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Czeladź

Czeladź (טשעלאַדזש) is a town in Zagłębie Dąbrowskie (part of historic Lesser Poland), in southern Poland, near Katowice and Sosnowiec. Located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Brynica river (tributary of the Vistula), it is the oldest urban center of Zagłębie Dąbrowskie. The area of Czeladź is 16 km2, and it borders Będzin, Sosnowiec, Katowice and Siemianowice Śląskie.

The town is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship since its formation in 1999, previously it was in Katowice Voivodeship. Czeladź is one of the cities of the 2,7 million conurbation – Katowice urban area and within a greater Katowice-Ostrava metropolitan area populated by about 5,294,000 people. The population of the town as of December 2021 is 30,732. Founded in the 13th century, Czeladź was granted city status in 1262. In the years 1434–1790, it belonged to the Duchy of Siewierz. In the 19th century, Czeladź became an important mining center, with the Saturn coal mine opened there in the late 19th century. It also was a main center of Jewish culture, destroyed in The Holocaust.

History
First historic mention of Czeladź comes from 1228, in a bill of Duke Casimir I of Opole, in which the boundaries of the village were mentioned, a public house, as well as a bridge over the Brynica. In 1243, the village (spelled as Celad, and already having the status of a defensive gord) was mentioned again, this time in a document of Duke Konrad I of Masovia, as it had been destroyed in 1241, during the first Mongol invasion of Poland. It belonged to an abbey from Staniątki, and in 1260, Prince Władysław of Opole decided to purchase the village with its parish church. Two years later, Czeladź was sold to an abbey from Henryków, and was granted Magdeburg rights. The town remained within territory of Silesian duchies, but at the same time, Czeles, as it was known, was under the jurisdiction of bishops of Kraków. In 1434 it became part of the Duchy of Siewierz, a property of Kraków Bishops. The town had a defensive wall, remains of which were discovered in 2006, and a town hall, where on March 9, 1589, the agreement between Poles and Austrians was signed, ending the War of the Polish Succession. Czeladź suffered much damage inflicted by the Swedes in the Deluge (1655–60).

In 1790, the Duchy of Siewierz was incorporated directly into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and King Stanisław August Poniatowski made Czeladź a free city. After the Partitions of Poland, Czeladź since 1815 belonged to the Russian-controlled Congress Poland, and was located on the border with Kingdom of Prussia's province of Silesia. During the January Uprising, in February 1863, Czeladź was briefly captured by Polish insurgents after their victory in the Battle of Sosnowiec nearby. Since the 1860s, the town began to turn into an industrial center. Two coal mines were opened – Czeladź (1870), and Saturn (1880). Workers' settlements were built, and the dynamic growth was not stopped by World War I, when Czeladź was occupied by the German Empire. In 1915, a power plant was opened, and Czeladź became a magnet for farmers from overpopulated Lesser Poland's villages, who came here in search of work. Tenement houses replaced wooden huts, streets were paved and parks opened. Mining emerged as an engine of town's development, and in the Polish People's Republic, Czeladź kept its industrial position. Coal resources, however, became depleted and mines, starting in the 1960s, would make their workers redundant. Since the notion of unemployment did not officially exist in a Communist country, new companies were opened for the dismissed miners – Transport Company Transbud (1969), Energy Company Energopol (1970), and Window Manufacturer Erg (1971).

Following the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland, which started World War II in September 1939, the town was occupied by Germany until 1945. In September 1939, the German Einsatzgruppe I entered the town and would commit various atrocities against the population. Nearly all of Czeladź' Jewish community was murdered during the occupation. Jews numbered around 1,000, about 5% of the population, at the beginning of the war. The German invasion led to the immediate abuse, robbery, and murder of Jewish residents. 22 Polish policemen and 15 Polish military officers from Czeladź were murdered by the Russians in the large Katyn massacre in April–May 1940. In June 1940, both Poles and Polish Jews were forced to go to the town square where they were beaten and tortured as retaliation for the murder of a German. Afterwards, 20 of the Jews were detained and murdered. Polish hostages from Czeladź were among 20 Poles massacred by the Germans on July 16, 1940, in Olkusz. In 1941, the Germans forced Jews into a ghetto. Periodically, some were sent to forced labor camps. In May 1942, 200 residents of the ghetto were sent to Auschwitz. Most sent to Auschwitz were immediately murdered or died later from starvation, disease, and brutality. In May, 1943, the ghetto was "liquidated" with the last Jews sent to Będzin and then on to Auschwitz. Only 40 Czeladź Jews are thought to have survived Auschwitz, the labor camps, or by hiding in the area. The Germans also established and operated three forced labor subcamps (E580, E587, E754) of the Stalag VIII-B/344 prisoner-of-war camp in the town. In 1944, the Germans sent kidnapped Polish children from Czeladź to the Potulice concentration camp.

In the mid-1970s, a number of blocks of flats was built in Czeladź, to accommodate an influx of workers employed at the construction of Katowice Steelworks.

Sights
Among points of interest there are:
 * Romanesque Revival church of St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr, with the 1637 organs and 17th century chalices,
 * medieval structure of the center of the town,
 * former Polish Brethren church (first half of the 17th century),
 * houses from the 18th and 19th centuries,
 * historic miners’ settlement in the district of Piaski,
 * neo-Classicistic palace Pod Filarami (1924).

Transport
The Polish National roads 86 and 94 run through the town, and several other national roads and the A1 and A4 highways run nearby, within the metropolitan area.

Sports
The local football club is CKS Czeladź. It competes in the lower leagues.

Notable people

 * Aryeh Tzvi Frumer (1884–1943), Rav of Koziegłowy
 * Shlomo Sztencl (1884–1919), Rav of the town in 1905–1910
 * Abraham Nahum Stencl (1897–1983), Ashkenazi poet
 * Czesław Słania (1921–2005), postage stamp engraver
 * Jan Dydak (1968–2019), boxer, Olympic medalist

Twin towns – sister cities
Czeladź is twinned with:
 * 🇫🇷 Auby, France
 * 🇭🇺 Várpalota, Hungary
 * 🇱🇻 Viesīte, Latvia
 * 🇺🇦 Zhydachiv, Ukraine

title: Czeladź


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Olkusz

Olkusz (עלקיש Elkish, 1941-45 Ilkenau) is a town in southern Poland with 36,607 inhabitants (2014). Situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship (since 1999), previously in Katowice Voivodeship (1975–1998), it is the capital of Olkusz County. Olkusz is known for its abundance of silver, which is mined and extracted in the vicinity.

Surroundings
The city is on the Baba River, a tributary of the Sztoła, with a major road reaching it from Warsaw and Kraków, making it the central city of the vicinity. Tourists who wish to visit nature and historical sites, start from here. Also, Olkusz is located on the main railroad line, which connects Upper Silesia and Zaglebie with Kielce. The Starczynów Desert is located nearby, and wind-blown sands from the desert troubled the town until the desert was planted with trees in 1949 resulting in the desert becoming overgrown.

History
On the city's website, a myth is cited that the city was founded by ancient Phoenicians (Canaanites) who traveled here and found lead ore. The origin of the name Olkusz is cited as the ancient Phoenician (Canaanite Hebrew) "Elkhuds" meaning "to chisel". However, the Hebrew word for "to chisel" was "lakhrot" and the likelihood of the ancient Phoenicians having reached Poland is very low.

A first written historical document from the year 1299 refers to the city of Olkusz, although it was granted town rights earlier. It was located within the Seniorate Province of the fragmented Kingdom of Poland, and then it was a royal town of Poland, administratively located in the Kraków Voivodeship in the Lesser Poland Province of the Polish Crown. The inhabitants were mostly wealthy, due to the lead mines. Silver was discovered too. Various wars crossed the path of this town, which was at its lowest at the end of the 17th century (see: The Deluge).

In the Third Partition of Poland (1795) the town was annexed by Austria. Following the Austro-Polish War of 1809 it was regained by Poles and included within the short-lived Duchy of Warsaw, and after the duchy's dissolution in 1815, the town fell to the Russian Partition of Poland. Fights of the Polish January Uprising took place in the area in 1863. Francesco Nullo, hero of the fights for Italian and Polish independence died in the Battle of Krzykawka nearby, and then was buried at the cemetery in Olkusz.

Poland eventually regained independence and control of the town after World War I in 1918. During the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland, which started World War II in September 1939, the town was invaded by Germany. Already during the invasion, the Germans committed the first executions of local Poles (see also Nazi crimes against the Polish nation).

Under German occupation, the town was annexed directly into Germany. Poles from Olkusz were among the victims of a massacre committed in Celiny in June 1940. On 16 July 1940, in retaliation for the killing of a German policeman, the Germans carried out a massacre of 20 Polish hostages. On 31 July 1940, the Germans gathered all Polish and Jewish men aged 15 to 55 and subjected them to torture and murder. The German terror campaign against the local population was aimed at the planned Germanisation of the town and the region. The occupation ended in January 1945, and the town was restored to Poland.

Sports
The town's most notable sports club is KS Olkusz with football and athletics sections.

Religions

 * Roman Catholicism 4  parishes:
 * St Andrew's Basilica
 * St Maximilian Maria Kolbe Church
 * St Barbara's Church
 * Good Shepherd Church
 * Jehovah's Witnesses
 * Pentecostalism
 * Seventh-day Adventist Church
 * Jewish (40% of the population before the Holocaust)

Twin Towns – Sister Cities

 * 🇮🇹 Bergamo, Italy
 * 🇩🇪 Schwalbach am Taunus, Germany
 * 🇬🇧 Staffordshire Moorlands, United Kingdom

Notable people

 * Paweł Blehm, Polish chess grandmaster
 * Marcin Bylica a.k.a. Martin Bylica and Marcin z Olkusza, Polish astrologer and astronomer
 * Paweł Czarnota, Polish chess Grandmaster
 * Antoni Kocjan, Polish war hero and famous glider engineer
 * Henryk Mandelbaum, noted Polish survivor of the Holocaust
 * Tadeusz Rydzyk, Roman Catholic priest and Redemptorist
 * Rabbi Dov Berish Einhorn

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Olkusz


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Chrzanów

Chrzanów is a town in southern Poland with 35,651 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship (since 1999) and is the seat of Chrzanów County.

History to 1809
It is impossible to establish a reliable date for the foundation of the town. A stronghold existed on the site, which was later raised to the rank of a castellany. The earliest documents which corroborate the existence of Chrzanów castellany come from the late 12th century when, in around 1178, Chrzanów castellany was annexed to Silesia by order of Duke Casimir II the Just. In the second half of the 13th century it was reunited with the Duchy of Kraków. In 1241 the wooden stronghold of Chrzanów was put to the torch by Mongol hordes invading Poland from the east. The town of Chrzanów was rebuilt according to the Magdeburg Law in the mid-14th century under the reign of King Casimir III the Great. However it seems that it was not surrounded by defence walls. It is believed that Chrzanów was an open town. The local church was mentioned for the first time in documents in the tax-register of Peter's Pence, 1325-1328. From the time of its construction in the 14th century until 1640 the town was the property of the Ligęza family of the Półkozic coat of arms. In the mid-15th century Chrzanów had c. 430 residents and in the 17th century some 650. At least from the early 15th century a parish school existed next to Chrzanów's Church of St Nicholas.

