Łazy is a town in Zawiercie County,

Silesian Voivodeship Silesian Voivodeship ( ) is an administrative province in southern Poland. With over 4.2 million residents and an area of 12,300 square kilometers, it is the second-most populous, and the most-densely populated and most-urbanized region of Poland ...

, in southern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. As of 2019, the town has 6,811 inhabitants. Łazy belongs to the historic region of

Lesser Poland Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name ''Małopolska'' (; ), is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a separate cult ...

History

In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, in the area of today's Łazy were five settlements: Grabowa, Niegowonice, Wiesiolka, Wysoka and Ciagowice. Another village, which today is located within boundaries of Łazy, Chruszczobrod, belonged to the Duchy of Siewierz, which was incorporated directly into the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

in 1790. In the year 1386, King

Władysław II Jagiełło Jogaila (; 1 June 1434), later Władysław II Jagiełło (),Other names include (; ) (see also Names and titles of Władysław II Jagiełło) was Grand Duke of Lithuania beginning in 1377 and starting in 1386, becoming King of Poland as well. ...

granted the villages of Niegowonice, Wiesiolka, Wysoka, Grabowa and Rokitno Szlacheckie to Włodek of Charbinowice, the

starosta Starosta or starost (Cyrillic: ''старост/а'', Latin: ''capitaneus'', ) is a community elder in some Slavic lands. The Slavic root of "starost" translates as "senior". Since the Middle Ages, it has designated an official in a leadersh ...

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

and czesnik of

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. Until 1795, Grabowa, Hutki Kanki and Niegowoniczki belonged to Lelów County, while Niegowonice, WiesióΠka, Wysoka, Ciagowice, Rokitno Szlacheckie and Turza were part of Kraków County. During the

Swedish invasion of Poland The Deluge was a series of mid-17th-century military campaigns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In a wider sense, it applies to the period between the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648 and the Truce of Andrusovo in 1667, comprising the Pol ...

, the area of today's Łazy witnessed heavy fighting and destruction. Stanislaw Warszycki, owner of the so-called Ogrodzieniec Properties, fought Swedish invaders. As a result, the Ogrodzieniec Castle was destroyed, together with numerous villages, such as Grabowa, with its fortified stronghold on the Lesser Poland – Silesian border. After the Third Partition of Poland (1795), the boundary between the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

and the Habsburg Empire was established on the upper Pilica river. The area of Łazy was seized by Prussia, as part of the province of New Silesia. In 1807, after the

Treaties of Tilsit The Treaties of Tilsit (), also collectively known as the Peace of Tilsit (; ), were two peace treaties signed by French Emperor Napoleon in the town of Tilsit in July 1807 in the aftermath of his victory at Friedland, at the end of the War o ...

, it became part of the short-lived Polish

Duchy of Warsaw The Duchy of Warsaw (; ; ), also known as the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and Napoleonic Poland, was a First French Empire, French client state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars. It initially comprised the ethnical ...

, and after the duchy's dissolution in 1815 it became part of Russian-controlled

Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...

, and remained part of

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

until

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The village of Łazy for the first time appeared on maps in ca. 1790. It remained a small settlement, located next to the much larger village of Rokitno Szlacheckie. Łazy owes its development to the construction of the Warsaw–Vienna railway (completed in 1848). During the

January Uprising The January Uprising was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at putting an end to Russian occupation of part of Poland and regaining independence. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last i ...

, a skirmish between Polish rebels and Russian troops took place near Lazy on March 22, 1863. Until 1927, Łazy belonged to the

gmina The gmina (Polish: , plural ''gminy'' ) is the basic unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. , there were 2,479 gminy throughout the country, encompassing over 43,000 villages. 940 gminy include cities and tow ...

of Rokitno Szlacheckie,

Będzin County __NOTOC__ Będzin County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland. It came into being on 1 January 1999 as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its ...

. In the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

, it was originally part of Kielce Voivodeship, and on January 1, 1927, the gmina of Rokitno Szlacheckie was transferred to Zawiercie County. Łazy was captured by the

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

at the early stages of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in early September 1939, and remained under German occupation until January 20, 1945. German occupiers changed the name to ''Lazy'' then to ''Lasern'' without a legislative decree. From 1941 to 1944, the occupiers operated a

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...

camp for Jewish men in Łazy. After the war, the government of

People's Republic of Poland The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...

transferred Łazy to Katowice Voivodeship, creating the

of Łazy in late 1945. In Communist Poland, Łazy was a local center of industry, with Cement Works Wysoka, Pottery Plant, and large cargo depot of Polish State Railways. In the late 1940s, houses of culture, cinemas and libraries were opened in the gmina of Łazy. Until 1947 the town was the seat of the Rokitno Szlacheckie municipality. The village went through the period of quick development in the 1960s, when waterworks and electrification program were completed. Finally, on January 1, 1967, Łazy received town charter. In the years 1975–1998 the town administratively belonged to the Katowice Voivodeship.

War cemetery

The War Cemetery was founded during 1914–1918. There are graves of Austrian and German soldiers who fought in

. The cemetery is situated in the western part of the city, on the Podlesie estate on the Konstytucja road. In the neighbourhood of the cemetery there is a parish dedicated to

Maximilian Kolbe Maximilian Maria Kolbe (born Raymund Kolbe; ; 8 January 1894 – 14 August 1941) was a Polish Roman Catholic priest, Conventual Franciscan friar, missionary, saint, martyr, and a Nazi concentration camp victim, who volunteered to die in place ...

Landmarks

*Depot buildings from the late 19th century *Historic Ty45-421 steam locomotive at the railroad station *Refractories factory buildings from the late 19th century *Wooden buildings from the late 19th century *Saint Michael's church built in years 1934–1949 *Historic water tower

References

External links

Jewish Community in Łazy
on Virtual Shtetl
Łazy war cemetery
(in Polish) {{Authority control Cities and towns in Silesian Voivodeship Zawiercie County