Pielgrzymów is a village located 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 ...

, within

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 ...

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 ...

, 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 lies approximately west of

Głubczyce Głubczyce ( or sparsely ''Glubčice'', or ''Gubczycy'', ) is a town in Opole Voivodeship in south-western Poland, near the border with the Czech Republic. It is the administrative seat of Głubczyce County and Gmina Głubczyce. Geography Głu ...

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 ...

History

The present-day Polish village Pielgrzymów and the present-day Czech former village Pelhřimovy, directly across the Czech side of the border, were once a single village, which was settled by Germans. 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 newly drawn border divided the village in two. By the Munich Agreement, the village parts were briefly reunited. However, after defeat of the Nazi regime, Czechoslovak authority over Pelhřimovy was re-established. By the implementation of the Oder-Neisse border, the Silesian part fell under Polish rule. In both villages, Germans were expelled for new Polish and Czech settlers to take their place. The Polish settlers came from Galicia, while Czech settlers were from

Volhynia Volhynia or Volynia ( ; see #Names and etymology, below) is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between southeastern Poland, southwestern Belarus, and northwestern Ukraine. The borders of the region are not clearly defined, but in ...

. The division continued through the

Communist era A communist era is a sustained period of national government by a single party following the philosophy of Marxism–Leninism. Many countries have experienced such a period of communist rule. Current communist states China The Chinese Communist ...

of 1945–1989, and the border was not easily crossed until the two countries joined the

Schengen Area The Schengen Area ( , ) encompasses European countries that have officially abolished border controls at their common borders. As an element within the wider area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ) policy of the European Union (EU), it ...

in 2007. This village partition led to an incident in 2020 during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, when the Polish Army entered some parts of the Czech village as a result of a misunderstanding. They "occupied" parts of the village for two weeks. During this time, several Czech citizens were unable to access the area, and the dilapidated chapel located some 30 meters behind the border.

References

Villages in Głubczyce County Czech Republic–Poland border crossings {{Głubczyce-geo-stub