Kielce

Kielce (, yi, קעלץ, Keltz) is a city in southern Poland, and the capital of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. In 2021, it had 192,468 inhabitants. The city is in the middle of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains (Holy Cross Mountains), on the banks of the Silnica River, in the northern part of the historical Polish province of Lesser Poland.

Kielce has a history back over 900 years, and the exact date that it was founded remains unknown. Kielce was once an important centre of limestone mining and the vicinity is famous for its natural resources like copper, lead and iron, which, over the centuries, were exploited on a large scale. There are several fairs and exhibitions held in Kielce throughout the year. The city and its surroundings are also known for their historic architecture, green spaces and recreational areas like the Świętokrzyski National Park. In sports, the city is known as the home of the top-tier handball club, multiple Polish Champion and one-time EHF Champions League winner Vive Kielce.

Etymology

According to a local legend Mieszko II Lambert, son of Boleslaus I of Poland, dreamt he was attacked by a band of brigands in a forest. In the dream he saw a vision of Saint Adalbert who drew a winding line which turned into a stream. When Mieszko woke up, he found the Silnica River whose waters helped him regain strength. He also discovered huge white tusks of an unknown animal. Mieszko announced he would build a town and a church to St. Adalbert at that site. According to this legend, the town's name Kielce commemorates the mysterious tusks (''kieł'' in Polish). Various other legends exist to explain the name's origin. One states that the town was named after its founder who belonged to the noble family of Kiełcz, while another claims that it stems from the Celts who may have lived in the area in previous centuries. Other theories connect the town's name to occupational names relating to mud huts, iron tips for arrows and spears, or the production of tar (''pkielce'', a settlement of tar makers).

The most probable etymology traces the origins of the name to an Old Polish noun ''kielce'' (plural form of ''kielec'', "sprout") and refers to plants sprouting in the wetlands where the settlement was located. The earliest extant document referring to the settlement by the name of Kielce dates to 1213.

History

The area of Kielce has been inhabited since at least the 5th century BC. Until the 6th or 7th century the banks of the Silnica were inhabited by Celts. They were driven out by a Lechitic tribe of Vistulans who started hunting in the nearby huge forests and had settled most of the area now known as Lesser Poland and present-day Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. The lands of Wiślanie were at first subdued by Bohemia, however they soon came under the control of the Piast dynasty and became a part of the emerging Polish state.

The area of the Holy Cross Mountains was almost unpopulated until the 11th century when the first hunters established permanent settlements at the outskirts of the mountains. They needed a place to trade furs and meat for grain and other necessary products, and so the market of Kielce was formed. In the early 12th century the new settlement became a property of the Bishops of Kraków, who built a wooden church and a manor. In 1171 a stone church was erected by bishop Gedeon Gryf. During the times of Wincenty Kadłubek a parochial school in Kielce was opened in 1229. By 1295 the town was granted city rights. In the mid-13th century the town was destroyed by the Mongol invasion of Ögedei Khan, but it quickly recovered.

Within the Polish Kingdom, Kielce was administratively located in the Sandomierz Voivodeship in the Lesser Poland Province. The area around Kielce was rich in minerals such as copper ore, lead ore, and iron, as well as limestone. In the 15th century Kielce became a significant centre of metallurgy. There were also several glass factories and armourer shops in the town. In 1527 bishop Piotr Tomicki founded a bell for the church and between 1637 and 1642 Mannerist palace was erected near the market place by Bishop Jakub Zadzik. It is one of the very few examples of French Renaissance architecture in Poland and the only example of a magnate's manor from the times of Vasa dynasty to survive World War II.

During The Deluge the town was pillaged and burnt by the Swedes. Only the palace and the church survived, but the town managed to recover under the rule of bishop Andrzej Załuski. During the Great Northern War it was the site of a battle between Swedish forces under Charles XII and Polish and Saxon forces under the Polish-Lithuanian king Augustus II. By 1761 Kielce had more than 4,000 inhabitants. In 1789 Kielce were nationalized and the burgers were granted the right to elect their own representatives in Sejm. Until the end of the century the city's economy entered a period of fast growth. A brewery was founded as well as several brick factories, a horse breeder, hospital.

