Gmina Chrząstowice,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

: Gemeinde Chronstau is a rural

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 ...

(administrative district) in

Opole County __NOTOC__ Opole 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 1998. ...

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 south-western Poland. Its seat is the village of Chrząstowice, which lies approximately east 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 gmina is officially bilingual (Polish and German), a significant German community having remained behind after the area was transferred to Poland from Germany in 1945. The gmina covers an area of , and as of 2019 its total population is 6,948.

History

In the Middle Ages, the area belonged to the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland (; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a monarchy in Central Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval period from 1025 until 1385. Background The West Slavs, West Slavic tribe of Polans (western), Polans who lived in what i ...

, with occasional periods of

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

n rule. After the feudal fragmentation of Poland it had a certain amount of autonomy, before becoming part of the

Habsburg Empire The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

in 1526. In the second half of the 17th century it again briefly came under Polish rule, before returning to the Habsburgs. After the

War of Austrian succession The War of the Austrian Succession was a European conflict fought between 1740 and 1748, primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italy, the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Related conflicts include King George's War in Nort ...

the area, along with rest of Silesia was taken by

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 was part of it and its successor states; the gmina was located in the former German

Province of Lower Silesia The Province of Lower Silesia (; Silesian German: ''Provinz Niederschläsing''; ; ) was a province of the Free State of Prussia from 1919 to 1945. Between 1938 and 1941 it was reunited with Upper Silesia as the Province of Silesia. The capita ...

. After World War II, the area became part of Poland again.

Villages

The commune contains the villages and settlements of: Chrząstowice, Dąbrowice, Daniec, Dębie, Dębska Kuźnia, Falmirowice, Lędziny, Niwki and Suchy Bór.

Neighbouring gminas

Gmina Chrząstowice is bordered by the city of

and by the gminas of Izbicko,

Ozimek Ozimek (; ) is a town in Opole County, Opole Voivodeship, Poland, with 8,657 inhabitants (2019). History Ozimek dates back to an early modern period, early modern settlement. It was named both ''Ozimek'' and ''Małapanew'', with both names bei ...

Tarnów Opolski Tarnów Opolski is a village in Opole County, Opole Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Tarnów Opolski. It lies approximately south-east of the regional capital Opole. Name The ...

and Turawa.

Twin towns – sister cities

Gmina Chrząstowice is twinned with: * Glashütte, Germany * Zátor, Czech Republic

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gmina Chrzastowice Chrzastowice Opole County Bilingual communes in Poland