Szeroka (german: Timmendorf) is a

sołectwo A sołectwo (Polish plural: ''sołectwa'') is an administrative unit in Poland, an optional subdivision of a gmina. The actions and organs of the sołectwo are decided by the gmina council. On 31 December 2018 Poland had 40 740 sołectwa. Go ...

Jastrzębie-Zdrój Jastrzębie-Zdrój (; german: Bad Königsdorff-Jastrzemb, originally ''Jastrzemb'', cs, Lázně Jestřebí, szl, Jastrzymbie-Zdrōj or ''Jastrzymbje-Zdrůj'') is a city in south Poland with 86,632 inhabitants (2021). Its name comes from the Poli ...

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 ...

. It was an independent village but became administratively part of Jastrzębie-Zdrój in 1975. It has na area of 1026.64 ha and on December 31, 2012 it had 2,325 inhabitants.

History

The village was first mentioned in a Latin document of

Diocese of Wrocław In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

called ''

Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis ( pl, Księga uposażeń biskupstwa wrocławskiego, ''Book of endowments of the Bishopric of Wrocław'') is a Latin manuscript catalog of documents compiled in the later 13th or in the early 14th centu ...

'' from around 1305 as ''item in Syroka et in Gogolow debent esse LIII) mansi''. The creation of the village was a part of a larger settlement campaign taking place in the late 13th century on the territory of what would later be known as

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, located ...

. In 1321 appears the German name of the village, ''Tymendorf'', which eventually evolved into ''Timmendorf''. A Catholic parish was established in the early years of the village. It was mentioned in the register of

Peter's Pence Peter's Pence (or ''Denarii Sancti Petri'' and "Alms of St Peter") are donations or payments made directly to the Holy See of the Catholic Church. The practice began under the Saxons in England and spread through Europe. Both before and after the ...

payment from 1447 among the parishes of

Żory Żory (; german: Sohrau, szl, Żory) is a town and city county in Silesian Voivodeship, Poland with 62,462 inhabitants (2019). Previously it was in Katowice Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is located in the historic Upper Silesia region about sout ...

Deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...

as ''Tunsdorff''. Politically the village belonged initially to the

Duchy of Racibórz Duchy of Racibórz (german: Herzogtum Ratibor, cs, Ratibořské knížectví) was one of the duchies of Silesia. Its capital was Racibórz in Upper Silesia. History After Bolesław I the Tall and his younger brother Mieszko I Tanglefoot backed b ...

, within feudally fragmented Poland. In 1327 the duchy became a

fee A fee is the price one pays as remuneration for rights or services. Fees usually allow for overhead, wages, costs, and markup. Traditionally, professionals in the United Kingdom (and previously the Republic of Ireland) receive a fee in contra ...

of the

Kingdom of Bohemia The Kingdom of Bohemia ( cs, České království),; la, link=no, Regnum Bohemiae sometimes in English literature referred to as the Czech Kingdom, was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Central Europe, the predecessor of the modern Czec ...

. During the political upheaval caused by

Matthias Corvinus Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I ( hu, Hunyadi Mátyás, ro, Matia/Matei Corvin, hr, Matija/Matijaš Korvin, sk, Matej Korvín, cz, Matyáš Korvín; ), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several mi ...

the land around

Pszczyna Pszczyna (german: Pleß, cs, Pština) is a town in southern Poland with 25,823 inhabitants (2019), and a seat of a local gmina (commune). It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship, and was a part of the Katowice Voivodeship from 1975 until adm ...

was overtaken by

Casimir II, Duke of Cieszyn Casimir II of Cieszyn ( pl, Kazimierz, cs, Kazimír; – 13 December 1528) was a Duke of Cieszyn since 1477, ruler over Koźle during 1479–1509, since 1493 ruler over Wołów, over Pszczyna during 1498–1517, from 1506 over Opava, Duke of Gł ...

, who sold it in 1517 to the Hungarian

magnate The magnate term, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders, or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...

s of the Thurzó family, forming the Pless

state country State country (german: Freie Standesherrschaft; cs, stavovské panství; pl, państwo stanowe) was a unit of administrative and territorial division in the Bohemian crown lands of Silesia and Upper Lusatia, existing from 15th to 18th centuries. T ...

. In the accompanying sales document issued on 21 February 1517 the village was mentioned as ''Ssiroka''. The Kingdom of Bohemia in 1526 became part of the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...

. In the

War of the Austrian Succession The War of the Austrian Succession () was a European conflict that took place between 1740 and 1748. Fought primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italy, the Atlantic and Mediterranean, related conflicts included King George's W ...

most of Silesia was conquered by the

kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Re ...

, including the village. 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 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 ...

620 inhabitants voted in favour of joining Poland, against 22 for Germany. It became later 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 ...

. It 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. A local

Borynia Coal Mine The Borynia coal mine is a large mine in the south of Poland in Jastrzębie-Zdrój, Silesian Voivodeship, 260 km south-west of the capital, Warsaw. Borynia represents one of the largest coal reserve in Poland having estimated reserves of 34 m ...

, located actually in Szeroka but named after Borynia, was eventually opened in 1971, when Szeroka, Borynia and Skrzeczkowice formed one municipality with a seat in Borynia. In 1973 the seat was then moved to Szeroka. In 1975, together with Borynia and Skrzeczkowice it was absorbed by Jastrzębie-Zdrój. In a local referendum held in 2000 the inhabitants of these three settlements voted in favour of remaining within the city.

People

Henryk Sławik Henryk Sławik (16 July 1894 – 23 August 1944) was a Polish politician in the interwar period, social worker, activist, and diplomat, who during World War II helped save over 30,000 Polish refugees, including 5,000 Polish Jews in Budapest, ...

, a Polish politician, was born here (in 1894)

References

{{coord, 49.989146, N, 18.624489, E, display=title Neighbourhoods in Silesian Voivodeship Jastrzębie-Zdrój