In the 16th century King Sigismund II Augustus of Poland bestowed a new privilege on the town, allowing for four extra fairs. Various guilds were active in the town: weavers', tailors', shoemakers', smiths', butchers' and others. Ancient Chrzanów's speciality was trading cattle, as here was a customs house for exports of cattle to Silesia and ore trade which was mined and smelted by Chrzanów's burghers. In 1640 Chrzanów was taken over by Andrzej Samuel Dembiński. Then in 1649 it was inherited by his granddaughter Katarzyna Grudzińska, and in 1675 by the Stadnicki family. In 1731 it went to Józef Kanty Ossoliński. In 1654 King John II Casimir bestowed upon Chrzanów the privilege of holding extra fairs and in 1781 a similar privilege was bestowed on the town by King Stanislaus II Augustus. The second half of the 17th century was a particularly hard period for Chrzanów. As a result of wars waged at the time the town was looted on several occasions by the Swedes (1655–1657), the Austrians who fought against them (1657), by Transylvanian troops of Prince George Rákóczi and by Polish troops as well. During the Great Northern War Chrzanów was plundered and put to the torch by Swedish troops of King Charles XII. During the Polish-Russian war which broke out in 1792, Chrzanów was occupied by Russian (1792–1793) and Prussian troops (1793–1795). In 1795, following the third partition of Poland-Lithuania, Chrzanów was annexed to Galicia in the Habsburg Empire.

1809-1918
In the period 1795-1809 Chrzanów was a part of Austrian Galicia. In 1809, as a result of the war between Austria and the Duchy of Warsaw, West Galicia with Chrzanów was annexed to the Duchy of Warsaw. During this period ownership of the town also changed. From 1804 to 1822 Chrzanów was owned by Duke Albert Casimir of Saxe-Cieszyn, son of the late King of Poland, Augustus III of Saxony. Following the fall of Napoleon, a treaty among Austria, Prussia and Russia was concluded during the Congress of Vienna resulting in creation of the Free City of Kraków on 3 May 1815. Chrzanów and the surrounding areas are annexed to the newly created state. In 1838 Chrzanów had 4078 residents: 2009 of the Roman-Catholic and 2069 of the Jewish faith. The period of the Free City of Cracow was a time of prosperity and rapid development for Chrzanów and its residents. In this period ownership of the town changed again. The former owner, Duke Albert Casimir of Saxe-Cieszyn, bequeathed the town to Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria (1822), who in turn sold it to the Cracovian Senator and MP from Chrzanów Jan Mieroszewski. In 1856 Mieroszewski decided to sell his Chrzanów estate to a group of Wrocław entrepreneurs, one of whom, Emanuel Loewenfeld, soon became the sole owner.

In 1846 a revolt broke out in Kraków. Outside Cracow Austrian troops were also engaged in battle at Chrzanów where in February 1846 a 15-troop squad commanded by the owner of Kwaczała estate, Józef Patelski, victoriously attacked Austrian troops forcing them to withdraw. The revolt was doomed, however, and in September 1846 Chrzanów with the entire Free City of Cracow was annexed to the Austrian Kingdom of Galicia. In 1853/54 Galicia was divided into counties (powiaty) and Chrzanów became a seat of a county. In 1847 the first part of the railway running through Chrzanów County was built: from Cracow to Silesia with railway stations in Krzeszowice, Trzebinia and Szczakowa. In 1856 another section was built joining Cracow with Vienna and this one ran through Chrzanów. In 1852 a zinc and lead ore mine "Matilda" was opened in the direct vicinity. Chrzanów entered the age of rapid industrialization. With it the number of residents grew. In 1870 the town had 6,323 inhabitants, 7,712 in 1890, 10,000 in 1900 and 11,572 in 1910. Henry Avenue (Aleja Henryka) was built in 1893 following a purchase of land situated between modern Henry Avenue and Oświęcimska St. from the Lowenfeld family. This initiated dynamic development of the town in S-W direction and intensive urbanization of the neighbourhood continued in the interwar period. In 1911 Chrzanów Secondary School was founded. Following Austria-Hungary's collapse in 1918 Chrzanów with the rest of Galicia was reunited with the Republic of Poland.

1918-1945
In the years 1919-1939 Chrzanów and Chrzanów County belonged to the Province of Cracow (Voivodeship) in the Second Polish Republic. In the interwar years further industrialization of the town followed. In the 1920s Stella ceramic works and Fablok, the First Locomotive Factory in Poland, were founded. Many residents found employment there. The interwar years was the period of dynamic urbanization. A number of public buildings were constructed then (the Józef Piłsudski County Hospital, the Józef Piłsudski Children's House, a new building of Chrzanów Secondary School etc.), a residential area between Henry Avenue and Oświęcimska St. and housing estates at Kolonia Fabryczna and Rospontowa constructed for the employees of Fablok works. The population of the town in 1921 was 12,244 and 18,106 according to the 1931 census. In 1939 the number of residents was 22,000.

With the outbreak of World War II (1 September 1939) the town was flooded with refugees from Upper Silesia. In the morning of 3 September Polish local government was evacuated from the town, as well as many residents. The following day, after a number of short skirmishes with the Polish troops, the town was occupied by German troops. In November 1939 when the town with the western half of the county was annexed directly to Nazi Germany, Chrzanów was made a county town in the Katowice region of the Province of Upper Silesia.

In 1940 the German authorities began expropriating Polish families from better houses in the town. These were given to German officials, military, policemen and German settlers from Romania. The Nazis started removing any Polish traces in the town with particular pettiness. Public buildings and shops had all signs written in Polish removed and all streets received German names. In 1941 the town itself was renamed Krenau. Jewish residents were resettled to a ghetto, created in 1941. It was not surrounded by walls, like in other Polish towns, nevertheless the Jews were not allowed to venture outside the ghetto. From 1942 Germans started sending Chrzanów's Jews to the death camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau. The last transport of Jews from Chrzanów to Birkenau was organized by the Germans in February 1943.

On 29 April 1942 the Germans hanged seven Jews in Krzyska Street in Chrzanow. The seven Jews were accused of illegally baking bread. The victims were Israel Gerstner (bakery owner), Chaim Gerstner, Szymszen Gerstner, Szaja Szpangelet, Fajwel Waloman, Israel Frisz and an unknown man from Olkusz.

German occupation was terminated on 24 January 1945 when Chrzanów was taken over by Soviet troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front. The town escaped serious damage in this last chapter of its war history (about one-fourth of the town was damaged). The population decreased by almost half. From 30 January 1945 the town was administered first by the Town Council and then by the National Town Council. Due to ruthless political methods, local administration was soon seized by the local and incoming communists, although the communists themselves constituted a tiny fraction of the politically active residents.

Since 1945
In 1949 Chrzanów had almost 15,000 residents, increasing to 20,000 in 1960, to over 30,000 in 1975 and to 53,000 in 1993. After 1945 new enterprises were created in the town (e.g. a dairy, a cold storage plant, a slaughterhouse) and new residential areas (housing estates Północ - from 1961, Południe - from 1979, Trzebińska and so on) and cultural centres (e.g. County Cultural Centre, the construction of which was initiated in 1959, and Chrzanów Museum founded in 1960). In 1970-71 a new town centre was constructed focusing around the Millennium Square (Plac Tysiąclecia) and the Victory and Liberty Monument. In 1975, following an administrative reform abolishing counties (powiaty), Chrzanów ceased to be a county seat. Further, the town was detached from its original Province of Cracow, to which it belonged since restoration of Poland's independence after World War I, and annexed to the Province of Katowice until 1999. Since 1999 Chrzanów has been a county seat in Małopolskie, or Lesser Poland Voivodeship.

Demographics
Detailed data as of 31 December 2021:

Main sights

 * Church of St Nicholas, most probably constructed at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries Its final architectural shape - as it then seemed, as it survived only until 1912 - had been created in the 15th century and shortly afterwards by adding annexes. A detached belfry was erected next to the church most probably around the same time. The present church was created by extensive reconstruction in 1912-1914. The interior decoration consist of several interesting altars with old paintings, arrestingly beautiful stained glass windows from 1914, grand chandelier from the 1930s and many other interesting historic objects.
 * The Loewenfeld Mausoleum, built in 1898-1900 in Neo-Classical style on the Greek cross plan, according to a design of Teodor Talowski from Kraków. The chapel was raised as the mausoleum of the last owners of Chrzanów, the Loewenfelds.
 * Market Square with residences from the late 18th and 19th centuries. Probably the most interesting of those is a 1905-1907 two-storey, Art-Nouveau house at nr 13 (previously nr 22). It has a façade of glazed bricks opulently decorated with miscellaneous ornaments (mostly chestnut foliage).
 * The Victory and Liberty Monument at the Tysiąclecia Sq. (locally known as "The Eagle") by the Chrzanovian sculptor Marian Konarski. It was raised in 1971 in memory of the residents of Chrzanów who fell during World War II.
 * The castle granary from the 16th century, now the seat of the Chrzanów Museum. The building was originally a part of the manor assembly (called the Castle), which in turn was the residence of the owners of Chrzanów. Since 1960 the building has housed collections of the Chrzanów Museum, including mementos of the last owners, the Loewenfelds. The Museum has an interesting collections on local history divided into several sections.
 * The Church of St John the Baptist in Kościelec had been built probably in the 14th century in Gothic style and it was preserved as such until 1843/45 when a decision was made for a general reconstruction of the church due to its rather poor shape. Among other interesting furnishings of the church is the 19th-century high altar and black Dębniki marble epitaphs of the former owners of Kościelec, which until the recent renovation used to be on the walls of the presbytery. The church has a richly adorned bell of 1484.
 * The Building of the Credit Society (1895) in Henry Avenue, with rich eclectic details including two porches with column porticos which make the whole structure look quite handsome.
 * Jewish cemetery (c. 1763) with 19th- and 20th-century tombstones. Initially it had consisted of two cemeteries, the small one (which was destroyed by the Germans in 1941) and the big one which has been preserved down to our own days (small part of which, however, was destroyed by the Germans during World War II).
 * World War I cemetery behind / adjacent to the Jewish cemetery of 1914/15 with approx. 170 interred, mainly Austro-Hungarian soldiers who died in the Chrzanów military hospitals. The site has been cleaned, a simple cross with the names of the interred erected in 2014, and restoration is envisaged to be completed by 2018.

