Wawrzyńcowice is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

in the administrative district of

Gmina Strzeleczki __NOTOC__ Gmina Strzeleczki, German Gemeinde Klein Strehlitz is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Krapkowice County, Opole Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. Its seat is the village of Strzeleczki (Klein Strehlitz), which lies approxim ...

(Gemeinde Klein Strehlitz), within

Krapkowice County __NOTOC__ Krapkowice County ( pl, powiat krapkowicki) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Opole Voivodeship, south-western Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local governmen ...

Opole Voivodeship Opole Voivodeship, or Opole Province ( pl, województwo opolskie ), is the smallest and least populated voivodeship (province) of Poland. The province's name derives from that of the region's capital and largest city, Opole. It is part of Upper S ...

, in the south-western Polish region of

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 ...

. It lies approximately south-west of Strzeleczki (Klein Strehlitz), south-west of

Krapkowice Krapkowice (; german: Krappitz; szl, Krapkowicy) is a town in southern Poland with 16,301 inhabitants (2019), situated in the Opole Voivodeship, straddling both banks of the Oder River at the point where it joins with the Osobłoga. It is the re ...

, and south 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 ...

. Since 2006 the village, like the rest of the commune, has been bilingual in German and Polish.

History

The village was first mentioned in 1679 as Wawrzinowice. The town's name derived from the name Lawrence (Wawrzyniec in Polish, Lorenz in German), which is also the derivation of the village's German name, Lorenzdorf (Lawrence's village). Initially the village was in the possession of the noble

House of Schaffgotsch The House of Schaffgotsch is the name of an old and influential Silesian noble family which dates back to the thirteenth century. History Around 1240, the first Schaffgotsch appears in a Silesian document as "Sibotho de nobili Familia Ovium" ("o ...

, then in 1821 it passed to Baron Seherr-Thoss, who sold it in the 1860s to Major Thiele-Winckler von Miechowitz, whose family owned the village until World War II. Before 1945 it belonged to the district of Landkreis Neustadt O.S. In 1945 Silesia was given to Poland and the German population of Lorenzdorf was largely expelled. The village was renamed Wawrzyńcowice and annexed to the newly created

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 ...

. In 1950 it was reassigned to

. In 1999, it was reassigned from Prudnik County (formerly Neustadt O.S.) to Krapkowice County. On 17 May 2006, the entire commune of Strzelecki/Klein Strehlitz was declared bilingual in German and Polish, and on 24 November 2008 the old name German name Lorenzdorf was also made official.

References

Villages in Krapkowice County {{Krapkowice-geo-stub