Głubczyce ( or sparsely ''Glubčice'', or ''Gubczycy'', ) is a town in
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
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 ...
, near the border with the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
. It is the administrative seat of
Głubczyce County
__NOTOC__
Głubczyce 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 ...
and
Gmina Głubczyce
Gmina Głubczyce is an urban-rural gmina (administrative district) in Głubczyce County, Opole Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. Its seat is the town of Głubczyce, which lies approximately south of the regional capital Opole.
The gmina cov ...
.
Geography
Głubczyce is situated on the Głubczyce Plateau (; a part of the
Silesian Lowlands
Silesian Lowlands (or Silesian Plains, , , ) are lowlands located in Silesia, Poland in Central Europe. A small part is located in the Czech Republic.
The Silesian ridge runs through northern Silesia from west-northwest to east-southeast and adjo ...
) on the Psina (Cina) river, a left tributary of the
Oder
The Oder ( ; Czech and ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and its largest tributary the Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows through wes ...
. The town centre is located approximately south of
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 ...
and just northwest of
Ostrava
Ostrava (; ; ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 283,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rivers: Oder, Opava (river), Opa ...
.
History
Middle Ages
The area became part of the emerging Polish state in the 10th century. The settlement named ''Glubcici'' was first mentioned in an 1107 deed. At the time, it was a small village, dominated by a large wooden castle. It stood on the right bank of the Psina River, which according to an 1137 peace treaty between the dukes
Soběslav I of Bohemia and
Bolesław III of Poland formed the border between the Moravian lands (then ruled by the
Bohemian
Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to:
*Anything of or relating to Bohemia
Culture and arts
* Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers.
* Bohemian style, a ...
dukes) and the
Polish province of
Silesia
Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) 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 8, ...
. The exact date of the city foundation is unknown, but it is traceable back to 1224, when the town called ''Lubschicz'' held toll rights obtained from the
Přemyslid king
Ottokar I.
However, in 1241 the town was devastated during the
Mongol invasion
The Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire, the Mongol Empire (1206–1368), which by 1260 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastati ...
. During the city's rebuilding, the left bank of the Psina was also settled, and in 1270
city 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 ...
were confirmed by King
Ottokar II of Bohemia
Ottokar II (; , in Městec Králové, Bohemia – 26 August 1278, in Dürnkrut, Austria, Dürnkrut, Lower Austria), the Iron and Golden King, was a member of the Přemyslid dynasty who reigned as King of Bohemia from 1253 until his death in 1278 ...
. During this time, a wall was built around the city, complete with watchtowers and a moat. A large parish church was also constructed in the town, which had been assigned by King Ottokar II to the
Order of Saint John in 1259. After his defeat in the 1278
Battle on the Marchfeld
The Battle on the Marchfeld (''i.e. Morava (river), Morava Field''; ; ; ); at Dürnkrut, Austria, Dürnkrut and Jedenspeigen took place on 26 August 1278 and was a decisive event for the history of Central Europe for the following centuries. T ...
, the town privileges were acknowledged by King
Rudolf I of Germany
Rudolf I (1 May 1218 – 15 July 1291) was the first King of Germany of the Habsburg dynasty from 1273 until his death.
Rudolf's imperial election of 1273, election marked the end of the Interregnum (Holy Roman Empire), Great Interregnum whic ...
. Ottokar's widow
Kunigunda of Halych had a hospital erected, run by the Knights Hospitaller who established a
commandry
In the Middle Ages, a commandery (rarely commandry) was the smallest administrative division of the European landed properties of a military order. It was also the name of the house where the knights of the commandery lived.Anthony Luttrell and G ...
here. In 1298, the town received expanded rights from King
Wenceslaus II. The privileges granted to the citizens were to serve as an example for other towns in the years that followed.
From about 1269, Hlubčice was part of the Moravian
Duchy of Opava
The Principality of Opava (; ) or Duchy of Troppau () was a historic territory split off from the Margraviate of Moravia before 1269 by King Ottokar II of Bohemia to provide for his natural son, Nicholas I, Duke of Troppau, Nicholas I. The Opav ...
(Troppau), ruled by a cadet branch of the Bohemian Přemyslid dynasty since
Nicholas I, a natural son of King Ottokar II, had received the lands from the hands of his father. Upon the death of Nicholas' son Duke
Nicholas II and the division of the duchy of Opava between his heirs, in 1377, the town became the residence of
Nicholas III who ruled as a
Duke of Głubczyce. The town remained the seat of the Opava branch of the Přemyslids until the last Duke
John II entered a
Franciscan
The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...
cloister in 1482. Upon his death three years later, his duchy was seized as a reverted fief by King
Matthias Corvinus
Matthias Corvinus (; ; ; ; ; ) was King of Hungary and King of Croatia, Croatia from 1458 to 1490, as Matthias I. He is often given the epithet "the Just". After conducting several military campaigns, he was elected King of Bohemia in 1469 and ...
