Kościerzyna (Polish: [kɔɕt͡ɕɛˈʐɨna] ⓘ; Pomeranian and Kashubian: Kòscérzëna; former German: Berent [ˈbɛʁɛnt] ⓘ) is a town in Kashubia in Gdańsk Pomerania region, northern Poland, with 23,327 inhabitants as of June 2023.

[1] During the Kashubian diaspora, many families from Kościerzyna, such as the Mrozeks, the Pellowskis and the Eichmans emigrated to the area of Winona, Minnesota, in the United States, beginning in 1859.

In 1863, volunteers set out from the town to fight in the Polish January Uprising in the Russian Partition of Poland, but few managed to cross the Prussian-Russian border, while many were imprisoned by Prussians.

[5] Local activist Tomasz Rogala, who co-founded a secret Polish independence organization, went to the peace conference in Versailles, where he demanded to include the town in reborn Poland.

The construction of the Polish Coal Trunk-Line in the interbellum contributed to the prosperity of Kościerzyna, as the town gained a modern railway connection with Gdynia, Bydgoszcz and Upper Silesia.

[1] In the first weeks of the occupation, in September 1939, the Germans arrested and imprisoned numerous Poles from the town and the surrounding area.

[6] Between November 6 and 22, 1939, the Germans expelled 2,000 Poles, who were first deported to the temporary concentration camp in Wysin, and then to the General Government in the more-eastern part of German-occupied Poland.

[1] In January 1945, a German-perpetrated death march of Allied prisoners-of-war from the Stalag XX-B POW camp passed through the town.