Jeżów Sudecki is a village in

Karkonosze County __NOTOC__ Karkonosze County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, south-western Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms pass ...

, located in the

Lower Silesian Voivodeship Lower Silesian Voivodeship (, ) in southwestern Poland, is one of the 16 Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeships (provinces) into which Poland is divided. It covers an area of and has a total population of 2,899,986. It is one of the wealthiest ...

of southwestern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. It serves as the administrative seat of Gmina Jeżów Sudecki. Situated approximately north of

Jelenia Góra Jelenia Góra (; ; ) is a historic city in southwestern Poland, within the historical region of Lower Silesia. Jelenia Góra is situated in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, close to the Karkonosze mountain range running along the Polish-Czech bo ...

and west of the regional capital

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

, the village holds historical significance and is known for its connections to

gliding Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sports, air sport in which pilots fly glider aircraft, unpowered aircraft known as Glider (sailplane), gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmospher ...

aviation.

History

''Gronow'' was first documented in 1299. Over the centuries, its name evolved through various forms, including Grunow (1303), Grunowe (1321), Grunaw (1651), Grunau (1765), Alt-, Neu-Grunau (1786), Grunau bei Hirschberg (1908), Grunów, Gronów, Gronowice (1945), and Jeżów Sudecki (from 1946). Initially part of the Duchy of Legnica, it later became part of the Duchy of Świdnica-Jawor following territorial divisions within fragmented

Piast The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I (–992). The Piasts' royal rule in Poland ended in 1370 with the death of King Casimir III the Great. Branches of ...

-ruled Poland. After the death of Duke Bolko II in 1368, the region formally passed to the

Crown of Bohemia The Lands of the Bohemian Crown were the states in Central Europe during the medieval and early modern periods with feudal obligations to the Bohemian kings. The crown lands primarily consisted of the Kingdom of Bohemia, an electorate of the Hol ...

, though Bolko II's widow, Agnes of Habsburg, retained usufruct rights until she died in 1392. In 1506, the town was acquired by the Hirschberg (Jelenia Góra) city council. The discovery of gold and silver ores led to mining operations leased to miners from the

Electorate of Saxony The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony ( or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806 initially centred on Wittenberg that came to include areas around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. It was a ...

, for whom residential houses were constructed. However, following the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

, mining ceased, giving way to craftsmanship, arts, weaving, and agriculture. After the

First Silesian War The First Silesian War () was a war between Kingdom of Prussia, Prussia and Habsburg monarchy, Austria that lasted from 1740 to 1742 and resulted in Prussia's seizing most of the region of Silesia (now in south-western Poland) from Austria. The ...

, the town, along with most of

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

, was annexed by

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

in 1742. By 1765, the spelling of the town's name was formally recorded as ''Grunau''. Following Prussia's administrative reorganization, Grunau became part of Hirschberg County in 1816. In the 20th century, Grunau gained renown for the

school founded in 1921, which later inspired the name of the famous glider, the " Grunau Baby." During

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 ...

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 ...

operated a

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...

camp for French prisoners of war in the village. Following Germany's defeat in the war the village became again part of Poland. Initially renamed to ''Gronów'', then ''Jeżów'', it was officially renamed ''Jeżów Sudecki'' in 1947 by adding the adjective ''Sudecki'' after the

Sudetes The Sudetes ( ), also known as the Sudeten Mountains or Sudetic Mountains, is a geomorphological subprovince of the Bohemian Massif province in Central Europe, shared by the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany. They consist mainly of mountain rang ...

to distinguish it from other settlements of the same name. Most of the German population was expelled in 1945/46 in accordance with the

Potsdam Agreement The Potsdam Agreement () was the agreement among three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union after the war ended in Europe that was signed on 1 August 1945 and published the following day. A ...

unless they had fled earlier. Many of the new settlers arrived from eastern Poland, which had been annexed by the

Soviet Union 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 ...

. Today, the village's economy is primarily driven by tourism.

Transport

There is a railway station in Jeżów Sudecki.

References

External links

The Gliding Factory
{{Gmina Jeżów Sudecki Populated riverside places in Poland Villages in Karkonosze County

History

Transport

See also

References

External links