Radoszowice is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in the administrative district of

Gmina Niemodlin __NOTOC__ Gmina Niemodlin is an urban-rural gmina (administrative district) in Opole County, Opole Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. Its seat is the town of Niemodlin, which lies approximately west of the regional capital Opole. The gmina cov ...

, within

Opole County __NOTOC__ Opole County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Opole Voivodeship, south-western Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. ...

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. It lies approximately north-west of

Niemodlin Niemodlin (; ) is a town in Opole County, Opole Voivodeship, Poland, with 6,315 inhabitants (2019). History The community was first mentioned as ''Nemodlin'' in a 1224 deed and received town privileges in 1283. The German place-name ''Falkenberg ...

and west 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 village was first mentioned under the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

ized name ''Radosevici'' in a document of Duke

Casimir I of Opole Casimir I of Opole (; – 13 May 1230), a member of the Silesian Piasts, Piast dynasty, was a Dukes of Silesia, Silesian duke of Duchy of Opole and Racibórz, Opole and Racibórz from 1211 until his death. Early life Casimir was the eldest chi ...

from 1228, when it was part of fragmented

Piast The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I (–992). The Piasts' royal rule in Poland ended in 1370 with the death of King Casimir III the Great. Branches of ...

-ruled Poland. The name is of Polish origin and comes from the word ''radość'', which means "joy". Later on, the village was part of Bohemia (Czechia) under the

Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

, to stay with various German states until 1945 (factually) and 1990 (de jure). In 1936, during a massive Nazi campaign of renaming of placenames, the name of the village was Germanized to ''Rauschwalde'' to erase traces of Polish origin. 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 German administration operated the E25

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 ...

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 village. After the defeat of Germany in the war, in 1945, the village became again part of Poland and the historic name was restored.

Transport

The Polish A4 motorway runs nearby, north of the village.

References

Villages in Opole County {{OpoleCounty-geo-stub