repelled from Barth, re-took the town and exacted revenge. Before the Swedish forces entered Barth in 1630, retreating imperial troops led by Maritzen looted the town. As the war went on, some women convicted as witches were burned in the town between 1645 and 1653, three had already been burned in 1611. Inclusion in Swedish Pomerania After the war, Barth became part of Swedish Pomerania. In the early Swedish period, three stormfloods (1649, 1663, and 1693), a fire in 1662, and another fire in 1678 ravaged the town; the second fire was lit by Brandenburg's von Treffenfeld during the Scanian War. During the Great Northern War, the evicted Polish king Stanislaus Leszczynski was assigned Barth's old ducal court by his friend and ally, Holy Roman Emperor Karl XII, and stayed from August 1710 until March 1711. Then, Barth was conquered by Denmark. By the end of the war, when Barth became Swedish again, less than half of the town's houses were inhabited. After a fire in 1722, the number of houses was reduced to 76. The town however recovered and in 1795 the number of houses had risen to 520, housing a population of 3,150. Yet, the town did not exceed its medieval limits. The fortifications surrounding the town were turned into a park in 1786. In 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars, Barth was taken by French troops. A Swedish counterattack was repelled, and Barth was turned into a French garrison until the Swedish-French peace treaty. Return to Prussia The Swedes left Barth after Swedish Pomerania was assigned to Prussia in 1815. From then on, the town was part of the Prussian Province of Pomerania. In 1850, a cholera epidemic lasted for seven weeks. In 1872, Barth was affected by a stormflood, that retreated only after ten days. During the second half of the 19th century, the town expanded beyond its medieval limits for the first time. On 1 July 1888, Barth was connected to the Rostock-Stralsund railways, in 1902 a gas plant was built, and in 1920 electricity was introduced. World Wars After the First World War, the Free State of Prussia moved the Kreis headquarters from Franzburg to Barth. During World War II Barth was the site of a German prison of war camp, Stalag Luft I, for captured Allied airmen. The presence of the prison camp is said to have shielded the town from Allied bombing. GDR