Kluczbork - ratusz.jpg
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Kluczbork (german: Kreuzburg O.S., szl, Kluczborek) is a town in southern Poland with 23,554 inhabitants (2019), situated in the Opole Voivodeship. It is the capital of
Kluczbork County __NOTOC__ Kluczbork County ( pl, powiat kluczborski) 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 government ...
and an important railroad junction. In Kluczbork the major rail line from
Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popul ...
splits into two directions – westwards to Wrocław and northwards to Poznań. It is also connected with
Fosowskie Fosowskie (german: Vossowska, 1936-45: ''Vosswalde''), also called ''Wosowska'' between 1945 and 1948, is a district of the southern Polish town of Kolonowskie, Strzelce County, Opole Voivodeship, located at the Mała Panew river. History Foso ...
.


History

Archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
s have determined that a settlement existed at the location of present-day Kluczbork by 1000–800 BCE. The Germanic
Sciri The Sciri, or Scirians, were a Germanic people. They are believed to have spoken an East Germanic language. Their name probably means "the pure ones". The Sciri were mentioned already in the late 3rd century BC as participants in a raid on the ...
and Bastarnae settled in the vicinity, and were followed c. 100 BCE by Celts and various Germanic tribes, including Silingi and Vandals. The latter left Silesia c. 400 and West Slavs came to the region in the 7th century (see Silesians). In the late 10th century the Silesian territory was included in the emerging Polish state by its first historic ruler
Mieszko I Mieszko I (; – 25 May 992) was the first ruler of Poland and the founder of the first independent Polish state, the Duchy of Poland. His reign stretched from 960 to his death and he was a member of the Piast dynasty, a son of Siemomysł and ...
. In the 13th century the
Knights of the Cross with the Red Star The Knights of the Cross with the Red Star or Military Order of the Crusaders of the Red Star ( cs, Křižovnický řád rytířů s červenou hvězdou; german: Kreuzherren mit dem Roten Stern; la, Ordo Militaris Crucigerorum cum Rubea Stella ...
acquired territory in Silesia, including the villages of Młodoszów,
Kuniów Kuniów (german: Kuhnau) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Kluczbork, within Kluczbork County, Opole Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It lies approximately south of Kluczbork and north-east of the regional capital Opole Op ...
, and
Chocianowice Chocianowice (Silesian: ''Koćanowicy'', German: ''Kotschanowitz, Kiefernrode'') is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Lasowice Wielkie, within Kluczbork County, Opole Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It lies approximately so ...
. The Knights built a settlement on November 2, 1252 . Named Cruceburg (later spelled Creutzburg, Creuzburg, Kreuzburg), it received Magdeburg rights on February 26, 1253, now accepted as the official date of the town's foundation. The Knights adjudicated in the town until 1274, when it started to be administered by a vogt of local Silesian dukes and juries were introduced. As a result of the dynastic fragmentation of Poland, Kluczbork was part of various Polish duchies ruled by 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 ...
: Duchy of Silesia until 1293,
Duchy of Głogów The Duchy of Głogów ( pl, Księstwo głogowskie, cs, Hlohovské knížectví) or Duchy of Glogau (german: Herzogtum Glogau) was one of the Duchies of Silesia ruled by the Silesian Piasts. Its capital was Głogów in Lower Silesia. History In ...
until 1312,
Duchy of Oleśnica The Duchy of Oels (german: Herzogtum Oels) or Duchy of Oleśnica ( pl, Księstwo Oleśnickie, la, Ducatus Olsnensis) was one of the duchies of Silesia with its capital in Oleśnica in Lower Silesia, Poland.Zofia Uszyńska, University of MichiganP ...
until 1323 and
Duchy of Legnica The Duchy of Legnica ( pl, Księstwo Legnickie, cs, Lehnické knížectví) or Duchy of Liegnitz (german: Herzogtum Liegnitz) was one of the Duchies of Silesia. Its capital was Legnica (''Liegnitz'') in Lower Silesia. Legnica Castle had become ...
until 1341, when it came under direct rule of the King of Poland, Casimir III the Great. Between 1292 and 1350 the town population had exclusively names of German origin, by 1480 a Slavic majority was formed due to immigration from the surrounding villages. In 1356 the town passed to the
Bohemian Crown The Lands of the Bohemian Crown were a number of incorporated states in Central Europe during the medieval and early modern periods connected by feudal relations under the Bohemian kings. The crown lands primarily consisted of the Kingdom of Bo ...
of the Holy Roman Empire, and continued to belong to various duchies ruled by 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 ...