Flag and coat of arms
The ancient coat of arms of Chrzanów, the St Nicholas, was created perhaps in the 14th century simultaneously with granting the Magdeburg Rights to Chrzanów. The oldest preserved seals of the town of Chrzanów are charged with an effigy of St Nicholas, the patron-saint of the local church, who holds a crosier in his right hand and a book in his left and wears bishop's vestments and a bishop's mitre on his head. Next to St Nicholas the Półkozic crest is seen which was the arms of the Ligęza Family, the former owners of Chrzanów. This coat of arms had been used by the town until c. 1809, when the authorities of the Duchy of Warsaw to which Chrzanów belonged to then, annulled all municipal coats-of-arms. Following the fall of the Duchy of Warsaw (1815) the arms of the Duchy was adopted as the arms of Chrzanów. It is unclear why the ancient and traditional arms were not restored. The arms of the Duchy of Warsaw, adopted after 1815 as the arms of Chrzanów, were a shield divided in half and placed under a royal crown. In the right field of the shield were the arms of Saxony (black and golden stripes divided by a green crown-shaped half-wreath). In the left field were the coat of arms of Poland.

In 1964 the flag of Chrzanów was adopted. During the session of the City Council on 21 May 1964 it was decided that the city colours would be blue and red put in two horizontal stripes, exactly like the colours of the Polish national flag. It seems quite probable that the choice of colours had been determined by the dominant colours in the old arms of Chrzanów featuring St Nicholas, and that is why such colours were adopted. In 2009 a new flag of Chrzanów was introduced. It consists of 3 vertical stripes: a broad white one, centrally located and featuring the city's arms and two narrower pale blue stripes flanking the central stripe on both sides.

Transport
Main road connections from the town include connection with Kraków (to the east) and Katowice (to the west) via the A4 highway or via the national road number 79. There are also two voivodeship roads starting from Chrzanów: road number 933 (going south-west) to Oświęcim, Pszczyna and Jastrzębie-Zdrój and road number 781 (going south-east) to Andrychów.

Rail connection links Chrzanów to Kraków (to the east), Oświęcim and Czechowice-Dziedzice (south-west). There are two rail stops in the town.

Education
Chrzanów has, among others, seven primary schools, two secondary schools, a secondary technical school, a music school and the Academy of Business and Marketing (Wyższa Szkoła Przedsiębiorczości i Marketingu).

Sport
The town has a number of sports venue, including a large sport hall. The main sports club is Fablok Chrzanów, founded in 1926 and sponsored by the locomotive company Fablok.

Notable people

 * Dovid Halberstam (1821-1894), Jewish religious leader
 * Ignacy Schwarzbart (1888–1961), Zionist, member of the National Council of the Republic of Poland
 * Klemens Stefan Sielecki (1903–1980), technical director of Fablok
 * Isaac Deutscher (1907-1967), Jewish Marxist
 * Mascha Kaléko (1907-1975), Poet
 * Henryk Tauber Fuchsbrunner (1917-2000), Auschwitz Sonderkommando worker and escapee, gave famous testimony; longest known survivor of the kommando
 * Nathan Wasserberger (1928-2013), painter
 * Janusz Szrom (born 1968), jazz singer
 * Michał Gajownik (1981–2009), Olympic canoeist

Twin towns — sister cities
Chrzanów is twinned with:
 * 🇫🇷 Harnes, France
 * 🇭🇺 Nyékládháza, Hungary
 * 🇺🇦 Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine

title: Chrzanów


text:
Knurów

Knurów (Knurow; Knurōw) is a city near Katowice in Silesia, southern Poland. Knurów is an outer city of the Metropolis GZM, a metropolis with a population of two million.

Knurów is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Bierawka River, a tributary of the Oder River.

History
Knurów's history as a city is relatively short, as it only became a town in 1951, when also the settlements of Krywałd and Szczygłowice were included within its town limits as districts. However, Knurów's existence can be traced back as far back as ca. 1295–1305, when it was mentioned in the Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis chronicle, and was part of Piast-ruled Poland. It was then mentioned as Knauersdorf or Cnurowicz, and later on mostly appeared in documents under its current name. Later on, it was also part of Bohemia (Czechia), Prussia and Germany. Throughout centuries, Knurów was a private village, and among its owners were the Goszycki, Węgierski and Paczyński families. The town rapidly grew at the end of the 18th century as the Industrial Revolution came and vast coal reserves were found in the area. In the late 19th century, the settlement had a population of 776. In 1904, the first mine shaft was opened, and in 1908-1909 a railway line connecting Knurów with Rybnik was built. In 1912, the first strike took place at the local mine.

After World War I, in 1918, Poland regained independence, and following the Polish Silesian Uprisings Knurów was reintegrated with Poland. In the interwar period, Knurów developed intensively. New schools, stadiums, a pipeline connecting with Bełk and the first synthetic ammonia plant in Poland were built. In 1923, a monument to the participants of the Silesian Uprisings was unveiled. The coal industry continued growing well in the 20th century, and doubled its output with a new mine being built in 1961 in Szczygłowice.

Knurów and the present-day districts of Krywałd and Szczygłowice were invaded by Germany on September 1, 1939, the first day of the invasion of Poland and World War II. Already in early September 1939, German troops committed a massacre of four Poles in Szczygłowice (see Nazi crimes against the Polish nation). During the subsequent German occupation, the occupiers established and operated two forced labour subcamps (E75, E758) of the Stalag VIII-B/344 prisoner-of-war camp in the town. A unit of the Home Army, the leading Polish resistance organization, was founded in Knurów in 1942. In January 1945, it was captured by the Soviets, who established a transit camp for local Polish Silesians who were deported to the Soviet Union (see Soviet repressions of Polish citizens (1939–1946)). Knurów was restored to Poland, although with a Soviet-installed communist regime, which then stayed in power until the Fall of Communism in the 1980s.

In 1951, Knurów was granted town rights. Several new schools were opened between 1964 and 1991, and new Catholic parishes were established in 1977–1983. More recently, in May 2015, riots ensued in the town after a Concordia Knurów fan was shot dead by police during a football match.

Population
Knurów is one of the cities of the 2.7 million conurbation – Katowice urban area and within a greater Katowice-Ostrava metropolitan area populated by about 5,294,000 people. The population of the town is 38,310 (2019).

Politics
Administratively Knurów has been part of the Silesian Voivodeship since the latter's formation in 1999; previously it was part of Katowice Voivodeship.

Economy
The town is usually associated with coal mining, as it lies in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin.

Sport
The town is home to Concordia Knurów, a lower league football club which was founded in 1923, and famously where Jerzy Dudek started his career. Another famous athlete Agnieszka Dubiel, was a professional sailor for many years. She managed to stay in National Sailing Team and represent Poland on many European and World Championships. Her best result was 21st on Youth World Championship 2014.

The route of the 2016 Tour de Pologne cycling race ran through the town.

Twin towns – sister cities
Knurów is twinned with:
 * 🇭🇺 Kazincbarcika, Hungary
 * 🇸🇰 Svit, Slovakia

title: Knurów


text:
Zawiercie

Zawiercie (זאוויערטשע) is a town in southern Poland located in the Silesian Voivodeship with 49,334 inhabitants (2019). It is situated in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland near the source of the Warta River. The town lies near the historical region of Silesia, but belongs to Lesser Poland.

Name and location
Zawiercie, even though currently associated with Silesia, belongs to Lesser Poland. The town lies near the source of the Warta river, and its name probably comes from the location. The inhabitants of the ancient village of Kromołów, to reach another village located on the other side of the river, would go behind the Warta, or in Polish - za Wartę. From the perspective of Kromołów, Zawiercie is located behind the Warta. There is also a theory that the name of the city comes from settlers who zawiercili (or circled) the settlement area. The town is a gateway to the Polish Jura, where several castles, which used to defend western border of Lesser Poland, are located.

Zawiercie has the area of 85 square kilometers, and until 1945, the town was administratively tied with Lesser Poland's Kielce. It is located along the Warsaw–Vienna railway, and is a road hub, on the National Road Nr. 78.

History

First mention of the village of Kromołów (now a district of Zawiercie) comes from 1193. In the 14th century, the village was located in western Lesser Poland, along a merchant road from Kraków to Poznań. In 1431, Duke Bolko IV of Opole allowed a man named Mikołaj Czenar to open an inn here, and in his document, the name Zawiercie is mentioned for the first time. In the 15th century, the area became the early center of iron manufacturing, but despite this Zawiercie remained for centuries a small village. It was administratively located in the Lelów County in the Kraków Voivodeship in the Lesser Poland Province of the Polish Crown. Until the 19th century, it was divided into Zawiercie Małe (Small Zawiercie) and Zawiercie Duże (Big Zawiercie), both administratively belonged to the gmina of Kromołów.

In 1795 Zawiercie was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in the Third Partition of Poland, becoming part of the small province of New Silesia. In the 1807 Treaties of Tilsit it became part of the short-lived Polish Duchy of Warsaw, a French client state in a personal union with the Kingdom of Saxony. In 1815 it passed to Russian-controlled Congress Poland. Zawiercie owes its development to the construction of the railroads. On December 1, 1847 the first train came to the village, along the newly built Warsaw–Vienna railway. This gave Zawiercie a boost, and in the second half of the 19th century, several companies and coal mines were opened in the village, including Zawiercie Steel Plant, opened in 1901. In 1878, construction of a settlement for workers was initiated, with schools, parks and churches. In 1894, Polish Socialist Party organized a mass sit-in at Zawiercie's Cotton Plant, and by 1914, the population of the village grew to 30,000. Zawiercie finally got its town charter on July 1, 1915. After World War I, in 1918, Poland regained independence and the town was reintegrated with Poland.

World War I and the 1920s was a bad time for Zawiercie. Unemployment grew, the steel plant closed and the TAZ factory reduced the number of workers. The situation did not improve until 1927 when Zawiercie County, part of Kielce Voivodeship, was created.

On the eve of the Second World War there were 7,000 Jews in Zawiercie – about a quarter of its residents. They made their living primarily from trade, crafts, the clothing industry and the metal industry. Printing houses owned by Jews played a central role in the cultural life in the city. The city had labor unions which were composed of small traders and artisans, as well as two banks, a charitable fund companies and charities. Between the World Wars in Zawiercie there were various Zionist parties and Agudat Israel. The city had a traditional “cheder” (religious primary school), a Talmud Torah, and a school and kindergarten which were part of the "Tarbut" Network. In 1926, A. Bornstein who was head of the Jewish community was also appointed mayor of the town.

There were Pogroms were Zawiercie in 1919 and in 1921 which killed some Jews, and most of the city's Jews were affected – whether physically or having suffered material damage.

World War II
During the German invasion of Poland, which started World War II, the Germans entered Zawiercie on 4 September 1939. The town was directly annexed to the Upper Silesia Province (Regierungsbezirk Oppeln), and its name was changed to Warthenau to erase traces of Polish origin. The Polish and Jewish population was subjected to various repressions and crimes. The Germans established and operated a Nazi prison in the town, and also began kidnapping Poles and Jews for forced labour and acts of abuse. On 27 September 1939, the Germans imposed on the Jewish population a high ransom payment. In autumn of 1939, the Polish secret resistance organization Płomień was established, with its headquarters in the local trade school. Among its members were teachers, local officials, students, scouts, the trade school principal Wacław Chrzanowski and local parish priest Bolesław Wajzler. The organization issued underground Polish press, financially supported poorest families and tried to save the youth from being deported to forced labour to Germany.

