 The newspaper "Der Gesellige", founded by book seller Rothe in 1826, belonged up to the end of World War I to the most widely spread newspapers of east Germany.Around the turn to the 20th century, Graudenz had become an important cultural centre in east Germany with numerous schools, municipal archives and a museum.The city was the site of a military prison for Polish activists – those released, who left Europe, formed the Gromada Grudziądz in Portsmouth, England, in 1835, as part of the Great Emigration movement.