Mielec ( yi, מעליץ-Melitz) is the largest city and

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair, a chair ...

of Mielec County. Mielec is located in south-eastern

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 ...

(

Lesser Poland Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name Małopolska ( la, Polonia Minor), is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a ...

), in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship (Województwo Podkarpackie). The population of Mielec in December 2021 was 59,509. Mielec is an industrial center, with technical and IT schools, craft schools and colleges (providing

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to si ...

and

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in several fields of study. Postgraduate studies are also available - e.g. MBA). The city lies within the Special Economic Zone Euro-Park Mielec with access to Mielec Airport and railway. About 15 km north of Mielec runs LHS railway - The transshipment terminal in Wola Baranowska enables the exchange of

cargo Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including tra ...

between the broad gauge and standard gauge railways and trucks. About 20 km south of Mielec runs the A4 motorway. Moreover, the city of Mielec supports a recognizable soccer team - Stal Mielec. The motto of the city is ''Here wings spread!'' in reference to many successful domestic and foreign investments.

History

The first mention of a place called Mielec occurs in the thirteenth century in the 1229 bull of

Pope Gregory IX Pope Gregory IX ( la, Gregorius IX; born Ugolino di Conti; c. 1145 or before 1170 – 22 August 1241) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 March 1227 until his death in 1241. He is known for issuing the '' Decre ...

. In the second half of the fourteenth century, "Mielecka" was mentioned in a list of parishes. The city of Mielec, part of

Sandomierz Voivodeship Sandomierz Voivodeship ( pl, Województwo Sandomierskie, la, Palatinatus Sandomirensis) was a unit of administration and local government in Poland from the 14th century to the partitions of Poland in 1772–1795. It was part of the Lesser Polan ...

and

Lesser Poland Province of the Polish Crown Lesser Poland Province ( pl, Prowincja małopolska, la, Polonia Minor) was an administrative division of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland from 1569 until 1795 and the biggest province of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The name of the pro ...

, was founded on 17 March 1457, when King Casimir IV granted a charter to Jan Mielecki for the establishment of a city under the name of Nowy Targ. For unknown reasons Jan Mielecki did not go on to found the city; it was eventually established by his two sons, Jan and Bernardyn, by an Act of 18 December 1470. The Mielecki family owned the town of Mielec until the last of the Mieleckis died in 1771. Under their rule, there was intensive development of craft industries. In 1522, the first

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometim ...

was founded. This was the

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...

s' guild. It was followed by guilds of

tailor A tailor is a person who makes or alters clothing, particularly in men's clothing. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the thirteenth century. History Although clothing construction goes back to prehistory, there is evidence of ...

s, cobblers, potters, spinners, and weavers. The next owners of Mielec were the Ossolinski and Morsztyn families. In 1775, Anna Ossilińska married Jan Pieniążek, bringing as a dowry her share of part of the city. The next owner was Ignacy Suchorzewski, who married Pieniążek's daughter Paulina. Suchorzewski sold Mielec's property to Ludwik Starzeński in 1847, who then disposed of it ten years later to a Jewish family named Gross. The last owner of Mielec was the Oborski family in 1891. Maciej Bogusz Stęczyński, Mielec 1847

In 1853, the county town of Mielec governed an area in which there were 106 settlements and 91 castral municipalities. In 1892, on Kosciuszko Street a new City Council building and police barracks were built. The development of the county town was interrupted by a huge fire, which destroyed three quarters of the city. This catastrophe caused the city to apply for a state loan of 12 crowns, the receipt of which led to the rapid development of the city. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the market place in Mielec was surrounded by brick houses, and in 1902, a courthouse was built. In 1912, a gymnasium (or academic high school) and the office of County Council were established and buildings constructed to house them.