At the beginning of 1940 the Germans confiscated all Jewish businesses. On January 5, 1940, they imposed a fine of 10 zloty for every Jewish resident of the city. In April 1940, 600 Jewish refugees from Cieszyn were brought to Zawiercie. In April–May 1940, over 150 Poles from Zawiercie were murdered by the Russians in the large Katyn massacre. On September 18, 1940, the Gestapo carried out mass arrests of over 100 members of the Płomień organization, who were then either sentenced to death and executed or imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps, where many died.

In the winter of 1940/41 the Jews were required to hand over all valuables, furniture and furs. On 22 July 1941, the Germans murdered seven Jews who were accused of communism. The Jewish population in 1941 was 5,500. In September 1941, a ghetto was created and a Judenrat (Jewish committee) was established. The Judenrat had to supply the Germans forced labor. In the “Aktion” in Zawiercie in May or August 1942, SS, Gestapo and German gendarmes, aided by the Blue Police, deported about 2,000 residents of the ghetto to the Auschwitz concentration camp. In early 1943, a factory to manufacture uniforms of the German Air Force was created and about 2500 Jews worked there. At the end of 1942 an underground group was formed in Zawiercie by the "Hashomer HaTzair" (Zionist Youth Movement) led by Berl Schwartz. Mordechai Anielewicz (commander of Warsaw Ghetto Uprising) from Warsaw visited the underground. The Underground assisted some Jewish families to escape across the border into Slovakia. Some of those smuggled across were captured and murdered. Zawiercie ghetto was liquidated in August 1943. SS, Gestapo, German gendarmes, and Blue Police deported to Auschwitz 6,000–7,000 Jews as well as locals and refugees who were brought from other places. Judenrat members were killed in the city before deportation. At the uniform factory there remained about 500 workers whose deportation was postponed since they were considered essential employees, and they were deported to Auschwitz on 18 October 1943.

German occupation ended in January 1945 and the town was restored to Poland. Afterwards Zawiercie was transferred from Kielce Voivodeship to Katowice Voivodeship.

Points of interest

 * St. Trinity Church at Zawiercie-Skarżyce (16th-17th century),
 * St. Nicolaus Church at Zawiercie-Kromołów (16th century),
 * manor house at Zawiercie-Bzów (early 19th century)
 * the palace of Stanisław Szymański (late 19th century)
 * TAZ workers settlement (late 19th century)
 * Collegiate Church of Saints Peter and Paul

Zawiercie and Warsaw-Vienna Railway
In 1847, the Warsaw-Vienna Railway was completed. The railroad connection facilitated the trade between Russia, Germany and Austria. The fact that Zawiercie was located less than one kilometre from the railroad triggered the rapid development of the region. Twenty-five years later, there were coal and iron ore mines in Zawiercie and an industry was developed around the mines in the town. The first industrial plant, a glass factory, started around 1870. Immediately other industries followed; a large cotton spinnery, large weaving mill, iron mining, cast iron, brick manufacturing, sawmill, chemical laboratories, steam and water flour mills, machining, etc. The flourishing economics accelerated the local population growth.

Education

 * University of Management and Administration

Sports
Zawiercie is home to the volleyball club Warta Zawiercie. There is also a football team of the same name established in 1921. The team's home ground is the 1000th Anniversary of the Polish State Stadium.

Twin towns – sister cities
Zawiercie is twinned with:

 * 🇩🇪 Bornheim, Germany
 * 🇸🇰 Dolný Kubín, Slovakia
 * 🇺🇦 Donetsk, Ukraine
 * 🇦🇹 Ebensee, Austria
 * 🇺🇦 Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukraine
 * 🇮🇹 Ponte Lambro, Italy
 * 🇮🇹 San Giovanni la Punta, Italy

title: Zawiercie


text:
Świętochłowice

Świętochłowice (Schwientochlowitz; Świyntochłowice) is a city with powiat rights in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. It is also one of the central cities of the Metropolis GZM, with a population of 2 million, and is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Rawa River (tributary of the Vistula).

It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship since its formation in 1999, previously in Katowice Voivodeship, and before then, of the Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship. Świętochłowice is one of the cities of the 2.7 million conurbation – Katowice urban area and within a greater Katowice-Ostrava metropolitan area populated by about 5,294,000 people. The population of the city is 49,762 (2019).

History
Initially, Świętochłowice was divided into two parts: the older Małe Świętochłowice (Little Świętochłowice) and newer Duże Świętochłowice (Big Świętochłowice), which date back to the 12th and 13th centuries, respectively. The oldest known mention of Świętochłowice comes from 1313, while the present-day district of Chropaczów was mentioned in 1295. Both settlements were located within the Duchy of Bytom of fragmented Poland and remained under the rule of the Piast dynasty until 1532, as part of the duchies of Bytom and Opole, before passing to the Kingdom of Bohemia. The village received Magdeburg rights at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries. Until the end of the 17th century, the village of Świętochłowice was owned by the families of Świętochłowski, Paczyński, Kamieński, Rotter, Skall, Myszkowski and Guznar.

In 1742 the settlement was annexed by Prussia and from 1871 to 1922 it was part of Germany. Both parts of Świętochłowice merged in 1790. In the 19th and first part of the 20th century the area rapidly industrialized (based on the numerous local resources, including coal and zinc), leading to the transformation of the village into an industrial settlement. In the early 20th century, numerous Polish organizations were established there. During the Silesian Uprisings the present-day districts Lipiny and Piaśniki were captured by the Polish insurgents in 1920. In the 1921 Upper Silesia plebiscite, in Świętochłowice 51.9% voted for Germany, while in Chropaczów 70.0% voted for Poland, and in Lipiny and Piaśniki combined 56.4% voted for Poland. In 1922 all named settlements were integrated with the re-established Polish state. In 1929 Zgoda became part of Świętochłowice as its new district. In 1939 Świętochłowice was granted city rights with effect from January 1, 1940, however, due to outbreak of World War II, the actual implementation of this law did not take place until 1947.

In early September 1939, during the German invasion of Poland which started World War II, Świętochłowice was the site of Polish defense, also by the civilian population. Already on September 3–4, 1939, Wehrmacht and Freikorps troops murdered 10 Poles in Świętochłowice (see Nazi crimes against the Polish nation). Afterwards, the town was occupied by Germany. In 1943, the Germans established the Eintrachthütte concentration camp, a forced labour subcamp of the Auschwitz concentration camp. In early 1945 it was occupied by the Soviets, who established the Zgoda labour camp.

After the war, Świętochłowice once again restored to Poland. In 1951 its city limits were extended with Chropaczów and Lipiny becoming new districts.

Location
Świętochłowice is situated in the middle of a highly populated area of Upper Silesia and is part of the Metropolis GZM, the largest urban center in Poland and one of the largest in Europe.

Population
Currently (2013) Świętochłowice has about 53,000 inhabitants and is thus the city county with the highest population density in Poland. The population of the entire urban area is about 3.5 million.

Climate and soil
Świętochłowice is situated in Silesian-Krakowian climate-zone. The annual precipitation totals to about 700 mm. The wettest month is July and the driest February. The average temperature is approximately -2.5 °C in January and 18 °C in July.

Brunate and swamp soils predominate in Świętochłowice.

Districts
Świętochłowice has five administrative subdivisions:
 * Centrum
 * Chropaczów
 * Lipiny
 * Piaśniki
 * Zgoda

Sights
The, devoted to the history of the Silesian Uprisings (1919–1921), is located in Świętochłowice. In addition, the city has historical industrial architecture, town halls, churches, tenement houses and familoks.

Sport
The most popular sport in Świętochłowice is motorcycle speedway. The Skałka Stadium is located in the Centrum.

Sport clubs

 * Śląsk Świętochłowice – football, speedway
 * Naprzód Lipiny – football
 * Czarni Świętochłowice – football

Sportspeople of Świętochłowice in Olympic Games

 * 1928 – Amsterdam
 * football – Teodor Peterek
 * gymnastics – Paweł Galus, Franiciszek Pampuch, Teofil Rost, Franciszek Tajstra
 * 1936 – Berlin
 * football – Hubert Gad, Ryszard Piec, Teodor Peterek
 * gymnastics – Klara Sierońska-Kostrzewa
 * 1952 – Helsinki
 * football – Ewald Cebula
 * swimming – Gotfryd Gremlowski
 * 1956 – Melbourne
 * gymnastics – Małgorzata Błaszczyk-Wasilewska
 * 1960 – Rome
 * football – Roman Lentner
 * 1964 – Tokyo
 * gymnastics – Gerda Bryłka-Krajciczek, Małgorzata Wilczek-Rogoń
 * 1976 – Montreal
 * fencing – Barbara Wysoczańska
 * weightlifting – Leszek Skorupa
 * 1976 – Innsbruck
 * ice-hockey – Kordian Jajszczok
 * 1980 – Moscow
 * fencing – Barbara Wysoczańska

Politics
The President of Świętochłowice is Daniel Beger. He was elected in 2018.

Notable people

 * Ewald Cebula (1917–2004), footballer
 * Arthur Goldstein (1887–1943), German journalist and communist politician
 * Krzysztof Hanke (born 1957), actor and satiris
 * Salomon Morel (1919–2007), commandant of Zgoda labour camp
 * Teodor Peterek (1910–1969), footballer
 * Jacob Sonderling (1878–1964), German-American Rabbi
 * Paweł Waloszek (1938–2018), motorcycle speedway rider

Twin towns – sister cities
Świętochłowice is twinned with:

 * Heiloo, Netherlands
 * 🇦🇹 Laa an der Thaya, Austria
 * 🇨🇿 Nový Jičín, Czech Republic
 * 🇸🇰 Rimavská Sobota, Slovakia
 * 🇨🇳 Tai'an, China
 * 🇭🇺 Tiszaújváros, Hungary
 * 🇺🇦 Torez, Ukraine

title: Świętochłowice


text:
Będzin

Będzin (also Bendzin in English; בענדין) is a city in the Dąbrowa Basin, in southern Poland. It lies in the Silesian Highlands, on the Czarna Przemsza River (a tributary of the Vistula). Even though part of Silesian Voivodeship, Będzin belongs to historic Lesser Poland, and it is one of the oldest towns of this region. Będzin is regarded as the capital of industrial Dąbrowa Basin.

It has been situated in the Silesian Voivodeship since its formation in 1999. Before 1999, it was located in the Katowice Voivodeship. Będzin is one of the cities of the 2.7 million conurbation - Katowice urban area and within a greater Katowice-Ostrava metropolitan area populated by about 5,294,000 people. The population of the city itself as of December 2021 is 55,183.