. In 1503 it was transferred to the
Duchy of Krnov (Karniów) and the town finally lost its status as a residence.
Modern era

While the Krnov principality was acquired by the
Hohenzollern
The House of Hohenzollern (, ; , ; ) is a formerly royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) German dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania. ...
margrave
George of Brandenburg-Ansbach in 1523, the
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...
reached the town. George had married
Beatrice de Frangepan, the widow of Matthias Corvinus' son
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
; he and his son
George Frederick tried to exert Hohenzollern influence in the
Lands of the Bohemian Crown
The Lands of the Bohemian Crown were the states in Central Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval and early modern periods with feudalism, feudal obligations to the List of Bohemian monarchs, Bohemian kings. The crown lands primarily consisted o ...
which from 1526 onwards were ruled by the Catholic
House of Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful Dynasty, dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout ...
. In 1558, a
Lutheran
Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...
church and school were built in Głubczyce. In response to this, Franciscans and Jews were expelled from the city. During the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...
, the city was completely destroyed, most devastatingly by
Swedish forces in 1645.
After the
Silesian Wars
The Silesian Wars () were three wars fought in the mid-18th century between Kingdom of Prussia, Prussia (under King Frederick the Great) and Habsburg monarchy, Habsburg Austria (under Empress Maria Theresa) for control of the Central European ...
, the city came under the rule of
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, ...
in 1743. Leobschütz was incorporated into the
Province of Silesia
The Province of Silesia (; ; ) was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1919. The Silesia region was part of the Prussian realm since 1742 and established as an official province in 1815, then became part of the German Empire in 1871. In 1919, as ...
by 1815 and became the administrative seat of a ''
Landkreis'' (district). In the 18th century, Leobschütz belonged to the tax inspection region of Neustadt (
Prudnik
Prudnik (, , , ) is a town in southern Poland, located in the southern part of Opole Voivodeship near the border with the Czech Republic. It is the administrative seat of Prudnik County and Gmina Prudnik. Its population numbers 21,368 inhabitant ...
). In 1781, the town's population stood at only, 2,637. In order to accommodate the city's expansion, parts of the city's wall were torn down. The population stood at 4,565 in 1825, and 9,546 in 1870. After
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 ...
and the creation of the
Republic of 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 ...
, the
Silesian plebiscite was held in
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 ...
. The percentage of 99.5% of Leobschütz citizens voted for
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 ...
. A group of Polish insurgents was captured by the Germans in the town during the
Third Silesian Uprising in 1921, after they escaped after attempting to blow up a railroad bridge in nearby
Racławice Śląskie.
After the
Nazi seizure of power
The rise to power of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919, when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He quickly rose t ...
in 1933, the town hosted schools and training grounds for both the ''
SS'' and the ''
SA'' paramilitary forces, becoming the honorary centre of the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...
in the Prussian
Province of Upper Silesia
The Province of Upper Silesia (; Silesian German: ''Provinz Oberschläsing''; ; ) was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Free State of Prussia from 1919 to 1945. It comprised much of the region of Upper Silesia and was eventually divided int ...
. The town's
synagogue
A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...
was burned down in 1938, the same year as ''
Kristallnacht
( ) or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilia ...
''. 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 three
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 ...
subcamps (E247, E376, E766) 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 town, and briefly, in January–March 1944, the Stalag 351 prisoner-of-war camp. In January 1945, a German-conducted
death march
A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war, other captives, or deportees in which individuals are left to die along the way. It is distinct from simple prisoner transport via foot march. Article 19 of the Geneva Convention requires tha ...
of prisoners of the
Auschwitz concentration camp
Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...
and its
subcamps passed through the town, and 50 prisoners of the Nazi prison in
Bytom
Bytom (Polish pronunciation: ; Silesian language, Silesian: ''Bytōm, Bytōń'', ) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. Located in the Silesian Voivodeship, the city is 7 km northwest of Katowice, the regional capital.
It is one ...
reached the town after a death march, and then were transported to
Kłodzko
Kłodzko (; ; ; ) is a historic town in south-western Poland, in the region of Lower Silesia. It is situated in the centre of the Kłodzko Valley, on the Eastern Neisse (Nysa Kłodzka) river.
Kłodzko is the seat of Kłodzko County (and of the ru ...
. The population was mostly evacuated before the advancing
Eastern Front, with some 500 people remaining, mostly women, children, elders and ill people, seeking shelter at a local monastery.
