Gęsiniec is a village in the administrative district of

Gmina Strzelin __NOTOC__ Gmina Strzelin is an urban-rural gmina (administrative district) in Strzelin County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. Its seat is the town of Strzelin, which lies approximately south of the regional capital Wrocław ...

, within Strzelin County,

Lower Silesian Voivodeship Lower Silesian Voivodeship, or Lower Silesia Province, in southwestern Poland, is one of the 16 voivodeships (provinces) into which Poland is divided. The voivodeship was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Wrocław, Legnica, Wałbrz ...

, in south-western

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 populous ...

. From 1867 to 1945, it was in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It lies approximately south of Strzelin, and southwest of the regional capital

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

(formerly called Breslau). Gęsiniec was settled in 1750 by Hussites, whose religious faith was based on the writings of Jan Hus (ca. 1369–1415), a Czech religious reformer and priest who was burnt at the stake as a heretic. Its former name, Husinec, refers to Hus. Historically, the town's residents had ethnic Czech roots. It is located in

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

, a region once ruled by the

Kingdom of Bohemia The Kingdom of Bohemia ( cs, České království),; la, link=no, Regnum Bohemiae sometimes in English literature referred to as the Czech Kingdom, was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Central Europe, the predecessor of the modern Czec ...

, and after 1526, by the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. Silesia was conquered by

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

in the First Silesian War in 1742, codified by the Treaty of Hubertusburg in 1763, and the town became known as Hussinetz. From 1813 to 1919, it was administered by the Prussian

Province of Lower Silesia The Province of Lower Silesia (german: Provinz Niederschlesien; Silesian German: ''Provinz Niederschläsing''; pl, Prowincja Dolny Śląsk; szl, Prowincyjŏ Dolny Ślōnsk) was a province of the Free State of Prussia from 1919 to 1945. Between ...

in the political subdivision

Regierungsbezirk A ' () means "governmental district" and is a type of administrative division in Germany. Four of sixteen ' ( states of Germany) are split into '. Beneath these are rural and urban districts. Saxony has ' (directorate districts) with more res ...

Breslau. In 1937, shortly after Adolf Hitler's rise to power, its name was changed to Friedrichstein. The village and its region were joined to Poland following the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, and its name was changed once again to Gęsiniec. The town's German-speaking population was expelled in totality. A monument commemorating residents of Gęsiniec who died in the

First World War 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 ...

stands in what was the central part of the village.

References

External links

Historical photos of Gęsiniec
Villages in Strzelin County {{Strzelin-geo-stub