History

Welcome to the hotel and restaurant which has more than a hundred years of tradition. Its history dates back to the early twentieth century, when the former medieval fishing village of Vietz was transformed into an industrial and trading community. At that time, an increasing number of visitors were searching for a better standard of service than that offered in local inns with guest rooms. It was then that the current hotel building was erected and branded with the sign: G.Schulz Hotel und Restaurant. The commissioning of the railway line and the later invention of the car triggered off a wave of tourism, which contributed to the establishment of three further hotels with restaurants in Witnica. The competition between these facilities fuelled an increase in the level of customer service. Otto Hasselberg, the new owner of the hotel raised the standard by renaming the facility: the Central Hotel. The last German owner of the property was Wilhelm Nass.
During the war years, in the last days before the arrival of the Red Army between 31st January and 4th February 1945, the construction of numerous trenches between Witnica and Mościczki was initiated This was a part of a plan by Gerhard Kegler, the general commander of the "Woldenberg" Division, who planned to stop at this location the triumphant march of the Soviets along the former historic route R 1 (Aachen -Berlin - Königsberg), after the transformation of Gorzow into a-fortress town had failed. The general set up his headquarters in the former town hall of Witnica 100 m from the hotel where, most probably, he and his staff officers were accommodated. This project turned out to be futile too, because the Soviets directed their troops along the side trails and at dawn on February 4th, General Kegler and his staff retreated to the fortress of Kostrzyn. They were replaced by the Soviet army who burned down the Town Hall and several buildings in the Market Square. The hotel survived and was taken over by a Polish settler, Stefan Wojciechowski, followed by Wladyslaw Szwedek as its temporary managers as early as May 26th.
This was a period when Poles and Soviets were taking over the former German properties after the Germans were suddenly forced to abandon the town in June before the Potsdam Conference. At this time the restaurant was experiencing its most successful period, and the hotel was fully booked by looters who came here to rob the abandoned “ownerless” properties After surviving this "Wild West" period, the economic situation began to stabilize until 1947, when an ideological "battle for commerce" was launched. It was then that the private hotel and restaurant were taken over by the Municipal Peasants’ Self-Help Cooperative in Witnica managed by Kazimierz Doliński on behalf of this institution.
The hotel restaurant was one of the few licensed premises and due to its central location in the city, it became a meeting point for all kinds of people. Gypsies from the artistic community of Papusza the poet came here willingly; so did musicians playing harps and other instruments in the restaurant after they were banned from their nomadic way of life and settled in Gorzow and Witnica. But people overly fond of the bottle appeared here even more frequently. Hence frequent visits were paid by the guards of the social order when it came to blows. One of the guests was pushed down the restaurant stairs and suffered fatal injuries. After the “Patio” restaurant and café was erected on the opposite side of the Market Square, the Municipal Cooperative returned the hotel to the city. The city handed over the premises under the names Urban Hotel and Witniczanka Restaurant to the Gorzow Tourism Enterprise "Warta Tourist", when the Gorzowskie Province was established in 1976. The Enterprise also built the "Forest Retreat" Guest House in Witnica.
At that time Witnica developed as an industrial town settled numerously by so-called buyers from many factories and institutions. They purchased construction materials here as well as renovation and investment services. The hotel could not accommodate so many guests, therefore a network of private accommodation was created. This applied in particular to the several years when an oil mining exploration base was located in the town. This investment led to the discovery of the largest oil and gas deposits in Poland up to 2013, with its central plant in Barnówek.
As a result of political changes of 1990, the "Warta Tourist" Enterprise was closed and the hotel returned to the local government. During the flow of privatization it was purchased by Czeslaw Rackiewicz and completely rebuilt. The expanded facility operated as "Lord" Hotel and Restaurant until 2014. Since 2014, Dorota and Radek Marczewski have been managing the facility. They renamed it into “Witnica” Hotel and Restaurant.