Poznań’s Forts

If you spend your time exclusively in the centre of Poznań, you probably won’t realize that not too long ago, this city was a formidable fortress, one of the largest such structures in Europe. While city fortifications in Poznań were first built some 1000 years ago, it wasn’t until after the Prussians acquired the Wielkopolska region (a result of the Partition of Poland in 1793) that a need was seen to seriously amp up the defenses. The reason? After the Napoleonic Wars of 1803-1815, the Prussian-Russian border shifted uncomfortably close to Berlin. Posen - as Poznań was called then - was located on the most direct route connecting the Prussian capital and Moscow, and thus an essential roadblock for staving off a possible Russian invasion.

The Cathedral Lock

The first fort, originally called the Kernwerk, was built in 1828-1842 on a hill just north of the city, an area now called Citadel Park (p.41). At around the same time, the Old Town was snugly encircled with a ring of walls and bastions, only one of which remains to this day - the Colomb Bastion, which now houses the Fort Colomb Pub - and the Warta River was peppered with locks. Enthusiasts of hydrotechnology can still visit one of these, the Cathedral Lock, which is now part of the Porta Posnania Interactive Heritage Centre (p.38), and in excellent shape after a much-needed refurbishment.

In the second half of the 19th century, defenses were strengthened even further by building a system of 18 forts in a much larger, 30-km-long ring around the city. The nine main forts - numbered I to IX on our handy map - were completed in the 1780s. Afterwards, gaps between them were filled in with ‘intermediate forts’, numbered Ia-IXa, with the last brick probably laid sometime in 1896. By this time, the inner ring of fortifications was outdated and hampering the city’s growth, so in 1902 the decision was made to tear down the old bastions and walls. This made room for the Imperial Castle (p.37) and other, badly needed expansion. To keep things simple, outer forts were renamed after the inner bastions - this is why Colomb Bastion and Colomb Fort are both named after Friedrich August Peter von Colomb, a Prussian general. The dismantling of the inner fortifications wasn’t finished before the WWI rolled around, and it was continued by Polish authorities in the interwar period, after Poznań was returned to the newly resurrected Poland.

Bird’s-eye view of Fort VI

© Marcin Kantor

The city’s imposing defenses were tested only once, and not by the Prussians, but by the Nazis. In January 1945, as WWII was drawing to a close, 40,000 German troops hunkered down in the fortress to stall the Red Army’s advancement. The resulting Battle of Poznań lasted for a full month. Though the fortress ultimately fell to the 100,000 Soviet soldiers (and some 5,000 Polish ones), it proved difficult to breach - especially the Citadel, which was the last to fall, and which sustained little damage, even as most of the city was reduced to rubble.

That being said, the few that are open to the public - forts III, Va, VI, and VII, the last of which houses the Wielkopolska Martyrs Museum - are absolutely worth visiting. We describe those in more detail below.

FORT III - GRÖBER

The gloomy corridors of Fort III

© Radoslaw Maciejewski

This is one of the city’s better-known forts due to it being situated literally right in the middle of the New Zoo (p.47). Unfortunately, this means that if you want to visit, you need to first purchase a ticket for the zoo, and then pay separately for a guided tour of the fort. The tours take place on Sundays, May to September only, at 14:00, 15:00, and 16:00 (at least those were the hours last year - we were unable to verify them for the coming season). These guided tours are likely to be in Polish only, but private, English-language tours can be set up by phone or e-mail. If you manage to get in, you’ll find that snooping around the eerie hallways, rooms and stairways hidden throughout gives a real sense of what it must have been like to be stationed in such a place.

ul. Krańcowa 81 (Nowe Miasto), tel. (+48) 51 886 25 81, www. fort3.ptpf. org.pl. Open from May, Sun only. Admission 10/8zł, not counting the zoo ticket.

FORT VA - BONIN

This intermediate fort has been undergoing renovation works for a while, but is in good enough shape to accommodate paintball and laser tag sessions (by previous arrangement only) and monthly guided tours, led by guides in full Prussian military attire. Tours are organised on the last Saturday of each month at 12:00 and 15:00 and take approximately 1h. Unfortunately, the default language is Polish, but guides speak English too, so they might be able to accommodate you; alternatively, you can set up a private English-language tour, but this will set you back 300zł.

ul. Lechicka, tel. (+48) 50 144 55 66, www.kernwerk.pl. Admission 10/7zł.

FORT VI - TIETZEN

Due to the fact it was continually used by the military following the end of WWII, Tietzen was still in perfect condition when it was purchased by a private Polish investor for a reported 2.55 million złoty. It has since been turned into a conference and event centre and occasional film set. Tours are organised by the same guys as in Fort Va, and take place on the last Saturday of each month at 12:00 - the expected duration is 1h30, and, again, the default langauge is Polish.

ul. Lutycka/ul. Strzeszyńska (Jeżyce), tel. (+48) 50 144 55 66, www.fortpoznan.pl. Admission 10/7zł.

WWII tanks at the Citadel

© Michal Wrombel

FORT VII - COLOMB

Undoubtedly Poznań’s best-known and darkest fort, this place was set up as the first Nazi concentration camp. It’s estimated that Nazi officials began using the place for this purpose way back in October 1939 and some sources state that as many as 20,000 died at the site. Today it operates as the Wielkopolska Martyrs Museum and is the only fort that can be visited individually, without taking part in a guided tour. Inside you’ll see the dark tunnels used as improvised gas chambers and haunting displays that include a guillotine, an execution block, truncheons, whips, and arrest warrants. The personal effects of prisoners have also been preserved including hand-written letters, playing cards, rosaries, and identity papers. Chilling inscriptions etched into the walls by prisoners can also still be discerned, the writing framed with red and white ribbons. Overall, an impactful experience - though short on English-language information - rightfully making this Poznań’s most visited fort.

Al. Polska (Jeżyce), www.wmn.poznan.pl. Open 10:00-17:00; Sun 10:00-16:00; closed Mon. Admission 6/3zł, Tue free.

FORT COLOMB PUB

Fort Colomb, technically the Colomb Bastion, is the one place where you can drink in Poz’s Prussian fortifications - and there’s no worrying about invading private property or the lack of English tours. During the summer, we take every opportunity to get away from the hustle, bustle, and loud drunks of the main square and hide away in the leafy garden of this splendidly historic building, located right in Park Marcinkowskiego.

F‐8, ul. Powstanców Wielkopolskich, tel. (+48) 609 99 02 82, www.fortcolomb.pl. Open 14:00-24:00; Fri, Sat 14:00-02:00; Sun 17:00-24:00. X ­E