Godula () is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

in the north-east of

Ruda Śląska Ruda Śląska (formerly ) is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. It is a district in the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union, a metropolis with a population of two million. It is in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica Rive ...

Silesian Voivodeship Silesian Voivodeship, or Silesia Province ( pl, województwo śląskie ) is a voivodeship, or province, in southern Poland, centered on the historic region known as Upper Silesia ('), with Katowice serving as its capital. Despite the Silesian V ...

, southern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. It has an area of 1.8 km² and in 2006 it was inhabited by 12,151 people.

History

Originally the area belonged to Orzegów, whose landed property was bought by Karl Godulla, after whom the settlement was named. The zinc smelter ''Godullahütte'' was built after his death, 1854–55, and operated until 1919. Adjacent to the establishment developed a working class settlement later called ''Godula'', the first 21 buildings were built in years 1858–61. The church of the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist was under construction since 1867. Trams communication was opened in the 1890s. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in the

Upper Silesia plebiscite The Upper Silesia plebiscite was a plebiscite mandated by the Versailles Treaty and carried out on 20 March 1921 to determine ownership of the province of Upper Silesia between Weimar Germany and Poland. The region was ethnically mixed with ...

2,178 out of 3,516 voters in ''Gutshof Orzegow'', encompassing Godula, voted in favour of joining Poland, against 1,332 opting for staying in Germany. Afterwards it became a part of

, Second Polish Republic. Officially the municipality ''Godula'' was established in 1924 and had this year around 9,000 inhabitants. It was then annexed by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

at the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. After the war it was restored to Poland. Godula constituted a gmina (municipality) that was merged into Ruda in 1951, and as part of Ruda was amalgamated with Nowy Bytom to form Ruda Śląska on December 31, 1958.

References

Districts of Ruda Śląska {{Silesian-geo-stub