Będzin is located 12 km from Katowice and 4 km from the center of Sosnowiec. Together with Sosnowiec, Dąbrowa Górnicza, Czeladź, Wojkowice, Sławków and Siewierz it is a part of Zagłębie Dąbrowskie, a highly industrialized and densely populated part of western Lesser Poland. Będzin borders the cities of Sosnowiec, Dąbrowa Górnicza, Czeladź, Siemianowice Śląskie, and Wojkowice, as well as the village of Psary. The highest point of the town is St. Dorothy Mountain 382 m above sea level, and the area of Będzin is 37.37 km2.

Districts
Będzin is divided into eight districts: Grodziec in 1951–1975 was a separate town, Gzichów is part of Będzin since 1915, Ksawera is part of Będzin since 1923, Łagisza in 1967–1973 was a separate town, Małobądz is part of Będzin since 1915, Śródmieście is the historic center, Warpie is part of Będzin since 1923.

Etymology
The name Będzin most probably comes from ancient Polish given name Beda or Bedzan. In the past, the town was also called Banden, Bandin, Bandzien, Bondin, Bandzen, Bandzin, Badzin, Bendzin, and Bendsburg (1939–1945).

History
First mention of the village of Będzin comes from 1301, but a settlement (or a grod) had existed here since the 9th century, guarding ancient trade route from Kyiv to Western Europe. In the 1340s, a town was founded here, with King Casimir III the Great building a stone strongpoint. On August 5, 1358, Będzin was incorporated as a town, and became a royal city of Poland, administratively located in the Kraków Voivodeship in the Lesser Poland Province.

In the Jagiellonian period Będzin, located on the border between Lesser Poland and Silesia, was a major trade center. In 1565 King Sigismund II Augustus allowed the town to have five markets a week, and in 1589, at Będzin Castle, Polish–Austrian negotiations took place. At that time, a Jewish community already existed here. In 1655, during The Deluge, both town and castle were destroyed by the Swedes, and Będzin did not recover from the destruction for many years. Following the Third Partition of Poland, in 1795 the town was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia, and was included within the newly established province of New Silesia. In 1807 it was regained by Poles and included in the short-lived Duchy of Warsaw and in 1815 it became part of Russian-controlled Congress Poland.

Industrial revolution
In the late 18th century rich deposits of coal were found in the area. In the 19th century, Będzin and its vicinity enjoyed a period of rapid industrialization and urbanization. New settlements and towns were founded, and the region of Zagłębie Dąbrowskie was established in southwestern corner of Congress Poland. In 1858, Będzin got its first rail connection, due to construction of the Warsaw–Vienna railway. The town increased in population and size, when town limits were expanded by including neighboring settlements. During the January Uprising, in February 1863, Będzin was captured by Polish insurgents after their victory in the Battle of Sosnowiec nearby.

The Będzin Power Station was opened in 1913.

Będzin was eventually restored to Poland, when the country regained independence in 1918, after World War I. In the Second Polish Republic Będzin was an important center of local administration and industry. New rail station, waterworks, schools and offices were built.

World War II
During the German invasion of Poland, which started World War II, the Wehrmacht entered Będzin on September 4, 1939, and in the following days the Germans committed the first atrocities in the city. On September 6, the Germans murdered 20 Poles, and on September 9, they murdered 100 Jews, set fire to the synagogue and Jewish houses, and then in attempt to blame the Poles they arrested and executed 42 Poles. Local Polish parish priest rescued a group of Jews who escaped the German massacre by opening the gates of the Holy Trinity church to them and giving them shelter. The German police carried out mass searches of Polish houses. Inhabitants of Będzin were also among Poles murdered in Celiny in June 1940. The Będzin Ghetto was established by the German occupational authority in July 1940. During the occupation, the city's name was changed to a German form, Bendsburg, and it was part of Upper Silesia Province, as the capital of Landkreis Bendsburg.

During the war the city was the base for a working party (E716) of British and Commonwealth prisoners of war, under the administration of Stalag VIII-B/344 at Łambinowice (then known as Lamsdorf). In January 1945, as the Soviet armies resumed their offensive and advanced from the east, the prisoners were marched westward in the so-called Long March or Death March. Many of them died from the bitter cold and exhaustion. The lucky ones got far enough to the west to be liberated by the allied armies after some four months of travelling on foot in appalling conditions. Their sufferings, though severe, pale by comparison to those of the Jews of Będzin (see below). In 1943–1944, the Germans also operated a subcamp of the Auschwitz concentration camp in the present-day district of Łagisza, in which they held and brutalized from 300 to over 700 prisoners as forced labourers.

In August 1943, as the Germans attempted to round up the last Jews still in Będzin, Jewish resistance fighters staged an armed revolt that lasted several days. One of the leaders was a woman, Frumka Plotnicka, who had earlier been a fighter in Warsaw in the ghetto revolt there. All the resistance fighters were killed in the action. More than 1000 Będzin Jews survived the war, several given help by local Poles.

On January 27, 1945, the town was captured by the Red Army. Subsequently, the castle was rebuilt, now housing the Museum of Zagłębie. New districts with blocks of flats were built and new factories were opened, including the Łagisza Power Station.

Jewish community
Until World War II, Będzin had a vibrant Jewish community. Bedzin was known as "Yerushalayim de Zeglembie" ("Jerusalem of Zagłębie). According to the Russian census of 1897, out of the total population of 21,200, Jews constituted 10,800 (around 51% percent). According to the Polish census of 1921 the town had a Jewish community consisting of 17,298 people, or 62.1 percent of its total population. In September 1939, the German Army (Wehrmacht) overran this area, followed by the SS death squads (Einsatzgruppen), who burned the Będzin synagogue and murdered 200 Jewish inhabitants. A Będzin Ghetto was created in 1942. Eventually, in the summer of 1943, most of the Jews in Będzin were deported to Auschwitz concentration camp. After World War II, the Mizrachi synagogue was used as a storage room by residents of the building until its discovery by a member of the city council who became interested in preserving the city's Jewish heritage. The synagogue has since been renovated and is open to visitors who register in advance. Close by is another synagogue, Brama Cukerman (Cukerman's Gate), which had been turned into a residential apartment and has also been restored.

Transport
Będzin is conveniently located at the intersection of two national roads - the 94th (Zgorzelec - Kraków), and the 86th (Katowice -Warsaw). Katowice International Airport is located 23 km away, at Pyrzowice. The town also is a rail hub, where two connections meet. Będzin has three rail stations (Będzin-Miasto, Będzin and Będzin-Ksawera), and convenient bus and tram connections to neighboring cities. The first tram line was opened there in 1928. At that time the Black Przemsza River which runs through the city was also an important transport hub. The "Black" Przemsza is so named because the river bed as it flows through Będzin exposes a coal seam, making the water above it appear black.

Sports
The city's most notable sports club is volleyball team MKS Będzin, which competes in the PlusLiga (Poland's top division). Other clubs include association football teams and, which compete in the lower leagues, and American football team Zagłębie Steelers.

Notable people

 * Yitzchok Zilberstein (born 1931), Rabbi and halakhist
 * Hermann Nunberg (1884–1970), psychoanalyst and neurologist, assistant of Carl Jung, disciple of Sigmund Freud
 * Isser (Birencwajg) Be'eri (1901–1958), Director of the Haganah Intelligence Service
 * Joshua Prawer (1917–1990), Israeli historian, founder of the crusader studies
 * Sam Pivnik (1926–2017), Holocaust survivor; writer of Survivor: Auschwitz, The Death March and My Fight for Freedom
 * Rutka Laskier (1929–1943), diarist; Holocaust victim
 * Saul Merin (1933–2012), ophthalmologist
 * Janusz Gajos (born 1939), actor
 * Grzegorz Dolniak (1960–2010), politician
 * Andrzej Kubica (born 1972), footballer
 * Monika Jarosińska (born 1974), actress and singer
 * Rafał Sznajder (1972–2014), Olympic saber fencer
 * Sigmund Strochlitz (1916–2006), American activist and Holocaust survivor

Twin towns - sister cities
Będzin is twinned with:
 * 🇫🇷 Basse-Ham, France
 * 🇱🇹 Kaišiadorys, Lithuania
 * 🇭🇺 Tatabánya, Hungary

Former twin towns:
 * 🇷🇺 Izhevsk, Russia

In March 2022, Będzin terminated its partnership with the Russian city of Izhevsk as a response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

title: Będzin


text:
Racibórz

Racibórz (, Ratibor,, Racibōrz) is a city in Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland. It is the administrative seat of Racibórz County.

With Opole, Racibórz is one of the historic capitals of Upper Silesia, being the residence of the Dukes of Racibórz from 1172 to 1521.

Geography
The city is situated in the southwest of the voivodeship on the upper Oder river, near the border with the Polish Opole Voivodeship and the Czech Republic. The Racibórz Basin (Kotlina Raciborska) forms the southeastern extension of the Silesian Lowlands, surrounded by the Opawskie Mountains in the west (part of the Eastern Sudetes), the Silesian Upland in the north, and the Moravian Gate in the south. The town centre is located about 75 km southwest of Katowice and about 160 km southeast of the regional capital Wrocław.

As of 2019, the city has a population of approximately 55,000 inhabitants. From 1975 to 1998, it belonged to Katowice Voivodeship.

History
Until the end of the 5th century AD, the lands of the later Racibórz settlement were inhabited by East Germanic Silinger tribes. The town is one of the oldest in Upper Silesia, the site of a hill fort where the old trade route from the Moravian Gate down to Kraków crossed the Oder river. There is a possibility that Racibórz was mentioned in a work of the "Bavarian Geographer" in 845 (this document mentions five strongholds of the Slavic Golensizi (Golenshitse, Holasici in Czech), a proto-Polish tribe, probably Racibórz was one of them). The name Racibórz is of Slavic origin and probably is derived from the name of one Duke Racibor, the city's founder.

Middle Ages
However, the first confirmed mention of Racibórz was made in 1108 in the Gesta principum Polonorum chronicle by the Benedictine monk Gallus Anonymus, at a time when the Polish duke Bolesław III Wrymouth had to ward off the attacks by the forces of Duke Svatopluk of Bohemia invading from the Moravian lands in the south. The Polish rule over the Racibórz area was confirmed in 1137, it was incorporated into the Duchy of Silesia according to the Testament of Bolesław III in the following year.

Racibórz was an important center of beer production, and the townspeople enjoyed a privilege that allowed brewing already in the early 12th century. Brewing was an important source of the town's income, and local beer was popular not only in Silesia, but also in neighboring Czechia.

From 1155, Racibórz was the seat of a castellany. The town became the first historical capital of Upper Silesia, when the Duchy of Racibórz was established by the Piast duke Mieszko I Tanglefoot upon the first partition of Silesia in 1172. From 1202 onwards, Duke Mieszko ruled over whole Upper Silesia as Duke of Opole and Racibórz. He had the settlement beneath his residence laid out and the area colonized by Flemish merchants, the first coin with the Polish description "MILOST" was issued in Racibórz in 1211. Mieszko's son and successor Duke Casimir I granted the Racibórz citizens municipal privileges in 1217.

