Dobra is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in the administrative district of

Gmina Strzeleczki __NOTOC__ Gmina Strzeleczki, German Gemeinde Klein Strehlitz is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Krapkowice County, Opole Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. Its seat is the village of Strzeleczki (Klein Strehlitz), which lies approxi ...

, within

Krapkowice County __NOTOC__ Krapkowice County () 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 reforms passed in 199 ...

Opole Voivodeship Opole Voivodeship ( , , ), is the smallest and least populated voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship (province) of Poland. The province's name derives from that of the region's capital and largest city, Opole. It is part of Silesia. A relatively lar ...

, in region of

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( ; ; ; ; Silesian German: ; ) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located today mostly in Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic. The area is predominantly known for its heav ...

in southern Poland. It lies approximately south-east of

Strzeleczki Strzeleczki is a town in Krapkowice County, Opole Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Strzeleczki. It lies approximately west of Krapkowice and south of the regional capital Opole. ...

, west of

Krapkowice Krapkowice (; ; ) is a town in southern Poland with 16,301 inhabitants (2019), situated in the Opole Voivodeship, straddling both banks of the Oder River at the point where it joins with the Osobłoga. It is the regional capital of Krapkowice Cou ...

, and south of the regional capital

Opole Opole (; ; ; ) is a city located in southern Poland on the Oder River and the historical capital of Upper Silesia. With a population of approximately 127,387 as of the 2021 census, it is the capital of Opole Voivodeship (province) and the seat of ...

. The nearby hamlet of Nowy Bud is administered by this village.

History

Dobra was first mentioned in a document of Duke

Casimir I of Opole Casimir I of Opole (; – 13 May 1230), a member of the Silesian Piasts, Piast dynasty, was a Dukes of Silesia, Silesian duke of Duchy of Opole and Racibórz, Opole and Racibórz from 1211 until his death. Early life Casimir was the eldest chi ...

from 1228, when it was part of fragmented

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

-ruled Poland. The name of the town derives from a Polish word for "good", and referred to the fertile soil of the area. Later on, the village was also part of Bohemia (Czechia), and in the 18th century it was annexed by

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

. Since 1780 the village was in the possession of Count Heinrich Seherr-Thoss, one of the biggest landowners in Silesia, who had a castle nearby. In 1867 the Catholic church was built with a donation from Countess Olga Seherr-Thoss. On the outside of the church is the tombstone of the knight Kasper Rogowski (d.1611), surrounded by eight heraldic crests. In 1871, the village became part of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. In the

Upper Silesia plebiscite The Upper Silesia plebiscite was a plebiscite mandated by the Versailles Treaty and carried out on 20 March 1921 to determine ownership of the province of Upper Silesia between Weimar Germany and the Second Polish Republic. The region was ethni ...

of 20 March 1921, 419 villagers voted to remain with Germany and 76 voted to join the reestablished state of Poland. In the Dobrau Gutsbezirk, the local municipal council, 80 people voted for Germany and six for Poland. As a result, Dobrau remained in Germany. In 1933 the village had grown to 796 inhabitants. On 21 July 1936, during a massive Nazi campaign of renaming of placenames, the town was renamed ''Burgwasser'' to erase traces of Polish origin. During

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 ...

, the Germans operated the E115

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 ...

subcamp of the Stalag VIII-B/344

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as Prisoner of war, prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, inte ...

in the village. Before 1945 it belonged to the district of Landkreis Neustadt O.S. In the final stages of World War II the village was partially destroyed, first from 25 to 27 January and then again on 19 March 1945, when the historic palace was burned by the advancing

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

. After World War II, the village became again part of Poland and its historic name ''Dobra'' was restored. It was assigned to the

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 1950 it was reassigned to

, and in 1999 reassigned from

Prudnik County __NOTOC__ Prudnik County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Opole Voivodeship, south-western Poland, on the Czech border. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government ref ...

Sights

There is a

neogothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

palace near the village, built in 1720 for the Sehher-Thoss family and rebuilt 1857–60. The palace gardens were designed by

Gustav Meyer Gustav Meyer (25 November 1850 – 28 August 1900) was a German linguist and Indo-European scholar, considered to be one of the most important Albanologists of his time, most importantly by proving that the Albanian language belongs to the Indo-E ...

, architect of many of

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

's finest gardens, and contain many fine old trees. The palace, destroyed by the Russian army in 1945, is now in private hands and being renovated.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Villages in Krapkowice County Populated riverside places in Poland

History

Sights

See also

References

External links