Baborów (; ) is a town in Gmina Baborów,

Głubczyce County __NOTOC__ Głubczyce County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Opole Voivodeship, south-western Poland, on the Czech border. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government ...

Opole Voivodeship Opole Voivodeship ( , , ), is the smallest and least populated voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship (province) of Poland. The province's name derives from that of the region's capital and largest city, Opole. It is part of Silesia. A relatively lar ...

, south-western Poland. The town has an area of , and as of June 2022 it has a population of 2,852. Baborów lies on the river .

History

The first mention of the town comes from 1296 in which a

wójt A wójt is the highest administrative officer of a Polish ''rural gmina'', i.e., of a commune (''gmina'') comprising only villages. (The head of a town or city is called, respectively, the ''burmistrz'' or "president".) History and etymology T ...

Jarosław is mentioned. The town was most likely founded by a

Bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a ...

magnate, Bavor (Babor). Later it was part of an independent duchy,

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

-ruled Bohemia, the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

and from 1871 and 1945 also

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. After the defeat of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

it became part of Poland. It was granted

town rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

before 1340, although deprived of them from 1575 to 1718. In the 18th century, Baborów belonged to the tax inspection region of

Prudnik Prudnik (, , , ) is a town in southern Poland, located in the southern part of Opole Voivodeship near the border with the Czech Republic. It is the administrative seat of Prudnik County and Gmina Prudnik. Its population numbers 21,368 inhabitant ...

. According to the German census of 1890, the town had a population of 2,707, of which 2,220 (82%) were

Czechs The Czechs (, ; singular Czech, masculine: ''Čech'' , singular feminine: ''Češka'' ), or the Czech people (), are a West Slavs, West Slavic ethnic group and a nation native to the Czech Republic in Central Europe, who share a common Bohemia ...

. It marked the 19th-century linguistic border between German, Polish, and Czech. During

, the town, then known as Bauerwitz, was the base for two working parties (E288 and E398) of British and Commonwealth

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

, under the administration of the German Stalag VIII-B/344 POW camp at

Łambinowice Łambinowice is a village in Nysa County, Opole Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Łambinowice. It lies approximately north-east of Nysa, Poland, Nysa and south-west of the region ...

(then known as Lamsdorf). In January 1945, as the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

armies resumed their offensive and advanced from the east, the prisoners were marched by the Germans 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. The town's German population was interned in

camp, and expelled.

Notable people

* (1946–2019), Polish geographer and politician, member of the Polish

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

International relations

Twin towns – sister cities

See twin towns of Gmina Baborów.

Gallery

2012-09 Baborów 33 Kolumna maryjna.jpg, St. Mary column 2012-09 Baborów 52 Pomnik.jpg, World War II memorial 2012-09 Baborów 37 kościół Narodzenia NMP.jpg, Assumption of Mary Church 2012-09 Baborów 10 kaplica p.w. Serca Jezusowego.jpg, Sacred Heart Chapel

References

External links

* {{Authority control Cities and towns in Opole Voivodeship Cities in Silesia Głubczyce County