Kotórz Wielki () is a
village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...
in the administrative district of
Gmina Turawa, within
Opole County,
Opole Voivodeship, in south-western Poland.
It lies approximately south of
Turawa
Turawa (german: Turawa) is a village in Opole County, Opole Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) of Gmina Turawa. It is approximately northeast of the regional capital Opole.
Its population is ...
and north-east of the regional capital
Opole
Opole (; german: Oppeln ; szl, Ôpole) ;
* Silesian:
** Silesian PLS alphabet: ''Ôpole''
** Steuer's Silesian alphabet: ''Uopole''
* Silesian German: ''Uppeln''
* Czech: ''Opolí''
* Latin: ''Oppelia'', ''Oppolia'', ''Opulia'' is a city loc ...
.
History
The village was first documented in 1295 in the ''
Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis
Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis ( pl, Księga uposażeń biskupstwa wrocławskiego, ''Book of endowments of the Bishopric of Wrocław'') is a Latin manuscript catalog of documents compiled in the later 13th or in the early 14th centu ...
" as "Chotors".
The first wooden church for the village existed before 1293. At the initiative of Anna Barbara von Gaschin, construction began in 1782 for a new church for the village. Permission was given by the Bishop of Breslau on January 31, construction began in February, and by October the building was already covered with a roof. On a ball on the decorative spire of the church is written "Franz Herzog von Gaschin, highly born, married to Anna Barbara von Garnier, decided for the greater honor of God to give money to build a new church." The document ends "This document has been placed on this ball by me, Pastor Carl Padiery, for the good of future generations. The parish celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1882 though a small exhibition of documents detailing its history collected by its then-priest, Father Kahl, who was an avid scholar.
In 1840 the village had 385 inhabitants, and a large new school was built.
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 ...
of 20 March 1921 164 villagers voted to remain with Germany and 164 voted to join the newly created state of Poland.
Results of the Upper Silesia plebiscite (in German)
However, because citizens of Gemeinde Turawa overall voted for Germany, the village remained part of the Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
. In 1933 the village had 547 inhabitants. On 19 May 1936 the village was renamed Groß Kochen by Nazi officials because of its Slavic-sounding name. By 1939 the village had shrunk to only 474 inhabitants. Before 1945 it belonged to the district of Landkreis Oppeln
In all German states, except for the three city states, the primary administrative subdivision higher than a ''Gemeinde'' (municipality) is the (official term in all but two states) or (official term in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia a ...
The village is situated near the Turawa Reservoir, which was begun in 1933 with construction of the dam and then completed in 1938. During its contraction, 3 million cubic tons of earth were moved, 225 thousand tons of stone, 10 thousand tons of cement and the same amount of reinforced steel. The construction of the dam destroyed several villages, and villagers from three (Zamoscie, Krzysline, and Vorwerk Kuchara) were resettled in Groß Kottorz. However, it also brought development to the area.
After Germany's defeat in 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 1945, the village was part of the region that became part of Poland under the terms of the Potsdam Agreement
The Potsdam Agreement (german: Potsdamer Abkommen) was the agreement between three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union on 1 August 1945. A product of the Potsdam Conference, it concerned th ...
. It was renamed Kotórz Wielki. Though it was originally placed in Silesian Voivodeship, in 1950 it was moved to Opole Voivodeship.
The town has a volunteer fire brigade, founded in 1934. It organizes may dances for the residents through the "Firemen's Club". It also organizes a traditional Silesian carnival known as "leading the bear" ("Wodzenie niedźwiedzia" in Polish, "Bährenführen" in German), through which it gets donations for maintenance. The building it is housed in is also home to the offices of the German Minority/German Cultural Association, which also holds events there.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kotorz Wielki
Villages in Opole County