Chocianów (german: Kotzenau) is a town in Polkowice 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, Wałbr ...

, in south-western

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 ...

. 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 Chocianów. The town lies approximately south-west of Polkowice, and west of the regional capital

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, r ...

. As of December 2021, it has a population of 7,869.

History

The area, along with Lower Silesia, was part of Poland since the establishment of the state in the 10th century. As a result of the fragmentation of

, by the end of the 13th century the area was part of the Polish Duchy of Świdnica, ruled by a local branch of the

Piast dynasty The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I (c. 930–992). The Piasts' royal rule in Poland ended in 1370 with the death of king Casimir III the Great. Branch ...

. The settlement developed from a castle called ''Chodzenow'' built in 1297 by Duke Bolko I the Strict of Świdnica, who had to secure his lands against the claims of Wenceslaus II of Bohemia. From 1742 Chocianów was part of

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 e ...

and from 1871 to 1945 it was part of Germany, known by its Germanized name of ''Kotzenau''. It received its

town privileges Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...

in 1894. The town had a population of 4,301 in 1939, but with war deaths and the expulsion of most Germans after the war the population was down to 1,707 in 1946.Columbia-Lippincott Gazetteer. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1952) p. 403 After

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 ...

's defeat in

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

the town became again part of Poland.

Demographics

Detailed data as of 31 December 2021:

Number of inhabitants by year

Gallery

SM Chocianów Kościół śwJózefaRobotnika (1) ID 596609.jpg, Saint Joseph church Chocianów, Ratusz - fotopolska.eu (332929).jpg, Town hall Chocianów jesien 1.JPG, Palace Park SM Chocianów pałac (3) ID 596612.jpg, Palace ruins

References

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