Foreign partitions of Poland

As a result of the Third Partition of Poland the city was annexed by Austria. During the Austro-Polish War of 1809 it was captured by prince Józef Poniatowski and joined with the Napoleon controlled Duchy of Warsaw, but after the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815 it was joined with Russian-controlled Congress Poland. For a brief period when Kraków was an independent city-state (Republic of Kraków), Kielce became the capital of the Kraków Voivodeship. Thanks to the efforts by Stanisław Staszic Kielce became the centre of the newly established Old-Polish Industrial Zone (''Staropolski Okręg Przemysłowy''). The town grew quickly as new mines, quarries and factories were constructed. In 1816 the first Polish technical university was founded in Kielce. However, after Staszic's death the Industrial Zone declined and in 1826 the school was moved to Warsaw and became the Warsaw University of Technology.

In 1830 many of the inhabitants of Kielce took part in the November Uprising against Russia. In 1844, priest began organising a local revolt to liberate Kielce from the Russian yoke, for which he was sent to Siberia. In 1863 Kielce took part in the January Uprising. As a reprisal for insubordination the tsarist authorities closed all Polish schools and turned Kielce into a military garrison city. The Polish language was banned. Because of these actions many gymnasium students took part in the 1905 Revolution and were joined by factory workers.

Sovereign Poland

After the outbreak of World War I, Kielce was the first Polish city to be liberated from Russian rule by the Polish Legions under Józef Piłsudski. After the war when Poland regained its independence after 123 years of Partitions, Kielce became the capital of Kielce Voivodeship. The plans to strengthen Polish heavy and war industries resulted in Kielce becoming one of the main nodes of the Central Industrial Area (''Centralny Okręg Przemysłowy''). The town housed several big factories, among them the munitions factory "Granat" and the food processing plant "Społem".

Second World War

During the Polish Defensive War of 1939, the main portion of the defenders of Westerplatte as well as the armoured brigade of General Stanisław Maczek were either from Kielce or from its close suburbs. During the German occupation that lasted for most of the Second World War, the city was an important centre of resistance. There were several resistance groups active in the town, including Armia Krajowa (AK) and Gwardia Ludowa (GL).

Following the invasion, the German '' Einsatzgruppe II'' entered the city to commit various atrocities against the population, and the occupiers established a special court in Kielce. In January and March 1940, the Germans carried out mass arrests of local Poles as part of the ''AB-Aktion''. Among the victims were teachers, priests, and local political and social activists, including women. Arrested Poles were either imprisoned in the local prison, deported to concentration camps or massacred, with a notable massacre of 63 people committed by the Germans on June 12, 1940, at a local stadium. Many Poles from the prison in Kielce were also murdered in the Brzask forest near Skarżysko-Kamienna on June 29, 1940. At least five local Polish boy scouts were killed by the Germans during the war.

Notable acts of resistance included theft of 2 tons of TNT from the "Społem" factory run by the Nazis, which were then used by the partisans to make hand grenades. Also, the daring escape from jail in Kielce of a dozen or so AK members, organized in November 1942 by Stanisław Depczyński. Not to mention, a grenade attack by a unit of the GL on the Smoleński coffee shop, killing 6 Germans including a major in the SS (February 1943), as well as the assassination of the noted Gestapo informant Franz Wittek on 15 June 1944, by a unit under Second Lt. Kazimierz Smolak on the corner of Solna and Paderewski Streets. One of the attackers died during the attack and a further four lost their lives not long afterwards. This was not the first assassination attempt against Wittek. In 1942, Henryk Pawelec fired at him in the market square, but his pistol misfired. In February 1943, a unit under the command of Stanisław Fąfar shot at Wittek by the Seminarium building. Wittek, though wounded by 14 bullets, survived. Successful assassinations of local collaborators, including the shooting of Jan Bocian took place in broad daylight at a shop in Bodzentyńska Street. Similar was the attack on the factory of C. Wawrzyniak in March 1943, terrorizing and disarming the ''volksdeutscher'' workers and destroying the machinery, as well as the attack on the HASAG factory in May 1943 and the takeover of the Kielce Herbskie railway station.

