Bernard Sychta

Bernard Sychta (; 1907 – 1982) was a Kashubian activist, ethnographer, linguist, and Catholic priest. He studied the West Slavic groups of Kashubs, Kocievians, and Tuchola Borowians, inhabiting the Pomeranian region of Central Europe. He was the author of dictionaries of the Kashubian and Kocievian languages and wrote the Kocievian national anthem.

Biography Early life and education Sychta was born on 21 March, 1907 into a Kashub family, in what was then, Pusdrowo, German Empire. He was one of thirteen siblings, to his mother Anna and father Jan, a farmer and business owner. As a child, Sychta attended the local school in Pusdrowo before enrolling at gymnasiums in the Free City of Danzig and Wejherowo. Whilst still a student, he began producing his first works, including a Kashubian nativity play in 1925, which was staged by students at the Wejherowo gymnasium. In 1928, Sychta began studying theology and philosophy at the seminary in Pelplin.

WWII At the outbreak of World War II Sychta was being treated for typhus at a hospital in Toruń. After the hospital was evacuated, he hid from the Nazis in a safehouse in Preußisch Stargard until 1941, before finding shelter in Osche for the remainder of the war. In recognition of his life's work there is a plaque dedicated to Sychta on his former residence in Pelplin. In 2015, a monument was also erected in Sierakowice in recognition of Sychta's contribution to Kashubian culture.