HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Ruda Śląska (; ) is a city in
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, ...
in 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 ...
, near
Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...
. It is a city in the
Metropolis GZM The Metropolis GZM (, formally in Polish (Upper Silesian-Dąbrowa Basin Metropolis)) is a metropolitan association () composed of 41 contiguous gminas, with a total population of over 2 million, covering most of the Katowice metropolitan area i ...
, a metropolis with a population of two million. It is in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica
River A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...
(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 ...
). It has been part of 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 ...
since its formation in 1999. Previously, it was in Katowice Voivodeship, and before then, part of the Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship. Ruda Śląska is one of the cities in the
Katowice urban area The Katowice urban area (, ), also known as the Upper Silesian urban area (, ), is an urban area/conurbation in southern Poland, centered on Katowice. It is located in the Silesian Voivodeship. The Katowice urban area is the largest urban are ...
(population 2.7 million) and within the greater
Katowice-Ostrava metropolitan area The Katowice-Ostrava metropolitan areaBrookings Institutionbr>Redefining global cities: The seven types of global metro economies(2016), p. 16. European Spatial Planning Observation Network (ESPON"''Metroborder: Cross-border Polycentric Metropol ...
(population 5,294,000). The population of the city is 135,008 (December 2021).


History

A large village is known to have existed at the location of the present day city center in 1243. The city name appears to indicate the awareness and perhaps exploitation of ores from early times. The area underwent rapid industrialization (coal, steel,
zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...
) in the 19th and the beginning of 20th century. However, it remained a cluster of industrial settlements and villages until the 1950s, when it was administratively united. However, it never developed into a truly unified city. Before the German
invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...
and the outbreak 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 ...
, in 1939, German saboteurs carried out an attack in Ruda. Following the invasion, the area was under German occupation from 1939 to 1945. Several Polish teachers from present-day Ruda Śląska were murdered by the Germans in
concentration camps A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploit ...
as part of the ''
Intelligenzaktion The ''Intelligenzaktion'' (), or the Intelligentsia mass shootings, was a series of mass murders committed against the Polish people, Polish intelligentsia (teachers, priests, physicians, and other prominent members of Polish society) during the ...
''. The Germans also established and operated a '' Polenlager'' forced labour camp for Poles in the present-day district of Kochłowice, and the E83 forced labour 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 present-day district of Chebzie. The Polish resistance movement was active in the area. In 1945, the German occupation ended, and the area was restored to Poland, although with a
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 ...
-installed communist regime, which then stayed in power until the fall of communism in the 1980s. After the fall of communism in 1989, the significant heavy industry was largely scaled down or restructured. The area has been transforming to a service-based economy. The well-known still operating coal mine is "Halemba". Since 2007, Ruda Śląska has been a member of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union (predecessor to the
Metropolis GZM The Metropolis GZM (, formally in Polish (Upper Silesian-Dąbrowa Basin Metropolis)) is a metropolitan association () composed of 41 contiguous gminas, with a total population of over 2 million, covering most of the Katowice metropolitan area i ...
), the largest legally recognized urban area in Poland.


Transport and infrastructure

Significant roadways are Highway A4 and the Drogowa Trasa Średnicowa. There are several small railway stations, mainly on the line Katowice-Gliwice. Since 1950, Ruda Śląska is the site of a transmission facility, which was used from 1950 to 1988 for medium-wave radio broadcasting.


Higher education

The neighboring cities of
Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...
and
Gliwice Gliwice (; , ) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. The city is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica river (a tributary of the Oder River, Oder). It lies approximately 25 km west from Katowice, the regional capital ...
are large academic centers. Ruda Śląska is a seat of the Higher Academy of Commerce (Wyższa Szkoła Handlowa).


Sports

* Zgoda Ruda Śląska – women's
handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...
team playing in Polish Ekstraklasa Women's Handball League *Rugby Club IGLOO Ruda Śląska – men's rugby team playing in Polish Ekstraliga Rugby Seven's


Subdivisions

The city of Ruda Śląska is divided into following subdivisions:


Notable people

* Karl Godulla (1781–1848), German industrialist * Günter Bialas (1907–1995), German composer * Paweł Cyganek (1913–1995), footballer * Ernest Pohl (1932–1995), footballer * Erwin Wilczek (1940–2021), footballer * Marcin Baszczynski (born 1977), footballer * Marek Plawgo (born 1981), athlete * Otylia Jędrzejczak (born 1983), Olympic gold medalist and world record-holder in swimming * Kasia Moś (born 1987), singer and songwriter, represented Poland at the
Eurovision Song Contest 2017 The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 was the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the country's victory at the with the song " 1944" by Jamala. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) an ...
* Artur Sobiech (born 1990), footballer * Kamil Grabara (born 1999), footballer * Mateusz Bogusz (born 2001), footballer * Jakub Kamiński (born 2002), footballer Ruda Śląska is the largest population center in Poland never to have been visited by
Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as the president of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 Polish presidential election, 1990 election, Wałę ...
. This is shown on a brass plaque on the side of the ratusz (town hall).


Twin towns – sister cities

Ruda Śląska is twinned with: *
Carrickfergus Carrickfergus ( , meaning " Fergus' rock") is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It sits on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 28,141 at the 2021 census. It is County Antrim's oldest t ...
, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom *
Levice Levice (; , Hungarian pronunciation: ; ) is a town in western Slovakia. The town lies on the left bank of the lower Hron river. The Old Church Slavonic, Old Slavic name of the town was ''Leva'', which means "the Left One". The town is located i ...
, Slovakia *
Mank ''Mank'' is a 2020 American biographical drama film about screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz and his development of the screenplay for the 1941 film ''Citizen Kane''. It was directed by David Fincher based on a screenplay written by his lat ...
, Austria * Vibo Valentia, Italy


Notes


References

{{Authority control City counties of Poland Cities and towns in Silesian Voivodeship Socialist planned cities