Jastrzębie-Zdrój (; german: Bad Königsdorff-Jastrzemb, originally ''Jastrzemb'', cs, Lázně Jestřebí, szl, Jastrzymbie-Zdrōj or ''Jastrzymbje-Zdrůj'') is a city in south

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

with 86,632 inhabitants (2021). Its name comes from the Polish words ''jastrząb'' ("

hawk Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica. * The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. This subfa ...

") and ''zdrój'' ("spa" or "spring"). From 1861 until the 20th century, it was a spa village situated in

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, locate ...

. It was granted

city rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...

in 1963. Jastrzębie-Zdrój is currently situated in the

Silesian Voivodeship Silesian Voivodeship, or Silesia Province ( pl, województwo śląskie ) is a voivodeship, or province, in southern Poland, centered on the historic region known as Upper Silesia ('), with Katowice serving as its capital. Despite the Silesian V ...

(since 1999), previously in

Katowice Voivodeship Katowice Voivodeship () can refer to one of two political entities in Poland: Katowice Voivodeship (1), initially "Silesian-Dabrowa Voivodeship" ( pl, województwo śląsko-dąbrowskie), was a unit of administrative division and local government ...

(1975–1998). In the early 1980s, the city was one of main centers of workers' protests, which resulted in creation of

Solidarity ''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dicti ...

(see: Jastrzebie-Zdroj 1980 strikes).

History

The first written documentation, relating to this area, date back to around 1305 (''

Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis ( pl, Księga uposażeń biskupstwa wrocławskiego, ''Book of endowments of the Bishopric of Wrocław'') is a Latin manuscript catalog of documents compiled in the later 13th or in the early 14th centu ...

''). Administratively, the town is made up of several old settlements, whose origins go back to the distant past. The original name of the town was Jastrzemb. The origin of the name, which means 'hawk' in Polish, is connected with the legend of the black

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

. From the 16th century to the beginning of the 19th century, it was part of the administration of Wodzisław. Between 1858 and 1860, trial excavations of hard coal were performed all over the area of Jastrzębie Dolne. These excavations ended up discovering springs containing iodine and

bromine Bromine is a chemical element with the symbol Br and atomic number 35. It is the third-lightest element in group 17 of the periodic table ( halogens) and is a volatile red-brown liquid at room temperature that evaporates readily to form a simi ...

brine solutions. In 1860, the count of Königsdorff acquired the lands and suggested the construction of bath facilities. Thus, in 1862, the health resort of ''Bad Königsdorff-Jastrzemb'' was brought into life. Shortly after, the town joined the exclusive circle of the most prestigious health resorts in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. In 1895, the natural health centre was taken over by a Polish

doctor Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...

, Mikołaj Witczak, who lent great service to the development of health-resort in Bad Königsdorff-Jastrzemb. His managerial skills together with wise investment made Jastrzębie-Zdrój a highly appreciated and fashionable health resort inside the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

and the

interbellum In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...

. Consequently, numerous health facilities were then set up. The history of Jastrzębie-Zdrój as a health resort came to its end in the 1960s, when all over the area began the intensive exploitation of

coking coal Metallurgical coal or coking coal is a grade of coal that can be used to produce good-quality coke. Coke is an essential fuel and reactant in the blast furnace process for primary steelmaking. The demand for metallurgical coal is highly coupled ...

deposits. Within a period of 12 years, five

coal mines Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron fro ...

were set up. Between 1954–1975, Jastrzębie was part of the

Wodzisław County __NOTOC__ Wodzisław County ( pl, powiat wodzisławski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland, on the Czech border. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the ...

. During the time of political transformation in Poland, Jastrzębie-Zdrój went down the annals of Polish modern history as the place where the so-called "the Jastrzębskie Agreement" was concluded. The signing of the protocol initiated the process of political, economic and social changes in Poland.

Population and location

The city itself had 91,723 inhabitants; its

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' can also be used. Mathematicall ...

is 1,047.9 per km² (as of January 31, 2012). Jastrzębie-Zdrój ranks as Poland's 36th largest city. Jastrzębie-Zdrój's

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the refe ...

rate is lower (7%) than the national average of 8.8% (as of November 2010).

Districts

Jastrzębie-Zdrój is a

powiat A ''powiat'' (pronounced ; Polish plural: ''powiaty'') is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture ( LAU-1, formerly NUTS-4) in other countries. The term "''powiat ...

(county) divided into 15

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 counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...

s and 6

sołectwo A sołectwo ( Polish plural: ''sołectwa'') is an administrative unit in Poland, an optional subdivision of a gmina. The actions and organs of the sołectwo are decided by the gmina council. On 31 December 2018 Poland had 40 740 sołectwa. G ...

s that have its own administrative body. Most of the districts are suburban, some are densely built with many blocks of flats generating huge housing estates, and the rest are of civic nature. # Arki Bożka ''(6,632 inhabitants)'' # Barbary ''(10,185 inhabitants)'' # Bogoczowiec ''(1,672 inhabitants)'' # Chrobrego ''(5,042 inhabitants)'' # Gwarków ''(8,126 inhabitants)'' # Jastrzębie Górne i Dolne ''(4,369 inhabitants)'' # Morcinka ''(4,534 inhabitants)'' # Pionierów ''(11,210 inhabitants)'' # Przyjaźń ''(4,718 inhabitants)'' # Staszica ''(6,079 inhabitants)'' # Tuwima ''(480 inhabitants)'' # Tysiąclecia ''(3,242 inhabitants)'' # Zdrój ''(7,682 inhabitants)'' # Złote łany ''(1,118 inhabitants)'' # Zofiówka ''(3,473 inhabitants)'' Sołectwos: # Borynia ''(1,918 inhabitants)'' # Bzie ''(3,602 inhabitants)'' # Moszczenica ''(3,026 inhabitants)'' # Ruptawa ''(3,767 inhabitants)'' # Skrzeczkowice ''(694 inhabitants)'' #

Szeroka Szeroka (german: Timmendorf) is a sołectwo of Jastrzębie-Zdrój, Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland. It was an independent village but became administratively part of Jastrzębie-Zdrój in 1975. It has na area of 1026.64 ha and on December 3 ...

