Sośnica is a district of

Gliwice Gliwice (; german: Gleiwitz) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. The city is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica river (a tributary of the Oder). It lies approximately 25 km west from Katowice, the regional cap ...

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 ...

, located in the eastern part of the city. It is bordered by the districts of Wincentów in the north, Wólka Klwatecka in the west, Młynek Janiszewski, Jóżefów, Mleczna and Huta Józefowska in the south and Krzewień in the east.

History

Gliwice Sosnica Saint Mary of Help church facade

Sośnica was established in 1260 by Tomasz I, bishop of Wrocław within fragmented

Piast The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented List of Polish monarchs, Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I of Poland, Mieszko I (c. 930–992). The Poland during the Piast dynasty, Piasts' royal rule i ...

-ruled Poland. The name is of Polish origin and comes from the word ''sosna'' which means "

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

". It was annexed by

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

in the 1740s, and from 1871 it was also part of Germany. It was subjected to

Germanisation Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, German people, people and German culture, culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nationa ...

policies. 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 the majority of the citizens voted to rejoin Poland 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 1921, however, the settlement remained within Germany in the interbellum. On 9 April 1922, 17 French troops died in an explosion during the liquidation of a German militia weapons warehouse in the settlement. Polish activists were increasingly persecuted since 1937. 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 opposin ...

, in 1940, the Germans arrested local Polish parish priest Antoni Korczok, deported him to the

Dachau concentration camp , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...

, and murdered him there the following year. His successor Jerzy Jonienc was arrested in July 1941, but was released in September 1941. The Germans established and operated the E22 and E452

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

subcamps of the Stalag VIII-B/344

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. P ...

for

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

POWs in the district. After the war, Sośnica became again part of Poland.

Sports

The

Sośnica Gliwice Sośnica Gliwice is a Polish women's handball team, based in Gliwice. See also * Handball in Poland * Sports in Poland Poland's sports include almost all sporting disciplines, in particular: football (the most popular sport), volleyball, m ...

women's handball team is based in Sośnica.

Notable people

Włodzimierz Lubański Włodzimierz 'Włodek' Leonard Lubański (Polish pronunciation: ; born 28 February 1947 in Gliwice-Sośnica) is a former Polish football striker, the second all-time highest goal scorer for the Polish national team. For his national team, L ...

(born 1947), retired footballer *

Joachim Marx Joachim Jerzy Marx (born 31 August 1944) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a striker. Besides Poland, he has played in France. On the national level, he played for Poland national team (23 matches/10 goals) and was ...

(born 1944), retired footballer *

Lukas Podolski Lukas Josef Podolski (; born Łukasz Józef Podolski, , on 4 June 1985) is a German professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ekstraklasa club Górnik Zabrze. Known for his powerful and accurate left foot, he is known for his explosive ...

(born 1985), footballer *

Jacek Wiśniewski Jacek Wiśniewski (born 7 June 1974) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a defender. Born in Gliwice, Wiśniewski began playing football with the youth side Walce Zabrze and trained as a boxer. He played for Górnik Zabrze ...

(born 1974), retired footballer

References

{{reflist Districts of Gliwice 13th-century establishments in Poland Populated places established in the 1260s