Ligota Turawska is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Turawa, within Opole County, Opole Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It lies approximately north-east 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 mentioned in 1463, when Lord Adam Bies sold the villages of Groß Kottorz, Klein Kottorz, Kadlub, and Ellguth to Anna Schillhagen von Ottmuth for 422 marks.Official site
Both its German and Polish names derive from the medieval Slavic word ''lhóta'', which referred to the 5-8 year grace period after a village was founded when it did not have to pay taxes. Though Ellguth Turawa became an independent entity in 1813, it remained part of the parish of Groß Kottorz until 1891. The village formerly had two churches. The most famous was the old ''Schrotholzkirche'' (wooden church) of St. Catherine that had been consecrated on November 21, 1629, by Johannes Balthasar, the Suffragan of Breslau. However, the church was destroyed in an act of

arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...

by the Red Army in 1945. The second, present church was consecrated July 19, 1936. A Catholic school has existed in the village since the late 17th century. 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, 316 villagers voted to remain with Germany and 307 voted for annexation to the newly created state of Poland.Results of the Upper Silesia plebiscite (in German)
As a result, the village stayed part of the Weimar Republic. In 1933 the village had 1014 inhabitants, and by 1939 it had grown to 1055. It received a boost to development with the construction of the Turawa Reservoir between 1933 and 1938. Until 1945 it was located in

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 ...

. After 1945, the village was renamed Ligota Turawska after the Potsdam Conference put it inside Poland's new borders. It was originally placed the Silesian Voivodeship, but in 1950 it was moved to Opole Voivodeship. The village hosts a branch of the SKGD (Sozial-Kulturelle Gesellschaft der Deutschen im Oppelner Schlesien, Social-Cultural Association of Germans in Opole Silesia).

References

{{Gmina Turawa

Ligota Turawska Ligota Turawska is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Turawa, within Opole County, Opole Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It lies approximately north-east of Turawa and north-east of the regional capital Opole. History The ...