. From 1536 it was part of the Piast-ruled Duchy of Brzeg until its dissolution in 1675. Afterwards it was incorporated into 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 ...
, as part of the Habsburg-ruled Bohemian Kingdom. A mint operated in Kluczbork during the reign of Duke Bolesław III the Generous, in the early 14th century. In 1426 Duke
Louis II of Brzeg Louis II of Brieg; (1380/85 – 30 May 1436), was a Duke of Brzeg (Brieg) from 1399 (until 1400 with his older brother as a co-ruler) and Duke of Legnica from 1413. He was the second son of Henry VII with a Scar, Duke of Brzeg, but the eldest ...
granted Kluczbork
privileges Privilege may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Privilege'' (film), a 1967 film directed by Peter Watkins * ''Privilege'' (Ivor Cutler album), 1983 * ''Privilege'' (Television Personalities album), 1990 * ''Privilege (Abridged)'', an alb ...
of a salt market. For centuries the town was inhabited by a predominantly
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
-speaking populace. The textile industry began to grow in importance in 1553, but suffered a fire in 1569. Another great fire destroyed many houses on December 8, 1562. On January 25, 1588, the day after the Battle of Byczyna, Polish troops under Jan Zamoyski plundered the city. The townspeople accepted the Protestant Reformation in 1656 and converted the local Roman Catholic Church into a Lutheran one. The Polish Brethren settled in the city after 1660, and organized their
synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word ''wikt:synod, synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin ...
s in the city in 1663 and 1668. The town had a population of approximately 1,000 in 1681. A fire on April 23, 1737, almost completely destroyed the town, leaving only a few houses and the castle unscathed. Several years of rebuilding passed before it reached its previous size. In the 18th century Kreuzburg was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1741 during the Silesian Wars and became part of the Prussian Province of Silesia. Under Prussian rule the town and the region saw a large influx of German-speaking settlers. The town became part of the
German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
upon the unification of Germany in 1871. It had a predominantly
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
-speaking population of 5,238 in 1875, although it was located in a Polish-dominated district. The population grew to 8,750 by 1895 and 10,236 by 1900. Following the Treaty of Versailles after World War I, Kreuzburg was involved in the Upper Silesian referendum in 1921. 95.6% (37,957 votes out of 39,703 participants) voted to remain within Weimar Germany instead of joining the
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 became part of the Province of Upper Silesia; to differentiate between other places named Kreuzburg, it was known as ''Kreuzburg O.S.'' (referring to ''Oberschlesien'', or Upper Silesia). By 1939 the town was the seat of
Landkreis Kreuzburg O.S. Landkreis Kreuzburg O.S. was a Prussian district in Silesia, from 1742 to 1945, with its capital at Kreuzburg O.S. (Kluczbork). Today, the region is part of the Polish Opole Voivodeship. History In the course of the Stein-Hardenberg Reforms, ...
and had 11,693 inhabitants. After the Nazi Party took power in Germany in the 1930s,
anti-Polish Polonophobia, also referred to as anti-Polonism, ( pl, Antypolonizm), and anti-Polish sentiment are terms for negative attitudes, prejudices, and actions against Poles as an ethnic group, Poland as their country, and their culture. These incl ...
and anti-Jewish sentiments became more visible. In 1936, the Germans changed the Polish-sounding street names, and in 1938, during the '' Kristallnacht'' they burned down the synagogue, built in 1886. During World War II, in 1939, the Germans established the Oflag VIII A
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. ...
in the city, and in 1943 they transformed it into the Ilag VIII/Z camp for interned citizens of the United Kingdom and the United States. The Germans evacuated the populace before the advancing Soviet army in January 1945. The town was captured by the Soviet Union's Red Army on 20 January 1945 toward the end of World War II. Following the war in 1945, the town became part of Poland. A monument of
Jan Dzierżon Johann Dzierzon, or Jan Dzierżon or Dzierżoń , also John Dzierzon (16 January 1811 – 26 October 1906), was a Polish apiarist who discovered the phenomenon of parthenogenesis in bees. Dzierzon came from a Polish family in Silesia. Trained i ...
, pioneering and world-famous Polish
apiarist A beekeeper is a person who keeps honey bees. Beekeepers are also called honey farmers, apiarists, or less commonly, apiculturists (both from the Latin '' apis'', bee; cf. apiary). The term beekeeper refers to a person who keeps honey bees i ...
, was unveiled in 1981.


