|
|
|
|
Oswiecim
|
| |
|
| |
Oswiecim (Yiddish Oshpitsin ?????????, Romany: Aushvitsa, Osvyenchim, Czech: Osvetim, Slovak: Osviencim, Russian: ????????) is a town in southern Poland with about 41,500 inhabitants (2005), situated some west of Kraków in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999, previously in Bielsko-Biala Voivodeship (1975-1998).
Outside Poland, it is sometimes still called Auschwitz, its German name, in reference to the Auschwitz concentration camp built there by Nazi Germany during World War II.
city was first mentioned in 1117.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Oswiecim' Start a new discussion about 'Oswiecim' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
Oswiecim (Yiddish Oshpitsin ?????????, Romany: Aushvitsa, Osvyenchim, Czech: Osvetim, Slovak: Osviencim, Russian: ????????) is a town in southern Poland with about 41,500 inhabitants (2005), situated some west of Kraków in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999, previously in Bielsko-Biala Voivodeship (1975-1998).
Outside Poland, it is sometimes still called Auschwitz, its German name, in reference to the Auschwitz concentration camp built there by Nazi Germany during World War II.
History
Pre-World War II
The city was first mentioned in 1117. In 1179, it was detached from the senior Province of Kraków and attached to the Duchy of Opole. Oswiecim was organized under German law (more precisely Lwówek Rights, which was a flavor of Magdeburg Law) in 1270. Throughout history, Germans and Poles lived here together peacefully. From 1315 Oswiecim was a capital of independent duchy. In 1327, John I, Duke of Oswiecim formed with a western part of Galicia (Central Europe), the Duchy of Oswiecim, and Duchy of Zator a vassal state attached to the Kingdom of Bohemia. Later the area went again to the dukes from Te and Grossglogau. In the 14th century many people moved away. The interest of the Germans in Auschwitz shrank and in 1457 the Polish king Casimir IV bought the rights to Oswiecim which was attached afterwards the Cracow Voivodeship. Jews, invited by Polish kings to settle in the region, had already become the majority of the population in the 15th century. Oswiecim also became one of the centres of Protestant culture in Poland.
The town was destroyed by Swedish troops in 1655. When Poland was divided in the late 18th century, Oswiecim became part of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria (an Austro-Hungarian province) in 1772 and was located close to the borders of Russia and Prussia. "Duke of Auschwitz" was one of the minor titles held by the Habsburg Emperors (see Francis II).
In the 1866 war between Austria and the Prussian-led North German Confederation, a cavalry skirmish was fought at Oswiecim, in which an Austrian force defeated a Prussian incursion.
After World War I the town returned to Poland, and new housing complexes were developed in a typical communist style. On the eve of World War II there were about 8,000 Jews in the city, over half the population.
During World War II
In 1940 the German occupiers built the Auschwitz concentration camp by converting the Polish military barracks. Later, they also built the vast Auschwitz II (Birkenau) camp in the nearby village of Brzezinka. During the German Nazi occupation of Poland, a new subdivision was built using slave labour to house the guards and staff moved to Oswiecim to run the Auschwitz concentration labor camp (Arbeitslager) and death camp.
Between 1940 and 1945 approximately 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, were killed by the Nazis in the Auschwitz-Birkenau camps.
The large IG Farben Buna-Werke chemical plant used prisoners of the Monowitz-Buna camp of Auschwitz as slave labor and was bombed during the Oil Campaign of World War II on August 20, 1944. Nineteen of the town's twenty synagogues were destroyed during the war, and the surviving Auschwitz Synagogue is now open as a museum.
Post-World War II
Following World War II, new housing complexes were developed with large buildings of rectangular and concrete constructions. The chemical industry became the main employer of Oswiecim and in later years, a service industry and trade were added. The concentration camp became a museum and memorial sites. Currently, about 1 million visitors tour Auschwitz-Birkenau labor/death camps every year. This tourism is an important source of revenue for local businesses in the village.
In the mid-1990s, the chemical works (renamed Dwory S.A.) began to downsize and lay off its workers. During the communist era, they employed about 10,000 people. Following their restructuring and financial problems after 1989, employment at the plant shrank to only 1,500 people.
Layout of town
Oswiecim's old town is located in the centre of the town.
The railway station is in the north west of the town, with the main museum in the west of the town. The Birkenau part of the museum is in the village of Brzezinka, to the west of the railway station.
The chemical works are located in the east of the town.
Politics
Oswiecim-Wadowice constituency
Members of Parliament (Sejm) elected from this constituency:
People
Sports
Twinned cities
Since 1993, Oswiecim has been twinned with the city of Kerpen in Germany.
See also
- List of Polish Martyrology sites
External links
|
| |
|
|
