Halemba 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 counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

in the south-west 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 River (t ...

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 ...

, 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 populous ...

. It lies on the river

Kłodnica Kłodnica () is a river in the Upper Silesia region. It is about 75 km long and a right tributary of the Odra river. Along Kłodnica's shore are Polish cities of Katowice, Kędzierzyn-Koźle, Ruda Śląska, Gliwice, and Zabrze. There wa ...

, right tritubary of

Odra Odra may refer to: Rivers * Odra (Poland), also known as Oder, a river in Czech Republic, Poland and Germany * Odra (Kupa), a river in Croatia * Odra (Spain), a river in Spain Populated places * Odra, Silesian Voivodeship, a village in southern ...

. It has an area of 19.6 km² and in 2006 it was inhabited by 26,080 people.

History

The area encompasses three historically different settlements: * Halemba (proper) * Kłodnica (german: Klodnitz) * Stara Kuźnica (german: Althammer) The first settlements appeared in the 15th century, when the area north of the river

belonged to Kochłowice. A smithery was established here, and the settlement, which grew around it, was named ''Halemba'' after one the smiths. It was first mentioned in 1451. Another settlement, ''Stara Kuźnica'', commenced somewhat after 1394, when the forests laying south of

were bestowed upon a smith ''Henryk'', who was to establish another smithery. During the political upheaval caused by

Matthias Corvinus Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I ( hu, Hunyadi Mátyás, ro, Matia/Matei Corvin, hr, Matija/Matijaš Korvin, sk, Matej Korvín, cz, Matyáš Korvín; ), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several mi ...

the land around

Pszczyna Pszczyna (german: Pleß, cs, Pština) is a town in southern Poland with 25,823 inhabitants (2019), and a seat of a local gmina (commune). It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship, and was a part of the Katowice Voivodeship from 1975 until adm ...

was overtaken by

Casimir II, Duke of Cieszyn Casimir II of Cieszyn ( pl, Kazimierz, cs, Kazimír; – 13 December 1528) was a Duke of Cieszyn since 1477, ruler over Koźle during 1479–1509, since 1493 ruler over Wołów, over Pszczyna during 1498–1517, from 1506 over Opava, Duke of Gł ...

, who sold it in 1517 to the Hungarian

magnate The magnate term, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders, or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...

s of the Thurzó family, forming the

Pless Pleß or Pless may refer to: Places *Pleß, a municipality in the district of Unterallgäu in Bavaria, Germany * Pszczyna (German: Pleß), a town in southern Poland ** Duchy of Pless, a historic territory in Silesia * Pleß (mountain), a mounta ...

state country State country (german: Freie Standesherrschaft; cs, stavovské panství; pl, państwo stanowe) was a unit of administrative and territorial division in the Bohemian crown lands of Silesia and Upper Lusatia, existing from 15th to 18th centuries. T ...

. In the accompanying sales document issued on 21 February 1517 the village was mentioned as ''Kuznicze Nykowa''. The third settlement, ''Kłodnica'', named after the river, developed alongside ''Stara Kuźnica'', although across the river, which also constituted a border between different duchies and later state countries. 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 bot ...

458 out of 521 voters in Stara Kuźnica voted in favour of joining Poland, against 63 opting for staying in Germany. In Halemba it was 759 (out of 916) against 155 (additionally 70 out of 92 against 21 in manor goods) and in Kłodnica 228 (out of 251) against 22. All the three settlements became a part of

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of ...

. They were 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 opposin ...

. In 1942 both the local

coal mine Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

and

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many p ...

commenced to be built. After the war it was restored to Poland. Kuźnica, Stara Kuźnica and Kłodnica were joined and merged into

Nowy Bytom Nowy Bytom (german: Friedenshütte) is a district serving as administrative centre of Ruda Śląska, Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland. In 2006 it had an area of 4.6 km2 and was inhabited by 12,058 people. On January 12, 2006 a part of it ...

in 1951, and as part of Nowy Bytom was amalgamated with Ruda to form Ruda Śląska on December 31, 1958.

Gallery

File:Ruda Śląska-Halemba II noc.jpg, Housing estates in Halemba File:2022 Ruda Donnersmarck palace.jpg, Donnersmarck palace

References

Districts of Ruda Śląska {{Silesian-geo-stub

History

Gallery

See also

References