Economy

Kluczbork's economy is dominated by the production of
machinery A machine is a physical system using power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromolecule ...
, knitwear and construction material, alongside newly emerging industries, namely: the transport sector, trade, agriculture and the food production sector as well as being the centre for the
Kluczbork County __NOTOC__ Kluczbork County ( pl, powiat kluczborski) 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 government ...
's banks and other financial institutions. The
Gmina Kluczbork __NOTOC__ Gmina Kluczbork is an urban-rural gmina (administrative district) in Kluczbork County, Opole Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. Its seat is the town of Kluczbork, which lies approximately north-east of the regional capital Opole. The ...
has some 1800 businesses (1300 of which are located within the city's boundaries). The largest factories in Kluczbork are: Fabryka Maszyn i Urządzeń „Famak” (machinery production), PV „Prefabet - Kluczbork” S.A. ( concrete materials) and Wagrem sp. z o.o. Kluczbork ( weighing scale repairs). The part of the town of Kluczbork, around Ligota Dolna, is part of the Wałbrzych Special Economic Zone (area of 53939 ha). The current investors in the Wałbrzych Special Economic Zone are: Marcegaglia Poland, Inpol-Krak Tubes Service Center and the
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
Seppeler Gruppe Ocynkownia Śląsk ( galvanisation company).


Sport

MKS Kluczbork is a professional association football club founded in 2003 as a result of a merger of two local clubs.


Notable people

* Adam Gdacjusz (1615–1688), parish priest in this city *
Samuel Crellius Samuel Crell-Spinowski (25 March 1660 in Kluczbork – 9 June 1747 in Amsterdam) was an Arian philosopher and theologian, pastor of the church of the Polish Brethren. Son of Christopher Crellius and grandson of Johannes Crellius. Samuel's moth ...
(1660–1747), philosopher and theologian *
Jan Dzierżon Johann Dzierzon, or Jan Dzierżon or Dzierżoń , also John Dzierzon (16 January 1811 – 26 October 1906), was a Polish apiarist who discovered the phenomenon of parthenogenesis in bees. Dzierzon came from a Polish family in Silesia. Trained i ...
(1811–1906), apiarist *
Gustav Freytag Gustav Freytag (; 13 July 1816 – 30 April 1895) was a German novelist and playwright. Life Freytag was born in Kreuzburg (Kluczbork) in Silesia. After attending the school at Oels (Oleśnica), he studied philology at the universities of ...
(1816–1895), dramatist and novelist * Walther von Lüttwitz (1859,
Bogacica Bogacica (german: Bodland) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Kluczbork, within Kluczbork County, Opole Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It lies approximately west of Kluczbork and north-east of the regional capital Opo ...
, near this city – 1942) * Kurt Daluege (1897–1946), Nazi SS police chief executed for war crimes *
Heinz Piontek Heinz Piontek (15 November 1925 – 26 October 2003) was a German writer. He was born in Upper Silesia. In 1976, he was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize by the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung for his literary oeuvre with the words "ei ...
(1925–2003), author * Edyta Górniak (born 1972), singer *
Tomasz Garbowski Tomasz Robert Garbowski (born 7 January 1979 in Kluczbork) is a Polish politician. He was elected to the Sejm on 25 September 2005, getting 7,517 votes in 21 Opole district as a candidate from the Democratic Left Alliance (Poland), Democratic Left ...
(born 1979), politician


Twin towns – sister cities

See twin towns of Gmina Kluczbork.


Gallery

Kluczbork - Rynek 02.JPG, Market Square (''Rynek'') Kluczbork - wieża Bramy Krakowskiej.jpg, Kraków Gate Tower Kościół parafialny pw. Matki Bożej Wspomożenia Wiernych w Kluczborku ul. Skłodowskiej 8. bertzag (2).JPG, Church of St. Mary of Help Park miejski Kluczbork 3.jpg, Park Miejski (''Municipal Park'') Klasztor elżbietanek - Dom Sióstr św. Józefa w Kluczborku ul. Klasztorna 3. bertzag (5).JPG, Monastery of the
Sisters of Saint Elizabeth Sisters of Saint Elizabeth - a Roman Catholic religious institute. Generally styled "Grey Nuns" (to be distinguished from the Grey Nuns of Montreal). History The Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Elizabeth (CSSE) was founded by an association of ...
Cmentarz - zbiorowa mogiła poległych w 1939 roku - 13 września (02).jpg, The grave of Polish soldiers killed in World War II in 1939


References


External links


Jewish Community in Kluczbork
on Virtual Shtetl {{Authority control Cities in Silesia Cities and towns in Opole Voivodeship Kluczbork County