After the
Vistula–Oder Offensive, on 18 March 1945,
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 ...
troops began a siege of the town, which was resisted by the
18th SS Panzergrenadier Division (tank grenadiers) and the 371st
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 ...
division. The siege ended on 24 March, and the
Soviet
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
forces occupied the town. Most of the women who sought shelter in the monastery were raped by Soviet soldiers.
[ Approximately 40 percent of the town was destroyed in the siege or by Red Army troopers plundering in the first weeks of the occupation.
After the Soviet occupation, the name of the town was changed to Głubczyce, a more modern version of its historic Polish name ''Głupczyce''. The town was transferred to the re-established ]Republic of 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 ...
according to the 1945 Potsdam Agreement
The Potsdam Agreement () was the agreement among three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union after the war ended in Europe that was signed on 1 August 1945 and published the following day. A ...
.
After arrival of the Polish, an internment camp was created for the local populace. Those unable to work were immediately expelled to the remainder of Germany, others were forced to work for the Polish and the Soviets, before being expelled as well, in accordance to the Potsdam Agreement.
New Polish settlers, some of whom refugees transferred from the Kresy
Eastern Borderlands (), often simply Borderlands (, ) was a historical region of the eastern part of the Second Polish Republic. The term was coined during the interwar period (1918–1939). Largely agricultural and extensively multi-ethnic with ...
in the Soviet-annexed former Polish eastern territories, made the town their home. Claims to the Głubczyce territory were raised by Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
, which even sent troops to the area in June 1945. The border dispute around Głubczyce was eventually settled in 1958 with the Czechoslovak-Polish border agreement. The town became the seat of a Polish county, or '''', in 1946. Głubczyce lost that distinction in 1975, but regained it in 1999.
Economy
The town of Głubczyce's economy is based around the agricultural sector
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...
and food production
The food industry is a complex, global network of diverse businesses that supplies most of the food consumed by the World population, world's population. The food industry today has become highly diversified, with manufacturing ranging from sm ...
. Formerly, during the Polish People's Republic
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. ...
, the industry of fibre
Fiber (spelled fibre in British English; from ) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often incorp ...
production developed in the settlement ("Unia", "Piast" manufacturers). In modern days, the fibre manufacturing industry is near non-existent. Other industries located in Głubczyce including heating
In thermodynamics, heat is energy in transfer between a thermodynamic system and its surroundings by such mechanisms as thermal conduction, electromagnetic radiation, and friction, which are microscopic in nature, involving sub-atomic, atom ...
machinery production ("Galmet" and "Electromet").
Population
Climate
Sports
The local football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
club is Polonia Głubczyce. It competes in the lower leagues.
Notable people
* Karl Bulla (1855 or 1853 – 1929), German photographer, "father of Russian photo-reporting"
* Max Filke, composer
*Joachim Gnilka
Joachim Gnilka (8 December 1928 in Leobschütz/Silesia – 15 January 2018 in Munich) was a German Roman Catholic theologian, New Testament scholar, exegete, and professor. , theologist and biblical critic
* Heinrich Emanuel Grabowski (1792–1842), German botanist
Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...
and pharmacist
A pharmacist, also known as a chemist in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English, is a healthcare professional who is knowledgeable about preparation, mechanism of action, clinical usage and legislation of medications in ...
* Felix Hollaender, writer and dramatist
* Gustav Hollaender (1855–1915), German violinist, conductor and composer
* Otfried Höffe, philosopher
* Erwin Félix Lewy-Bertaut, crystallographer
* Wolfgang Nastainczyk (1932–2019), German theologian
* Paul Ondrusch, sculptor
* Moritz Schulz (1825–1904), German sculptor
* Gerhard Skrobek, sculptor
* Gustav Veit (1824–1903), German gynecologist and obstetrician
* Przemysław Wacha, badminton
Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...
player
* Stefanie Zweig, writer
International relations
Głubczyce is a member of Cittaslow.
Twin towns – sister cities
See twin towns of Gmina Głubczyce.
Gallery
File:2012-04 Głubczyce 38.jpg, Gothic-Baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
Church of the Nativity of Virgin Mary
File:Baszta PlWiosenny.jpg, Medieval defensive tower near Wiosenny Square
File:2012-04 Głubczyce 05.jpg, District Court
File:2012-04 Głubczyce 42.jpg, Primary School No. 2
File:2012-04 Głubczyce 52.jpg, Fire brigade
File:Głubczyce franciscan church-2.jpg, Baroque Franciscan church and monastery
References
External links
Municipal website
Jewish Community in Głubczyce
on Virtual Shtetl
{{Authority control
Cities in Silesia
Cities and towns in Opole Voivodeship
Głubczyce County
Cittaslow
Populated riverside places in Poland
Capitals of former nations