In 1241, the Poles led by local Duke Mieszko II the Fat won the Battle of Racibórz during the first Mongol invasion of Poland and the Duke founded a Dominican monastery in the city, where he was buried in 1246. The first Polish national anthem Gaude Mater Polonia was written ca. 1260–70 in Latin by the Dominican brother Wincenty of Kielcza. In 1285 Duke Przemysław of Racibórz granted the Wrocław bishop Thomas II Zaremba asylum during his fierce struggle with the Silesian duke Henry IV Probus. In turn, Bishop Thomas donated a college of canons at Racibórz Castle, dedicated to Saint Thomas of Canterbury. Duke Przemysław also founded a Dominican nunnery and his daughter Euphemia became its first prioress in 1313. Around 1300, the Dominican friar Peregrine of Opole compiled his Sermones de tempore and Sermones de sanctis collections.

From 1299 onwards, Racibórz was ruled by an autonomous city council according to Magdeburg town law. When in 1327 Duke Leszek of Racibórz paid homage to the Luxembourg king John of Bohemia, his duchy became a Bohemian fiefdom. The Bohemian feudal suzerainty, confirmed in the 1335 Treaty of Trentschin, led to the seizure of Racibórz as a reverted fief, when the line of the Silesian Piasts became extinct upon Duke Leszek's death in 1336. The next year King John enfeoffed Leszek's brother-in-law Duke Nicholas II of Opava with the duchy, which from that time on was ruled by the Opava cadet branch of the Bohemian Přemyslid dynasty and incorporated into the Lands of the Bohemian Crown. The Racibórz citizens retained their autonomy and the town developed to an important commercial centre for the region with significant cloth, tanning and brewing industries.

Modern Era
When the last Přemyslid duke Valentin died and was buried in the Dominican church in 1521, Racibórz according to a 1512 inheritance treaty fell to the Opole dukes Jan II the Good, also a vassal of Bohemian king. As he himself left no male heirs, his lands fell back to the Habsburg king Ferdinand I. With Opole, Racibórz was temporarily given in pawn to the Hohenzollern margraves of Ansbach and to the royal Polish House of Vasa. The town's economy suffered from the devastations in the Thirty Years' War. In 1683, on his way to the Battle of Vienna, Polish King John III Sobieski stopped in Racibórz, which he called a beautiful and fortified town in a letter to his wife Queen Marie Casimire.

After the First Silesian War in 1742, Racibórz was ceded to the Kingdom of Prussia under Frederick the Great. With most of the Silesian territory it was incorporated into the Province of Silesia in 1815 and the town became the administrative seat of a Landkreis. In the 18th century, Racibórz belonged to the tax inspection region of Prudnik. The mediate Lordship of Ratibor was acquired by Elector William I of Hesse in 1812, succeeded by Landgrave Victor Amadeus of Hesse-Rotenburg in 1821 and Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst in 1834, who was vested with the title of a "Duke of Ratibor" by King Frederick William IV of Prussia in 1840. At that time, Ratibor had already lost its status as a residential town, while the princes held court in Rudy palace in Rudy (then officially Groß Rauden). In the 19th century, Prussian policies increased the Germanisation. Poles smuggled large amounts of gunpowder through the town to the Russian Partition of Poland during the January Uprising in 1863. Ratibor became part of the German Empire in 1871.

20th century
According to the Prussian census of 1910, the city of Ratibor had a population of 38,424, of which around 60% spoke German, 30% spoke Polish and 10% were bilingual. After World War I, the Upper Silesian plebiscite was held in 1921, in which 90.9% of votes in Ratibor town were for Germany and 9.1% were for Poland. Consequently, the town remained in Germany, as part of the Prussian Province of Upper Silesia, and became a border town, while the present-day district of Brzezie, lying east of the Oder was reintegrated with Poland. Nazi Germany increasingly persecuted local Polish activists since 1937. In May 1939, the Germans searched the local branch of the Union of Poles in Germany and arrested both its secretary Leon Czogała and Ludwika Linderówna, activist of the local Association of Polish Women. In June 1939, the Gestapo seized the headquarters of local Polish organizations, which was then handed over to the Hitler Youth, while the Polish library and documents were confiscated.

During the German invasion of Poland, which started World War II, the Einsatzgruppe I entered the town on September 4, 1939, to commit atrocities against Poles. In September 1939, the Germans confiscated assets of the local Polish bank, and carried out mass arrests of prominent Poles, including the chairman of the local "Sokół" Polish Gymnastic Society, the editor-in-chief of local Polish newspaper Dziennik Raciborski, the chairman of the local Polish bank and activists of the Association of Polish Women. During the war, the Germans operated a Nazi prison, a Polenlager forced labour camp for Poles, a forced labour camp for Jews, and six labour subcamps of the Stalag VIII-B/344 prisoner-of-war camp in the town, and three labour subcamps of Stalag VIII-B/344 in the present-day district of Brzezie. In 1945, the Germans sent 176 prisoners of the Nazi prison on a death march to Kłodzko, and two German-conducted death marches of prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration camp and its subcamps passed through the town towards the Gross-Rosen concentration camp and Opava. In the final stages of the war, it was initially spared by the Red Army Vistula–Oder Offensive but occupied and devastated on 30 March 1945. After end of the war, in June 1945, the army of Czechoslovakia briefly entered into the town and Czechoslovakia officially claimed the area of Racibórz and Głubczyce (Ratibořsko and Hlubčicko) because of having a substantial Czech minority (see border conflicts between Poland and Czechoslovakia). At the same time the expulsion of Germans started, while the town became wholly part of Poland as defined at the Potsdam Conference. The German CDU politician Herbert Hupka at the end of his life promoted reconciliation between the former German inhabitants, including himself, and the new Polish settlers and administration of Racibórz. In 1997, a flood devastated the town.

Climate
Racibórz has an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfb) using the -3 C isotherm or a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification: Dfb) using the 0 C isotherm.

Districts

 * Centrum
 * Nowe Zagrody
 * Ocice
 * Stara Wieś
 * Miedonia
 * Ostróg
 * Markowice
 * Płonia
 * Brzezie
 * Sudół
 * Studzienna
 * Obora

Culture
The officially protected traditional beverage from Racibórz is local beer, which is produced in various styles (as designated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland).

Sports
The local men's football team is KP Unia Racibórz. It competes in the lower leagues, however, it played in the Polish top division in the past. Defunct women's football club RTP Unia Racibórz was also based in the town. It played in Poland's top division, and won five consecutive national championships from 2009 to 2013.

Notable people

 * Wawrzyniec z Raciborza (1381–1448), Roman Catholic theologian
 * Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788–1857), Prussian poet, playwright
 * Julius Reinhold Friedlander (1803–1839), educator, founder of the Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind
 * Ludwig Traube (1818–1876), German physician
 * Moritz Traube (1826–1894), German chemist
 * Paul Guttmann (1834–1893), German pathologist
 * Eufemia von Adlersfeld-Ballestrem (1854-1941), German novelist
 * Hermann Traube (1860–1913), German mineralogist
 * Johannes Thiele (1865–1918), German chemist
 * Wilhelm Traube (1866–1942), German chemist
 * Else Berg (1877–1942), German-Dutch painter
 * Arthur Löwenstamm (1882–1965), rabbi
 * Augustin Souchy (1892–1984), German anarchist
 * Fritz Otto Bernert (1893–1918), German fighter ace of World War I
 * Willibald Borowietz (1893–1945), Wehrmacht general
 * Gertrud Arndt (1903–2000), German photographer
 * Günther Friedländer (1912–1920), Founder of Teva Pharmaceuticals
 * Herbert Kutscha (1917–2003), German Luftwaffe fighter ace
 * Hannes Rosenow (1925-2000), German painter
 * Claus Ogerman (1930–2016), German–American musician
 * Hubert Kostka (born 1940), footballer
 * Marek Migalski (born 1969), politician, Member of the European Parliament, political scientist, and columnist
 * Ryszard Wolny (born 1969), wrestler and Olympic champion
 * Arkadiusz Mularczyk (born 1971), politician
 * Magdalena Walach (born 1976), actress
 * Rafał Brzoska (born 1977), entrepreneur, founder of InPost
 * Michał Kamiński (born 1987), volleyball player
 * Artur Noga (born 1988), athlete
 * Sebastian Tyrała (born 1988), Polish-German footballer
 * Justyna Święty-Ersetic (born 1992), sprinter
 * Łukasz Moneta (born 1994), footballer
 * Denis Kudla (wrestler) (born 1994), German wrestler

Twin towns – sister cities
Racibórz is twinned with:

 * 🇵🇱 Kędzierzyn-Koźle, Poland
 * 🇩🇪 Leverkusen, Germany
 * 🇨🇿 Opava, Czech Republic
 * 🇩🇪 Roth, Germany
 * 🇺🇦 Tysmenytsia, Ukraine
 * 🇫🇷 Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France
 * 🇭🇺 Zugló (Budapest), Hungary

Former twin towns:
 * 🇷🇺 Kaliningrad, Russia (terminated in 2022 due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine)

title: Racibórz


text:
Talk:1990

Holidays
Moved from article:
 * January 1 - New Year's Day
 * January 15 - Martin Luther King Junior Day
 * February 2 - Groundhog Day
 * February 14 - Valentine's Day
 * February 19 - Presidents' Day
 * March 17 - Saint Patrick's Day
 * April 13 - Good Friday
 * April 15 - Easter
 * May 13 - Mother's Day
 * May 28 - Memorial Day
 * June 14 - Flag Day
 * June 17 - Father's Day
 * July 4 - Independence Day USA
 * September 3 - Labor Day
 * October 8 - Columbus Day
 * October 31 - Halloween
 * November 11 - Veteran's Day
 * November 22 - Thanksgiving
 * December 12 - Chanukah
 * December 25 - Christmas
 * December 31 - New Year's Eve

Holidays go on day pages, not on year pages. There would be many dozens of holidays on any single year page since every country has a list about as long as above. --mav 06:04, 4 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Wasn't 1990 technically the last year of the 1980s?
I know that isn't how folks typically think but, my understanding that the 80's went from 1981-1990. 1980 therefore was the last year of the 1970's. I would change it but the Thought Police keep changing everything I contribute back again. -- john mccommas — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.185.114.225 (talk) 15:49, 28 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Personally, I agree. But then, who knows? Opinions seem to be divided on the matter --92.114.148.141 (talk) 20:33, 26 June 2018 (UTC)
 * I also agree but most people assume that the first decade of the CE was only nine years long! (i.e. years 1 to 9 incl); this allows all subsequent decades to run from 0 to 9--147.147.24.76 (talk) 18:09, 10 October 2020 (UTC)

 * Bold 2409:4050:E13:72BA:0:0:46C8:8003 (talk) 10:01, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

2004 page layout years
There is a discussion on my talk page on page layout.

