Tczew (AUDPl-Tczew.oggtczef, Dërszewò; formerly ) is a city on the Vistula River in Eastern Pomerania, Kociewie, northern Poland with 59,111 inhabitants (December 2021). The city is known for its Old Town and the Vistula Bridge, or Bridge of Tczew, which played a key role in the Invasion of Poland during World War II.
It is the capital of Tczew County in the Pomeranian Voivodeship and the largest town of the ethnocultural region of Kociewie.
The city is the location for the annual English Language Camp arranged by the American-Polish Partnership for Tczew.
Tczew is located on the west bank of river Vistula, approximately south of Gdańsk Bay at the Baltic Sea and south-east of Gdańsk.
Tczew (Trsow, Dersowe, ‘weaver's town’) was first mentioned as Trsow in a document by Pomeranian Duke Grzymisław bestowing the land to the Knights Hospitaller in 1198. Around 1200 Sambor I, Duke of Pomerania, built a fortress here. In some documents, the name Derszewo appears, which stems from the name of a feudal lord, Dersław. It is unknown whether Trsow and Derszewo referred to the same or two neighboring settlements. In order to obtain better control of traffic on the Vistula, Pomeranian Duke Sambor II moved his residence from Lubiszewo Tczewskie to Tczew. By 1252 the settlement was known by the names Tczew and Dirschau.
In 1258 a city council was created and in 1260 Tczew was granted town rights. It is the only case in Poland for a city council to be established before granting city rights. Craft and trade developed, there was a port on the Vistula and a mint. Duke Mestwin II in 1289 brought the Dominican Order to the city. It was part of Poland until 1308. Following the Treaty of Soldin in 1309, Tczew was purchased from Brandenburg by Heinrich von Plötzke of the Teutonic Knights, despite the fact that the initial claims to the region by Brandenburg were of dubious legality. The townspeople were expelled by the Teutonic Knights and the town's organization ceased to exist for more than half a century.