Orzegów () is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

in the north-east of

Ruda Śląska Ruda Śląska (; ) is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. It is a city in the Metropolis GZM, a metropolis with a population of two million. It is in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica River (tributary of the Oder). It h ...

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 ...

, 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 ...

. It has an area of 2.5 km² and in 2006 it was inhabited by 8,439 people.

History

The settlement was first mentioned in 1305 as ''Osegow''. The village belonged initially to the

Duchy of Bytom The Duchy of Bytom (, , ) was a duchy in Upper Silesia, one of the Duchies of Silesia, Silesian duchies of fragmented Piast dynasty, Piast-ruled Poland. It was established in Upper Silesia about 1281 during the division of the Duchy of Opole and Ra ...

, a

fee A fee is the price one pays as remuneration for rights or services. Fees usually allow for overhead, wages, costs, and markup. Traditionally, professionals in the United Kingdom (and previously the Republic of Ireland) receive a fee in contrad ...

of the

Kingdom of Bohemia The Kingdom of Bohemia (), sometimes referenced in English literature as the Czech Kingdom, was a History of the Czech lands in the High Middle Ages, medieval and History of the Czech lands, early modern monarchy in Central Europe. It was the pr ...

, which after 1526 became a part of the

Habsburg monarchy 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 ...

. After

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 area became a part of 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 ...

. Before the industrial revolution in the 19th century the rural settlement of Orzegów lied along what is now Bytomska Street. ''Nowy Orzegów'' (''New Orzegów'') developed around the St. Michael church (built in years 1894-95) in the 20th century. The first coal mine, ''König David'', was mentioned in 1768, it was visited by

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

in 1790. In the 1826 the village was bought by

Karl Godulla Karl Godulla, Carolus Godulla, in Polish language, Polish spelled Karol Godula (born 8 November 1781 in Makoschau, today Makoszowy, a subdivision of Zabrze, Silesia; died 6 July 1848 in Breslau, today Wrocław) was a Silesian self-made industrialis ...

. In 1829 he opened a coal mine ''Orzegów''. Karl Godula built a zinc melter south of Orzegów, where later a separate settlement developed, namely

Godula Godula () is a district in the north-east of Ruda Śląska, Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland. It has an area of 1.8 km2 and in 2006 it was inhabited by 12,151 people. History Originally the area belonged to Orzegów, whose landed prop ...

. 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 ...

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 ...

2,857 out of 4,211 voters in ''Orzegow'' voted in favour of joining Poland, against 1,345 opting for staying in Germany. Afterwards it became a part of

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 then annexed by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

at the beginning 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 ...

. After the war it was restored to Poland. Orzegów constituted a

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 ...

(municipality) that was merged into Ruda in 1951, and as part of Ruda was amalgamated with

Nowy Bytom Nowy Bytom () is a district serving as administrative centre of Ruda Śląska, Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland. In 2006 it had an area of 4.6 km2 and was inhabited by 12,058 people. On January 12, 2006 a part of it was split off to form ...

to form Ruda Śląska on December 31, 1958.

References

Orzegow {{Silesian-geo-stub