For most of the last three hundred years there is inconsistency and duplication between the year in topic paragraph, the "see also" box and what is on the year by topic pages. Prior to 1950 I am pretty convinced we can painlessly (except for sore fingers) delete all of the year in topic paragraphs and ensure that the material goes into a "see also" box, creating such a box where none exists. Post 1950, particularly from the "year in US television" link a lot of material has been added to this paragraph as highlights (sometimes making up most of the page content pointed at).

Personally I think we should still delete the paragraph, keep the box linking to the topic sites and move any particularly important parts of the year in topic paragraph to the main chronological list. This does involve undoing quite a bit of work which someone has done.

Therefore, unlike for prior to 1950 (where I've said no objection= I do it) for post 1950 I won't touch these pages unless a significant number of people agree with the change. (I am also unlikely to get the pre 1950 stuff done before summer unless the service speed improves dramatically). talk--BozMo 13:45, 7 May 2004 (UTC)

why do we keep repeating that this is the year 1990 on every line? And why the days of the week?

Regional leaders
Right, are we going to list the change over of every regional governor (e.g. every single US state, every Australian state, etc. etc.), or not? I say not, so I've deleted the governors of Victoria. The anon IP that added in the first place just added it back. No comment or anything. I'm deleting it again because we haven't listed any other states (not even California automatically, and that would count as a world top ten economy on its own). Let me know if you disagree please. Average Earthman 16:18, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * Regional issues such as that should not be on this international article. Such events should, where possible, be on national articles, such as 1990 in the United States. Qzm (talk) 20:32, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

December
December 6 - Pavlos Sidiropoulos, Greek Rock Singer/Songwriter was placed into the article please confirm the validity of this information Betacommand 14:32, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

Can someone please put a picture or two in this article?
scx —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 60.234.157.64 (talk) 02:56, 2 May 2007 (UTC).
 * Nope. Years typically don't have pictures put into them. No real reason to actually.-- Wizardman 02:58, 2 May 2007 (UTC)
 * 26-June-2007: Okay, 7 weeks later, added 3 images (Leaning Tower of Pisa, Superdome and Exxon Valdez). I had added several hundred images to years 1500-1979, but stopped at 1980 due to fears of gripes about "new-fangled images" upsetting the vanity boxes in yearly articles. (And gripe they did.) We could have added thousands of relevant images (they are available & quick), but you won't believe how difficult the resistance has been, with people deleting all images in some years, or converting to massive PNG files that made yearly articles load 5 times slower, or reformatting image-links to put several large text-gaps in each article.  It has been a tedious task: 20% information & 80% reformation.  Anyway, thanks for supporting the illustrated years.  -Wikid77 23:40, 26 June 2007 (UTC)
 * A few pics should be present in each year article. Qzm (talk) 20:32, 18 September 2009 (UTC)
 * How about picture of "1990"? Make it a fancy one.  Pretty and clever.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.185.114.225 (talk) 15:46, 28 August 2011 (UTC)

Year of the Mental Horse?
Is that right? I couldn't work it out from the Chinese zodiac page, but it looks a bit wrong to my untrained eye! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by LeeG (talk • contribs) 23:35, 3 May 2007 (UTC).

Sorry, forgot to sign LeeG 23:35, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

 * It should be Metal Horse -- the change to Mental Horse apparently got missed in some earlier vandalism reversion. I've changed it back. Pinball22 12:54, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

Contents
What the bloody hell happened? They look whacko futacko!
 * -60.240.98.215 14-July-2007
 * Please read other issues here, such as how about the first issue above (duh) about the Table of Contents. The compact TOC has since been converted to box-style after June 2007. -Wikid77 (talk) 23:56, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Danger of overlinking as 380 spam-links
06-Jan-2008: The monthly-calendar Template:Month3 propagates wikilinks to about 35 articles, for all weekdays, days, and weeks. When used 12 times in an article to cover 12 months, the effect overlinks to 380 wikilinks (or more), rather than linking by one wikilink to a full-calendar article (propagating only the 1 wikilink). For year-articles "1950-2008" the template was multi-linked 12 times per article, generating over 22,000 wikilinks, rather than the original 58 links to just single full-calendar articles. Although the usage has been reduced, Template:Month3 was becoming a major part of the "Wikipedia megalink crisis" which overlinks words such as "city" or "county" or "km" millions of times into the page-link database(s) across Wikipedia. -Wikid77 (talk) 23:56, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Cold War
A decade starts because of an event or change in culture for example 1990 was seen as a continuation of the 1980s instead of part 1 of the 90s 2000 is also a continuation of the 90s

80s music and fashion were still popular this year
 * According to whom? A decade is a period of exactly ten years, not a fashion trend of whatever length it takes.  Culture doesn't evolve in discrete 10-year blocks.  So your definition is silly.  What exact year did the 1320s begin?  What about the 760s?  The 1180s?Cromulant (talk) 02:12, 12 November 2010 (UTC)
 * Mathematically speaking, 1990 is still part of the 199th decade, which began in 1981, because the calendar started with the Year 1, not 0. Much like the 21st Century began in 2001. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 138.87.184.161 (talk) 02:16, 27 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Indeed, it is the last year of the "199th decade" AD (if the assumed 1st decade begins January 1, AD 1). It is also the FIRST year of the 1990s, which is a decade that overlaps the "199th decade."  This other decade, the 1990s, begins the last year of the "199th decade" and includes the next nine years (the first nine years of the "200th decade."  Not that anyone ever speaks this way.)  tl;dr: 1990 is part of the 90s.  Some say it's part of the 80s (you did not explicitly equate "the 199th decade" with "the 80s," so you are off the hook); this is asinine.Cromulant (talk) 02:12, 12 November 2010 (UTC)

Final year?
The article states that 1990 is often considered the final year of the Cold War era. How does that make sense when the Cold War ended in December of 1991? Shouldn't 1991 hold that distinction? MarkMc1990 (talk) 01:47, 16 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Didn't the Cold War end in 1989?--92.114.148.141 (talk) 20:32, 26 June 2018 (UTC)

Superbowl
Should the Superbowl be included for this year? Centralized discussion at WT:YEARS — Arthur Rubin (talk) 17:08, 7 June 2012 (UTC)

Walmart
First Walmart opening in various regions of the US? Notable? If so, why? — Arthur Rubin (talk) 08:23, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
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"Deaths" section
The very first listing is an undated listing for a "Mahmoud Namjoo."

Am curious as to why he is even listed as a 1990 death when his own Wikipedia article/entry states date of death as January 21, 1989? Yes, 1989 ! ! !

And why isn't he listed under "Deaths" FOR 1989?

Just curious. 2600:8800:787:F500:C23F:D5FF:FEC5:89B6 (talk) 10:48, 1 July 2017 (UTC)
 * The sourcing for that date was added a week ago. Until then it was an unsourced unknown date in 1990.-- ☾Loriendrew☽  ☏(ring-ring)  01:53, 7 July 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
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A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion
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 * The Weeknd August 2017.jpg

Eclipses
See WT:YEARS for a matter relevant to this page. Arthur Rubin (alternate) (talk) 23:09, 26 June 2019 (UTC)

Scott Pye
Is Scott Pye internationally significant? I don't think so. But I could be convinced. — Arthur Rubin (talk) 01:22, 11 January 2020 (UTC)

Lede
this article has a detailed lede. so why not make the ledes of 1980 and 1970 as detailed as 1990 and 2000? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.230.80.34 (talk) 19:15, 30 January 2020 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for speedy deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for speedy deletion: You can see the reason for deletion at the file description page linked above. —Community Tech bot (talk) 04:23, 27 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Logic at 2018 VMAs.png

Please add, for the birthday on February 18

 * 1990 – Monica Aksamit, American Olympic saber fencer

Collage thoughts
Please let me know if anyone has any disagreements on the images included in the collage, and I will put it up for vote. Thanks The ganymedian (talk) 22:42, 8 October 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:1990


text:
Żory

Żory (Sohrau, Żory, Žáry, Žárov) is a town and city county in Silesian Voivodeship, Poland with 62,848 inhabitants (2021). Previously it was in Katowice Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is located in the historic Upper Silesia region about 30 km southwest of Katowice.

Location
Żory is located in Upper Silesia on the Rybnik Plateau on the Ruda (Oder).

As of 31 December 2012, the city had a population of 62,052 and an area of 64.64 km².

As of 31 December 2013, the city had 59,960 inhabitants.

On 1 January 2014, the city of Żory increased its area at the expense of Rybnik by 0.26 ha.

Żory borders the counties of Mikołów, Pszczyna and Rybnik, as well as the cities of Jastrzębie-Zdrój and Rybnik.

As of 30 June 2016, the town had a population of 61,942.

Name
The meaning of the town's name is not clear and there are two theories about it. The first one derives it from Old Polish, from annealing, burning of forests, which was the first stage of establishing a permanent settlement in a given place. This version is related to the primitive economy of burning, which was an element of deforestation of the area for settlement. The topographic description of Upper Silesia from 1865, in turn, derives it from the Polish name of the crane bird (Polish: żuraw). It notes the following passage: "In den verscheidenen Urkunden wird Sohrau einmal Żoraw, dann Żora und auch Sora genannt. Der Name ist polnischen Ursprungs.", that is, in English, "In various documents notated as Żoraw, later Żora, and even Sora. The name is of Polish origin."

In the Latin book Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis written in 1295-1305, the town is mentioned as Zary civitate - the town of Zary. The chronicle also lists villages founded under the Polish law iure polonico, which in the course of urbanization were absorbed by the town. These are the present districts or parts of the town Żory as Rogoźna in the fragment "Rogosina in una parte decima solvitur more polonico", Rowień in the fragment "Rovona [Hs. Ronoua.] decima solvitur more polonico", Rój as Ray, Brodek in the fragment "Brodek similiter solvitur decima more polonico."

The Polish name Żory and the German name Sohrau were mentioned by the Silesian writer Józef Lompa in his book Krótki rys jeografii Szląska dla nauki początkowej published in Głogówek in 1847. The geographic dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland published in 1880-1902 lists the town under the Polish name Żary and the German name Sohrau. The Polish name Żary and in the Upper Silesian dialect Żory, as well as the German name Sohrau are also mentioned in 1896 by the Upper Silesian writer, priest Konstanty Damrot, in his book about the local names in Upper Silesia. He also mentions Latinized names noted in Latin documents, such as Sary and Sari. A catalog of coats of arms of German localities, published in 1898 in Frankfurt am Main, identifies the Polish name as Zar.

History
The settlement on the road from Cieszyn to Kraków was first mentioned in a 1258 deed, when it was part of fragmented Piast-ruled Poland. Żory is one of the oldest towns in Silesia, it was granted city rights according to Magdeburg Law on 24 February 1272 by Duke Władysław of Opole. It remained part of the Upper Silesian Duchy of Opole, since 1327 a Bohemian fief, until in 1532 it was incorporated into the Lands of the Bohemian Crown. In 1645 along with the Duchy of Opole and Racibórz it returned to Poland under the House of Vasa, and in 1666 it fell back to Bohemia. In the 18th century, it was centre of cloth manufacturing, later of metal and machining industry.

