Olesno is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

in Opole Voivodship,

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 ...

about north-east of the city of

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 l ...

. It is the capital of Olesno County and seat of the Gmina Olesno.

History

The area near the ancient

Amber Road The Amber Road was an ancient trade route for the transfer of amber from coastal areas of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. Prehistoric trade routes between Northern and Southern Europe were defined by the amber trade. ...

had been settled since the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

era. Olesno was first mentioned in a 1226 deed by Bishop Wawrzyniec of

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 ...

though it may refer to the neighbouring village of ''Stare Olesno'' (Old Olesno). It was part of the duchies of

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. S ...

and again Opole of fragmented Piast-ruled

. In 1229 it was acquired by Duke

Henry I the Bearded Henry the Bearded ( pl, Henryk (Jędrzych) Brodaty, german: Heinrich der Bärtige; c. 1165/70 – 19 March 1238) was a Polish duke from the Piast dynasty. He was Duke of Silesia at Wrocław from 1201, Duke of Kraków and High Duke of all P ...

of Wrocław. Olesno became seat of a castellan and received

town rights 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 tradition ...

in 1275 from Duke Władysław Opolski. A mint was also located in the town. It then was a part of the Duchy of Opole which became a fiefdom 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 ...

in 1327 and was finally incorporated into the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 unt ...

by Charles IV in 1355, however, it remained under the rule of local Polish dukes within the Duchy of Opole until its dissolution in 1532. The town suffered during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of batt ...

, and in 1645 it returned to Poland under the House of Vasa until 1666, when it fell again to Bohemia. In 1708 it was hit by a

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...

epidemic. After the First Silesian War and the Treaty of Breslau (

) in 1742 Olesno was annexed 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''. ...

, and in 1815 became part of the

Province of Silesia The Province of Silesia (german: Provinz Schlesien; pl, Prowincja Śląska; szl, Prowincyjŏ Ślōnskŏ) was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1919. The Silesia region was part of the Prussian realm since 1740 and established as an official p ...

. During the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fre ...

, in 1806, the town was captured by

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

troops. Despite Germanisation policies, in the 19th century the town was a significant Polish center in Upper Silesia, and from 1848 the first local Polish newspaper ''Telegraf Górnośląski'' was published. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, in 1919 and 1921, the Silesian Uprisings were fought there, the aim of which was to reintegrate the town with Poland after it regained independence in 1918. In the Upper Silesia plebiscite of 20 March 1921 3,286 inhabitants voted to remain in Germany, 473 for Poland. Thus Rosenberg remained part of the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a Constitutional republic, constitutional federal republic for the first time in ...

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

in 1939, the German authorities arrested local Polish activists. On 21 January 1945 it was taken by the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

troops of the 5th Guards Army. The Olesno Regional Museum was founded in 1960.

Notable people

* (1797–1863), Polish activist, poet and publisher * Hermann Friedberg (1817–1884), physician *

David Rosin David Rosin (May 27, 1823 – December 31, 1894) was a German Jewish theologian from Rosenberg, Silesia. Having received his early instruction from his father, who was a teacher in his native town, he attended the yeshiva of Kempen, of M ...

(1823–1894), theologian *

Reinhold Saltzwedel ''Oberleutnant zur See'' Reinhold Saltzwedel (23 November 1889 – 2 December 1917) was a successful and highly decorated German U-boat commander in the '' Kaiserliche Marine'' during World War I. He sank a total of 111 merchant vessels for ...

(1889–1917), U-boat commander * Helmuth von Pannwitz (1898–1947), general * Georg Burgfeld (1909–1957), highly decorated Hauptmann in the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

* Rudy Kennedy (1927–2008), rocket scientist * Franciszek Kokot (born 1929), Polish nephrologist and endocrinologist * Adam Ledwoń (1974–2008), football player

Twin towns – sister cities

See twin towns of Gmina Olesno.

Gallery

Oleski Ratusz 1821 Pit242.jpg, Town hall at the Market Square Olesno - Corpus Christi church 01.jpg, Corpus Christi church Kościół odpustowy św Anny w Oleśnie (04).jpg, Wooden Saint Anne church, built in 1518, expanded in 1668-1670 Kościół św. Michaław w Oleśnie1.JPG,

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

Church of Saint Michael Archangel

Notes

References

External links

Official town webpageGerman page about OlesnoJewish Community in Olesno
on Virtual Shtetl {{Authority control Cities in Silesia Cities and towns in Opole Voivodeship Olesno County