Węgliniec (german: Kohlfurt) is a town in Zgorzelec County,

Lower Silesian Voivodeship Lower Silesian Voivodeship, or Lower Silesia Province, in southwestern Poland, is one of the 16 voivodeships (provinces) into which Poland is divided. The voivodeship was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Wrocław, Legnica, Wałbrz ...

, in south-western Poland, close to the border with Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district (

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 ...

) called

Gmina Węgliniec __NOTOC__ Gmina Węgliniec is an urban-rural gmina (administrative district) in Zgorzelec County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. Its seat is the town of Węgliniec, which lies approximately north-east of Zgorzelec, and west ...

. The town lies approximately north-east of Zgorzelec, and west of the regional capital Wrocław. As of 2019, the town has a population of 2,846.

History

The oldest known historical mention of the settlement dates back to 1502 ''Zmiana Studium Uwarunkowań i Kierunków Zagospodarowania Przestrzennego Gminy Węgliniec (projekt)'', Węgliniec, 2015, p. 35 (in Polish) in the context of medieval German

Ostsiedlung (, literally "East-settling") is the term for the Early Medieval and High Medieval migration-period when ethnic Germans moved into the territories in the eastern part of Francia, East Francia, and the Holy Roman Empire (that Germans had al ...

, receiving the name ''Kohlfurt''. In 1742 it was annexed by Prussia. It was plundered by different armies during the Third Silesian War (1756–1763).Krzysztof Mazurski, ''Z przeszłości Węglińca.'' „Wędrowiec. Wrocławskie zeszyty krajoznawcze”, Wrocław, 1996, p. 56-61 (in Polish) In 1846 a railway line connecting Wrocław and Berlin, running through the village, was opened. In 1847 a line to Dresden was built, and in 1865 to Lubań. The settlement became an important railway junction. During World War II, the Germans located there two

prisoner-of-war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

labor subcamps and a forced labor camp. Near the end of World War II, in February 1945, the almost completely abandoned village was captured by the Soviets. After World War II the region was placed preliminary under Polish administration according to the post-war

Potsdam Agreement The Potsdam Agreement (german: Potsdamer Abkommen) was the agreement between three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union on 1 August 1945. A product of the Potsdam Conference, it concerned th ...

. It was repopulated with

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 Ce ...

, some of whom were from the Eastern Borderlands, which were annexed by the Soviet Union. Węgliniec was granted town rights in 1967.

Transport

Węgliniec railway station remains a major railway junction, located on strategic passenger and freight routes between Poland and Germany, with regular cross-border passenger services to

Görlitz Görlitz (; pl, Zgorzelec, hsb, Zhorjelc, cz, Zhořelec, :de:Ostlausitzer Mundart, East Lusatian dialect: ''Gerlz'', ''Gerltz'', ''Gerltsch'') is a town in the Germany, German state of Saxony. It is located on the Lusatian Neisse River, and ...

/ Dresden and a limited service to Cottbus/ Berlin.

Twin towns – sister cities

See twin towns of Gmina Węgliniec.

References

Cities and towns in Lower Silesian Voivodeship Zgorzelec County {{Zgorzelec-geo-stub