After the First Silesian War it was annexed by Prussia in 1742, and from 1871 it was part of Germany. In the 18th century, Żory belonged to the tax inspection region of Prudnik. After World War I, in 1918, Poland regained independence, and upon the 1921 Upper Silesia plebiscite, Żory passed to the Second Polish Republic, and was administratively part of the Silesian Voivodeship, though 69.4% of the citizens had voted for Germany.

Żory was the site of a battle between Poles and the invading Germans on the first day of World War II, September 1, 1939. Afterwards it was occupied by Nazi Germany. From 1942 to 1945, the Germans operated a Polenlager forced labour camp for Poles in the city. Among its prisoners were children whose parents were either arrested or deported to Germany. Poles expelled in 1942 from several villages and the town of Szczyrk were also temporarily held in the camp before deportation to forced labour to Germany. In the final stages of the war, in January 1945, the Germans murdered 40 prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration camp in the city during a death march. The city was conquered by Soviet and Czechoslovak troops in March 1945, the German population was expelled, and the city was restored to Poland.

Districts
The town is subdivided into 15 districts.

 * Śródmieście
 * Pawlikowskiego
 * Zachód
 * Kleszczówka
 * Powstańców Śląskich
 * 700-lecia
 * Korfantego
 * Księcia Władysława
 * Sikorskiego
 * Rój
 * Rogoźna
 * Baranowice
 * Osiny
 * Rowień-Folwarki
 * Kleszczów

Environmental protection
According to a 2016 report by the World Health Organization, Żory was ranked as the 49th most polluted city in the European Union.

Monuments
According to the National Institute of Cultural Heritage, the following historic buildings are located in the city:
 * urban layout
 * Gothic parish church of St. Apostles Philip and Jacob from the 15th century
 * vicarage from the 19th century
 * Evangelical-Augsburg church, 1931
 * Evangelical-Augsburg parsonage, 1906
 * fragments of a 14th-century fortification wall
 * a house, 1 Bramkowa Street, from the 19th century
 * the former People's House "Sala Polska", now a community centre, 1 Dolne Przedmieście Street (19th/20th century)
 * market square in Żory
 * a house, 5 Dolne Przedmieście street, 2nd half of the 19th century
 * house, 1 Dworcowa street, 19th century
 * complex of houses, 6 Dworcowa street, 1903 (a house, now a music school and a garden)
 * low tenement houses built from bricks of the defensive wall in Murarska Street (no.: 11, 13, 19, 35, 37)
 * market houses from the 19th century (no.: 1, 12, 23)
 * houses on Szeptyckiego Street from the 19th century (no.: 4, 6, 9, 12, 19)
 * houses on Szeroka Street from the 19th century (no.: 7, 12, 14, 16, 20)
 * St. John Nepomucen statue in the Market Square
 * a classicist Żory palace from the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, in the Baranowice district
 * the house at 111 Wodzisławska Street, from the end of the 19th century, in the district of Rogoźna
 * a shrine on Rybnicka Street, from the 19th century, in the district of Rowień.

The full list can be found on this article on Polish Wikipedia.

In addition to the objects listed in the register of monuments, other objects of historical importance are also worthy of attention:

 * the chapel in Murarska Street
 * penitential stone crosses in the old cemetery in Meczenników Oświęcimskich Street and in Rogoźna district on the property in Wodzisławska Street
 * Jewish cemetery - 1818

Cycling routes
There are three cycling routes in the city:

 * green cycling route no. 10 – Rybnik – Żory – Suszec
 * red cycling route no. 305 – Palowice – Żory
 * black cycling route no. 301 – Leszczyny – Żory

Population

 * Total - 61945 (as of 31.12.2015)
 * Women - 31589
 * Men - 30356
 * Unemployment - 8.4% (1545 people, as of December 31, 2015)

Education
Żory offers a full range of educational services, from pre-school forms to university departments. There are 13 public kindergartens and numerous educational institutions, e.g.: See the list of educational institutions in Żory on this article on Polish Wikipedia.
 * Karol Miarka Liceum - I Liceum Ogólnokształcące z oddziałami dwujęzycznymi im. Karola Miarki in Żory
 * Górnośląska Wyższa Szkoła Handlowa im. Wojciecha Korfantego in Katowice – Branch in Żory (Wydział zamiejscowy w Żorach)
 * Silesian University of Technology - Branch in Żory

Economy
The average gross monthly salary (2020) in PLN - 4,781.16, or 86.6% of the national average.

At the end of December 2013, the number of registered unemployed in Żory included about 2.0 thousand residents, which is an unemployment rate of 10.9% to the economically active population.

City transport
The town has free city transport called Bezpłatna Komunikacja Miejska (BKM), which is organised by the Town Hall in Żory. There are also toll lines of MZK Jastrzębie-Zdrój, ZTZ Rybnik and ZTM, which connect Żory with neighbouring towns.

Road infrastructure
Through Żory (districts: Rowień-Folwarki and Rój) runs the A1 autostrada, connecting the south with the north of the country. The following roads run through the city:

 * A1 autostrada (Gdańsk - Toruń - Łódź - Częstochowa - Gliwice - Żory - Gorzyczki)
 * National road 81 (Katowice (A4) - Mikołów - Łaziska Górne - Żory - Skoczów (S52) - Harbutowice)
 * Provincial road no. 924 (Kuźnia Nieborowska - Knurów - Czerwionka-Leszczyny - Żory)
 * Provincial road no. 932 (Wodzisław Śląski - Świerklany - Żory)
 * Provincial road no. 935 (Racibórz - Rybnik - Żory - Pszczyna)

Railroad connections
The city has direct rail connections to:

 * Bielsko-Biała
 * Czechowice-Dziedzice
 * Gliwice (weekends)
 * Kędzierzyn-Koźle
 * Kołobrzeg (seasonal)
 * Opole
 * Pszczyna
 * Rybnik
 * Świnoujście (seasonal)
 * Szczecin Główny (seasonal)
 * Wisła (weekends)
 * Wodzisław Śląski
 * Wrocław Główny
 * Kostrzyn nad Odrą (seasonal)
 * Zielona Góra (seasonal)

As the neighbouring Jastrzębie-Zdrój is striving to restore the railroad connection, one of the analysed options assumes connecting Jastrzębie-Zdrój with Katowice via Żory and Orzesze.

Technical infrastructure

 * Hotspot on the Market Square.
 * Electronic displays at bus stops (BKM) informing about departures and delays.
 * Outdoor video screens at busy places around the city.

City bicycles
In September 2018, GeoVelo urban bike rental service was launched in Żory. In Żory you can use 80 modern unicycles of the so-called fourth generation.

GeoVelo bikes can be rented and returned at 26 locations.

Culture
The city has a Municipal Cultural Center called Miejski Ośrodek Kultury (MOK) with an auditorium where concerts and theatrical performances are held. Apart from the center, there are also day-care rooms in individual districts of the city where artistic activities take place.

There are two cinemas in the city: Scena "Na Starówce" with one screening room and Helios cinema in Galeria Wiślanka shopping mall with four screening rooms.

In Żory there is the Town Public Library (Miejska Biblioteka Publiczna), which has 7 branches.

The Town Museum (Muzeum Miejskie) is located in the historic Hearinga Villa and has two permanent exhibitions: Nasza toższamość (Our Identity) and Polskie poznawanie świata (Polish Learning about the World). The second museum is the Museum of Fire, located in a building built in 2014 and considered to be an outstanding work of contemporary architecture.

Sport
On March 28, 1920, a nest of the oldest Polish sports organization, the Polish Gymnastic Society "Sokół", was established in Żory. The circle was organizationally subordinate to the VIII Rybnik district of the Silesian district of the Polish Gymnastic Society "Sokól" and belonged to a number of gymnastic sections of the Silesian Sokól. In 1920, the Żory circle of this organization had 39 members.

Clubs

 * Octagon Team Żory (martial arts)
 * LKS Jedność Rogoźna (football)
 * UKS Salmo Żory (swimming)
 * MTS Żory (handball)
 * MKS Żory (football)
 * LKS Rój Żory (tennis, football)
 * Iskra Rowień (football)
 * MKS Polaris Żory (football)
 * LKS Baranowice (football)
 * Gepardy Żory (baseball)
 * KS Ogniwo Rogoźna Żory (tennis)
 * MOSiR MUKS Sari Żory (volleyball)
 * UKS Czwórka Żory (athletics)
 * Ks Kleszczów (football)
 * MMA Sozo Żory (martial arts)
 * Ks Hawajskie Koszule Żory (basketball)
 * Grupa Biegowa HRmax Żory (athletics)
 * UKS Judo Kontra Żory (judo)
 * Żorska Akademia Koszykówki
 * Żorska Akademia Talentów Jastrzębski Węgiel

Sport places

 * MOSiR Żory
 * OLPN Żory

Orlik 2012
Currently in Żory there are five sports fields built within the framework of the Orlik 2012 program.

Religious communities
The following religious associations are active in Żory:

Seventh-day Adventist Church:

 * in Żory (district: Osiny)

Kościół Chrześcijan Dnia Sobotniego (The Church of the Saturday-Day Christians):

 * in Żory

Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland:

 * parafia Zbawiciela (parish of the Saviour)

Roman Catholic Church (Żory deanery):

 * Parish of St. Apostles Philip and James
 * Parish of St. Stanislaus the Bishop and Martyr
 * Parish of the Divine Mercy
 * Parish of St. Brother Albert in Kleszczówka
 * Parish of St. Hedwig of Silesia in Baranowice
 * Parish of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Kleszczów
 * Parish of St. Joseph the Worker in Osiny
 * Parish of the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of the Church in Rogoźna
 * Parish of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Rowień
 * Parish of the Elevation of the Holy Cross in Rój

Kościół Wolnych Chrześcijan (Free Christian Church):

 * in Żory

Pentecostal Church in Poland:

 * church "Elim" in Żory

Jehovah's Witnesses (Sala królestwa ul. Hańcówka 41)

Notable people

 * Otto Stern (1888–1969), physicist and Nobel laureate
 * Jerzy Makula (born 1952), pilot, two times European Glider Aerobatic Champion and six times World Glider Aerobatic Champion
 * Stanisław Sojka (born 1959), jazz and pop singer-songwriter
 * Ewa Swoboda (born 1997), sprinter

Twin towns – sister cities
Żory is twinned with:

 * 🇩🇪 Kamp-Lintfort, Germany
 * 🇭🇺 Mezőkövesd, Hungary
 * 🇱🇹 Pasvalys, Lithuania
 * 🇫🇷 Montceau-les-Mines, France
 * 🇺🇦 Tetiiv, Ukraine

title: Żory