In 1944, during and following the Warsaw Uprising, the Germans deported thousands of Varsovians from the Dulag 121 camp in Pruszków, where they were initially imprisoned, to Kielce. Those Poles were mainly old people, ill people and women with children. 9,000 Poles expelled from Warsaw stayed in Kielce, as of November 1, 1944.

Moreover, the hills and forests of Holy Cross Mountains became a scene of heavy partisan activity. A small town of Pińczów located some from Kielce became the capital of the so-called ''Pinczów Republic'', a piece of Polish land controlled by the partisans. The "Jodla" Świętokrzyskie Mountains Home Army fought against the Germans long before Operation Tempest inflicted heavy casualties on the occupying forces and later took part in the final liberation of their towns and cities in January 1945. During the war, many of inhabitants of Kielce lost their lives. Following the war, Kielce was restored to Poland, although with a Soviet-installed communist regime, which stayed in power until the 1980s. In August 1945, the Polish resistance led by Antoni Heda and Stefan Bembiński carried out the Raid on Kielce Prison and liberated some 350 prisoners.

Jewish history

Prior to the 1939 Invasion of Poland, like many other cities across the Second Polish Republic, Kielce had a significant Jewish population. According to the Russian census of 1897, among the total population of 23,200 inhabitants, there were 6,400 Jews in Kielce (around 27 percent). On the eve of the Second World War there were about 18,000 Jews in the city. Between the onset of war and March 1940, the Jewish population of Kielce expanded to 25,400 (35% of all residents), with trains of dispossessed Jews arriving under the escort of German Order Police battalions from the Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany.

Immediately after the German occupation of Poland in September 1939, all Jews were ordered to wear a Star of David on their outer garments. Jewish–owned factories in Kielce were confiscated by the Gestapo, stores and shops along the main thoroughfares liquidated, and ransom fines introduced. The forced labour and deportations to concentration camps culminated in mass extermination of Jews of Kielce during the Holocaust in occupied Poland.

In April 1941, the Kielce Ghetto was formed, surrounded by high fences, barbed wire, and guards. The gentile Poles were ordered to vacate the area and the Jews were given one week to relocate. The ghetto was split in two, along Warszawska Street (Nowowarszawska) with the Silnica River '' (pl)'' running through it. The so-called large ghetto was set up between the streets of Orla, Piotrkowska, Pocieszka, and Warszawska to the east, and the smaller ghetto between Warszawska on the west, and the streets of Bodzentyńska, St. Wojciech, and the St. Wojciech square. The ghetto gates were closed on 5 April 1941; the Jewish Ghetto Police was formed with 85 members and ordered to guard it. Meanwhile, expulsions elsewhere and deportations to Kielce continued until August 1942 at which time there were 27,000 prisoners crammed in the ghetto. Trains with Jewish families arrived from the entire Kielce Voivodeship, and also from Vienna, Poznań, and Łódź.

The severe overcrowding, rampant hunger, and outbreaks of epidemic typhus took the lives of 4,000 people before mid-1942. During this time, many of them were forced to work at a nearby German munition plant run by Hasag. In August 1942, the Kielce Ghetto was liquidated in the course of only five days. During roundups, all Jews unable to move were shot on the spot including the sick, the elderly, and the disabled; 20,000–21,000 Jews were led into waiting Holocaust trains, and murdered in the gas chambers of Treblinka. After the extermination action only 2,000 Jews were left in Kielce, lodged in the labour camp at Stolarska and Jasna Streets '' (pl)'' within the small ghetto. Those who survived were sent to other forced labour camps. On May 23, 1943, the Kielce cemetery massacre was perpetrated by the German police; 45 Jewish children who had survived the Kielce Ghetto liquidation, were murdered by Order Police battalions.

On July 4, 1946, the local Jewish gathering of some 200 Holocaust survivors from the Planty 7 Street refugee centre of the Zionist Union became the target of the Kielce pogrom

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