Książ 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 ...

in Miechów County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Książ Wielki. It lies approximately north-east of

Miechów Miechów is a town in Poland, in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, about north of Kraków. It is the capital of Miechów County. Population is 11,852 (2004). Miechów lies on the Miechówka river, along European route E77. The area of the town is , ...

and north of the regional capital

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

. The village has a population of 820.

History

The settlement of Książ Wielki was for the first time mentioned in 1120, in chronicles of a Cysterian monastery in Jędrzejów. In the late 14th century the village belonged to

Spytek of Melsztyn Spycimir, also Spyćmier, Spyćmir, Spyćmierz, Spićymierz, etc., is an old Polish masculine given name. Etymology: ''spyci-'': "in vain", ''-mir'': "peace". Diminutives: Spytko, Spytek. Its name day is 26 April.Bogdan Kupis, ''Nasze imiona'', 1991 ...

, and it gained town rights some time between 1333 and 1370. Książ Wielki was administratively located in the Kraków Voivodeship in the Lesser Poland Province, and until the Partitions of Poland was the seat of a county, which included such locations, as

Wolbrom Wolbrom (german: Wolfram) Wojciech Blajer: ''Bemerkungen zum Stand der Forschungen uber die Enklawen der mittelalterlichen deutschen Besiedlung zwischen Wisłoka und San''. n:Późne średniowiecze w Karpatach polskich. red. Prof. Jan Gancarski. ...

and Jędrzejów. In the 16th century, the town had a parish school, and was an important center of the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and ...

, especially of

Calvinism Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

. In 1795 Książ Wielki was annexed by

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

in the

Third Partition of Poland The Third Partition of Poland (1795) was the last in a series of the Partitions of Poland–Lithuania and the land of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth among Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy, and the Russian Empire which effectively ended Polis ...

. It was regained by Poles following the Austro-Polish War of 1809, and included within the short-lived

Duchy of Warsaw The Duchy of Warsaw ( pl, Księstwo Warszawskie, french: Duché de Varsovie, german: Herzogtum Warschau), also known as the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and Napoleonic Poland, was a French client state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807, during ...

. After the duchy's dissolution in 1815, it became part of the Russian-controlled

Congress Kingdom Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It w ...

. In 1875, as a punishment for participation of its inhabitants in the January Uprising, the Russians reduced Książ Wielki to the status of a village. Following

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 ...

, Poland regained independence and control of the settlement. 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 opposing ...

, it was occupied by Germany. The Germans opened here a ghetto in 1942. Most of the Jewish population was killed by the occupiers in the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

, and in early August 1944, the Germans burned down the village, killing 12 people for their support of the Polish underground

Home Army The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) est ...

Sights

Książ Wielki has a Holy Spirit church (1381), and St. Wojciech parish church from the 14th century. There also is a Renaissance palace (1585 - 1595), destroyed during the Kościuszko Uprising, and rebuilt in neo-Gothic style (1841-1846), as well as a synagogue (1846).

References

External links

Jewish Community in Książ Wielki
on Virtual Shtetl {{DEFAULTSORT:Ksiaz Wielki Villages in Miechów County Kraków Voivodeship (14th century – 1795) Kielce Governorate Kielce Voivodeship (1919–1939) Holocaust locations in Poland Nazi war crimes in Poland