Nowy Bytom (german: Friedenshütte) is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

serving as administrative centre of

Ruda Śląska Ruda Śląska (formerly ) is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. It is a district in the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union, a metropolis with a population of two million. It is in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica River (t ...

Silesian Voivodeship Silesian Voivodeship, or Silesia Province ( pl, województwo śląskie ) is a voivodeship, or province, in southern Poland, centered on the historic region known as Upper Silesia ('), with Katowice serving as its capital. Despite the Silesian ...

, southern

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 ...

. In 2006 it had an area of 4.6 km² and was inhabited by 12,058 people. On January 12, 2006 a part of it was split off to form a new district, Czarny Las.

History

Until the early 19th century the area was covered by ''

Bytom Bytom (Polish pronunciation: ; Silesian: ''Bytōm, Bytōń'', german: Beuthen O.S.) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. Located in the Silesian Voivodeship of Poland, the city is 7 km northwest of Katowice, the regional capital ...

's Black Forest'' (German: ''Beuthener Schwarzwald'', Polish: ''Czarny Las''), which was first mentioned in 1369. In the course of the 19th-century industrial development steel mills and coal mines had been established on its territory, among them ''Friedenshütte'' (Polish: Frydenshuta), after which a wider area took name. Administratively it formed an

exclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

of Bytom up to 1921. After

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 ...

and 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 ...

became a part of

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of ...

and gained status of an independent municipality (

gmina The gmina (Polish: , plural ''gminy'' , from German ''Gemeinde'' meaning ''commune'') is the principal unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. , there were 2,477 gminas throughout the country, encompassing over 4 ...

) named ''Nowy Bytom'' (lit. ''New Bytom'') in place of colloquial Polish ''Frydenshuta'' (after the local steel mill) and temporarily ''Polski Bytom'' (lit. ''Polish Bytom''). In 1929 Zgoda was split off to be joined with

Świętochłowice Świętochłowice (; german: Schwientochlowitz; szl, Świyntochłowice) is a town in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. It is also the central district of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union metropolis, with a population of 2 million, a ...

. Nowy Bytom was then annexed by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

at the beginning of

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 ...

. After the war it was restored to Poland. In 1947 it gained town rights. In 1951 it absorbed Wirek. On December 31, 1958 it was amalgamated with Ruda to form contemporary Ruda Śląska.

Famous people

Nowy Bytom is the place of birth for the Polish football legend

Lucjan Brychczy Lucjan Antoni Brychczy (otherwise known as Kici; born 13 June 1934) is a former Polish football player who is most notable for winning four top-tier titles with Legia Warsaw, but was also a keen archer. In football, he represented ŁTS Łabęd ...

Gallery

File:Nowy Bytom Niedurnego street.jpg, Niedurnego Street File:Familoki222.JPG,

Familok Familok is a type of house for many families, designed for workers of the heavy industry, mainly coal miners, built at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century in the cities and towns of Silesia. "Familok" is a Silesian way ...

References

Districts of Ruda Śląska {{Silesian-geo-stub