Kolonowskie (german: Colonnowska, sometimes ''Kolonnowska'', 1936–1945 ''Grafenweiler'') is a town in

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

, Opole Voivodeship,

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 ...

, with 3,309 inhabitants (2019). It is the seat of Gmina Kolonowskie which has been officially bilingual in

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

since 2006.

Demographics

According to the census of 2002, there were 6,582 inhabitants in Gmina Kolonowskie. Of these, 3,370 (51.2%) stated their ethnicity as

, 3,203 (48.7%) stated another ethnicity: 2,836 (43.1%) declared

ethnicity and 358 (5.4%) declared Silesian ethnicity.

History

During

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 ...

, Nazi Germans operated the E265

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, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

subcamp of the Stalag VIII-B/344

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. P ...

in the town, and the E260 and E737 subcamps in the present-day district of Fosowskie.

Twin towns – sister cities

See twin towns of Gmina Kolonowskie.

References

Cities in Silesia Cities and towns in Opole Voivodeship Strzelce County {{Strzelce-geo-stub