to the creation of Lubusz Voivodeship.