''(2,273 inhabitants)''

Sports

; The most famous clubs * GKS Jastrzębie – men's professional football club *

Jastrzębski Węgiel Jastrzębski Węgiel, is a professional men's volleyball club based in Jastrzębie-Zdrój in southern Poland, founded in 1961. They compete in the Polish PlusLiga. Two–time Polish Champion and one time Polish Cup winner. Since the beginning o ...

– men's professional volleyball club, two–time Polish Champion,

PlusLiga The PlusLiga is the highest level of men's volleyball in Poland, a professional league competition featuring volleyball clubs located in this country. It is overseen by Polska Liga Siatkówki SA (PLS SA). It is currently a 16 teams league from Oc ...

JKH GKS Jastrzębie JKH GKS Jastrzębie is an ice hockey team in Jastrzębie Zdrój, Poland. The team plays in the Polska Hokej Liga, the top level league in Poland. They won the Polish Cup The Polish Cup in football ( pl, Puchar Polski w piłce nożnej ) is an ...

– men's professional ice hockey club,

Polska Hokej Liga The Polska Hokej Liga is the premier ice hockey league in Poland. Previously, it was known as the I Liga or Ekstraklasa from 1926 to 1999, and the Polska Liga Hokejowa from 1999 to 2013. In 2013, it was reorganized as a limited liability company ...

; Other clubs * BKS Jastrzębie –

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

* UKH Białe Jastrzębie –

women's ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

* LKS Granica Ruptawa –

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

* LKS Zryw Bzie –

* LKS Hadex Szeroka –

* Koka Jastrzębie –

judo is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo") ...

* UKS Romi Jastrzębie –

women's handball A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardle ...

Notable people

* Henryk Sławik (1894–1944), Polish politician, social worker, activist, and diplomat, who during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

helped save over 30,000 Polish refugees, including 5,000 Polish Jews in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

, Hungary by giving them false Polish passports with Catholic designation *

Krystian Lupa Krystian Lupa (Polish pronunciation: ; born 7 November 1943) is a Polish theatre director, set designer, playwright, translator and pedagogue. He has been called "the greatest living European theatre director". He is the recipient of many natio ...

(born 1943), Polish theatre director, set designer, playwright, translator and pedagogue *

Magdalena Lewy-Boulet Magdalena Lewy-Boulet (née ''Lewy;'' born August 1, 1973), commonly known as either Magdalena or Magda Boulet, is an American runner from Oakland, California. Born in Jastrzębie-Zdrój, Poland, Lewy-Boulet became a U.S. citizen on September 11, ...

(born 1973), American athlete *

Marcin Radzewicz Marcin Radzewicz (born 30 June 1980) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Odra Wodzisław Śląski. Career In July 2011, he joined Arka Gdynia on a one-year contract.Dariusz Kłus (born 1981), Polish footballer * Łukasz Pielorz (born 1983), Polish footballer *

Kamil Glik Kamil Jacek Glik (Polish pronunciation: ; born 3 February 1988) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Serie B club Benevento and the Poland national team. The previous clubs Glik played for include Piast Gliwice fro ...

(born 1988), Polish footballer * Michał Skóraś (born 2000), Polish footballer

Twin towns – sister cities

Jastrzębie-Zdrój is twinned with: * Borshchiv, Ukraine (2017) *

Havířov Havířov (; pl, ) is a city in Karviná District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 69,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the region. Havířov lies in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia ...

, Czech Republic (2007) *

Ibbenbüren Ibbenbüren ( Westphalian: ''Ippenbürn'') is a medium-sized town in the district of Steinfurt, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Ibbenbüren is situated on the Ibbenbürener Aa river, at the northwest end of the Teutoburger forest ...

, Germany (2007) *

Karviná Karviná (; pl, Karwina, , german: Karwin) is a city in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 50,000 inhabitants. It lies on the Olza River in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia. Karviná is known as an indust ...

, Czech Republic (1995) *

Prievidza Prievidza (; hu, Privigye, german: Priwitz) is a city in the central-western Slovakia. With approximately 46,000 inhabitants it is the second biggest municipality in the Trenčín Region and 11th largest city in Slovakia generally. Name The ...

, Slovakia (2009) *

Tourcoing Tourcoing (; nl, Toerkonje ; vls, Terkoeje; pcd, Tourco) is a city in northern France on the Belgian border. It is designated municipally as a commune within the department of Nord. Located to the north-northeast of Lille, adjacent to Roubaix, ...

, France (2007)

References

External links

Municipal homepage

Jewish Community in Jastrzębie-Zdrój
on Virtual Shtetl {{DEFAULTSORT:Jastrzebie Zdroj Cities and towns in Silesian Voivodeship Jastrzebie-Zdroj Spa towns in Poland Socialist planned cities