Olkusz ( yi, עלקיש ''Elkish'', german: 1941-45 Ilkenau) is a town in 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 populou ...

with 36,607 inhabitants (2014). Situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship (since 1999), previously in

Katowice Voivodeship Katowice Voivodeship () can refer to one of two political entities in Poland: Katowice Voivodeship (1), initially "Silesian-Dabrowa Voivodeship" ( pl, województwo śląsko-dąbrowskie), was a unit of administrative division and local government ...

(1975–1998), it is the capital of Olkusz County. Olkusz is known for its abundance of

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

, which is mined and extracted in the vicinity.

Surroundings

The city is on the Baba River, a tributary of the Sztoła, with a major road reaching it from

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

and

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 ...

, making it the central city of the vicinity. Tourists who wish to visit nature and historical sites, start from here. Also, Olkusz is located on the main railroad line, which connects

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, locate ...

and Zaglebie with Kielce. The Starczynów Desert is located nearby, and wind-blown sands from the desert troubled the town until the desert was planted with trees in 1949 resulting in the desert becoming overgrown.

History

On the city's website, a myth is cited that the city was founded by ancient Phoenicians (Canaanites) who traveled here and found lead ore. The origin of the name Olkusz is cited as the ancient Phoenician (Canaanite Hebrew) "Elkhuds" meaning "to chisel". However, the Hebrew word for "to chisel" was "lakhrot" and the likelihood of the ancient Phoenicians having reached Poland is very low. A first written historical document from the year 1299 refers to the city of Olkusz, although it was granted town rights earlier. It was located within the

Seniorate Province Seniorate Province, also known as the Senioral Province, , was a district principality in the Duchy of Poland that was formed in 1138, following the fragmentation of the state. Its ruler held the title of the High Duke, ruling all duchies wit ...

of the fragmented

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Królestwo Polskie; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a state in Central Europe. It may refer to: Historical political entities * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom existing from 1025 to 1031 * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom exi ...

, and then it was a royal town of Poland, administratively located in the Kraków Voivodeship in the

Lesser Poland Province of the Polish Crown , subdivision = Province , nation = Poland , year_start = , event_end = Third Partition of Poland , year_end = , image_map = ProwincjaMalopolska.png , image_map ...

. The inhabitants were mostly wealthy, due to the lead mines. Silver was discovered too. Various wars crossed the path of this town, which was at its lowest at the end of the 17th century (see:

The Deluge The Genesis flood narrative (chapters 6–9 of the Book of Genesis) is the Hebrew version of the universal flood myth. It tells of God's decision to return the universe to its pre- creation state of watery chaos and remake it through the microc ...

). 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 ...

(1795) the town 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 ...

. Following the Austro-Polish War of 1809 it was regained by Poles 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 ...

, and after the duchy's dissolution in 1815, the town fell to the

Russian Partition The Russian Partition ( pl, zabór rosyjski), sometimes called Russian Poland, constituted the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that were annexed by the Russian Empire in the course of late-18th-century Partitions of Po ...

of Poland. Fights of the Polish January Uprising took place in the area in 1863.

Francesco Nullo Francesco Nullo (1 March 1826 – 5 May 1863) was an Italian patriot, military officer and merchant, and a close friend and confidant of Giuseppe Garibaldi. He supported independence movements in Italy and Poland. He was a participant in the ...

, hero of the fights for Italian and Polish independence died in the Battle of Krzykawka nearby, and then was buried at the cemetery in Olkusz. Poland eventually regained independence and control of the town 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 ...

in 1918.

During the joint German-Soviet

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

, which started

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 ...

in September 1939, the town was invaded by Germany. Already during the invasion, the Germans committed the first executions of local

Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in C ...

(see also ''

Nazi crimes against the Polish nation Crimes against the Polish nation committed by Nazi Germany and Axis collaborationist forces during the invasion of Poland, along with auxiliary battalions during the subsequent occupation of Poland in World War II, consisted of the murder of ...

''). Under

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

, the town was annexed directly into Germany. Poles from Olkusz were among the victims of a massacre committed in Celiny in June 1940. On 16 July 1940, in retaliation for the killing of a German policeman, the Germans carried out a massacre of 20 Polish hostages. On 31 July 1940, the Germans gathered all Polish and

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

men aged 15 to 55 and subjected them to torture and murder. The German terror campaign against the local population was aimed at the planned Germanisation of the town and the region. The occupation ended in January 1945, and the town was restored to Poland.

Sports

The town's most notable sports club is KS Olkusz with football and

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

sections.

Italian volunteers memorial - Old cemetery in Olkusz

Religions

* Roman Catholicism 4 parishes: ** St Andrew's Basilica ** St Maximilian Maria Kolbe Church ** St Barbara's Church ** Good Shepherd Church * Jehovah's Witnesses *

Pentecostalism Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

* Seventh-day Adventist Church *

(40% of the population before 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; ...

)

International relations

Twin Towns – Sister Cities

* Bergamo,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Schwalbach am Taunus Schwalbach am Taunus, a town in the Main-Taunus-Kreis district, in Hesse, Germany, population about 14,000, is a dormitory town to Frankfurt, situated some 11 km east of Schwalbach. There is evidence of human habitation dating back to Neolithi ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Staffordshire Moorlands Staffordshire Moorlands is a local government district in Staffordshire, England. Its council, Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, is based in Leek and is located between the city of Stoke-on-Trent and the Peak District National Park. The ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Notable people

Paweł Blehm Paweł Blehm (born 17 April 1980 in Olkusz) is a Polish chess grandmaster (2001). He took part in the FIDE World Chess Championship 2000, but was knocked out in the first round by Smbat Lputian. He played for Poland in the Chess Olympiad of 200 ...

, Polish chess grandmaster *

Marcin Bylica __NOTOC__ Marcin Bylica (c.1433 in Olkusz – 1493 in Buda), also known as Martin Bylica and Marcin z Olkusza, was a Polish astrology, astrologer, astronomer, and physician at the court of Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary. Biography Son of Bur ...

a.k.a. Martin Bylica and Marcin z Olkusza, Polish astrologer and astronomer * Paweł Czarnota, Polish chess Grandmaster *

Antoni Kocjan Antoni Kocjan (12 August 1902 – 13 August 1944) was a renowned Polish glider constructor and a contributor to the intelligence services of the Polish Home Army during World War II. Early life and education Antoni was the son of Michal ...

, Polish war hero and famous glider engineer *

Henryk Mandelbaum Henryk Mandelbaum (December 15, 1922 – June 17, 2008) was a Polish Holocaust survivor. He was one of the prisoners in the '' Sonderkommando KL Auschwitz-Birkenau'' in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp who had to work in the crematory. ...

, noted Polish survivor of the Holocaust * Tadeusz Rydzyk, Roman Catholic priest and Redemptorist * Rabbi Dov Berish Einhorn

References

External links

*
Olkusz's Internet forum

Jewish Community in Olkusz
on Virtual Shtetl

* ttp://www.zchor.org/olkusz/photographs1.htm Images of deportation during the holocaust WWII
The full story of the famous Olkusz image identification

Olkusz -full screen gallery
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