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

caused much damage to the infrastructure and economy of city of Mielec and the county. In the interwar years many streets were paved with cobbles. In addition, a private power plant, various craft workshops, and retail businesses were established. In 1934, the Mielec region suffered a huge flood that destroyed more than 11,000 households. The house and

photographic studio A photographic studio is often a business owned and represented by one or more photographers, possibly accompanied by assistants and pupils, who create and sell their own and sometimes others’ photographs. Since the early years of the 20th c ...

of the early 20th-century Polish photographer was a meeting place of the local artistic community in the interbellum. Mielec's economy has been based for the last 70 years around a single industrial enterprise, which transformed the city and increased its population sixfold. This process began in the 1930s, when Poland launched a significant expansion of its armaments industry, focused on building factories in the newly created Central Industrial Region (Polish: Centralny Okręg Przemysłowy, abbreviated COP). In 1936, a state-owned factory making airplane chassis was established (State Aviation Works - Airframe Fakcory No. 2) on the outskirts of the town, an area then known as Cyranka. The factory started to build a new bomber, the PZL P-37 or "Łoś" (English: "Moose"). Additionally, in the years 1937-1939 a large aviation factory belonging to the PZL company was set up. This new manufacturing industry necessitated the development of residential housing for factory workers and management personnel. Pomnik Armii Krajowej w Mielcu, 2014

After the outbreak of

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 ...

, the city and the airplane company fell into the hands of the German invaders. The period of

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 ...

lasted from 9 September 1939 to 6 August 1944 in Mielec. In the years of 1939–1944, the factory produced German bombers, and from 1943 also manufactured the fighter plane He–297. The Nazis staffed much of the factory with

slave labour Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to per ...

. Initially, Jews from Mielec were enslaved in this forced labor camp. In 1942, the Jewish population of Mielec was deported to death camps, except for a few who remained as slave labour at the factory. Before the war, the Jewish population of Mielec was 2,800 out of a total population of 5,500. During the deportation, the factory hangars were the site of a mass murder of several hundred of Mielec's Jews, who were buried there. Subsequently, the factory used slave labour composed of Jews from other regions,

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

, political prisoners, etc. The

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

used Jewish informants, the so-called ''V-leute'' in region to penetrate underground resistance and denounce hiding Jews;special barracks were set up in labour camp near Mielec for Jewish informers and their families, who were granted special privileges. These informants operated between 1942 and 1943 when they were finally executed by Gestapo themselves. After the war, a monument was placed at the factory with a vague inscription typical of holocaust memorials during the Communist era: "To those employees of the Factory and the inhabitants from the area of both Polish and Jewish nationality murdered during World War II: A tribute from Mielec's Youth." Another mass grave of Jews with a monument may be found in one corner of the Mielec Catholic cemetery, where the victims of a 1941 Nazi atrocity were buried. During the German occupation, all of Mielec's Jewish institutions and the Jewish cemetery were destroyed, and also many of the Jewish homes. During the German occupation, the Polish underground resistance movement had important centers in the former house of photographer August Jaderny and in the house of the Dębicki family. On March 29, 1943, a Polish underground partisan unit Jędrusie and the

Home Army The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) es ...

successfully carried out a daring attack on a German prison and liberated about 180 prisoners. PL-Mielec, palacyk Oborskich 2013-07-02--09-55-08-001

After 1945, the factory became the largest aviation factory in Poland under the name

WSK-Mielec PZL Mielec (''Polskie Zakłady Lotnicze'' - Polish Aviation Works), formerly WSK-Mielec (''Wytwórnia Sprzętu Komunikacyjnego'') and WSK "PZL-Mielec" is a Polish aerospace manufacturer based in Mielec. It is the largest aerospace manufacturer i ...

"Wytwórnia Sprzętu Komunikacyjnego" (English: "Transport Equipment Manufacturing Centre"). This plant was the main source of employment for people in Mielec and surrounding communities. At first, the factory produced Soviet-designed planes under license. Thus, it was the primary production site of the widely used

An-2 The Antonov An-2 ("kukuruznik"—corn crop duster; USAF/DoD reporting name Type 22, NATO reporting name Colt) is a Soviet mass-produced single-engine biplane utility/agricultural aircraft designed and manufactured by the Antonov Design Burea ...

transport plane. It also manufactured Polish versions of the MiG-15 and MiG-17fighters. The factory also built planes designed in Poland such as the trainer plane TS-11 Iskra used by Poland and India. It produced over 16,000 aircraft, which were mainly licensed for export to the USSR. After 1989 and the economic changes due to the

fall of communism The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Nat ...

, factory orders declined and the plant encountered serious financial difficulties. It continued to produce successful aircraft types, but at much lower volumes than during the Cold War. Self-government of Mielec Township was established in 1990. The situation changed in 1995, due to the establishment of Poland's first Special

Economic An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

Zone EURO-PARK Mielec. In 1998 the aviation plant changed its name to PZL-Mielec "Polskie Zakłady Lotnicze" (English: "Polish Aviation Works"). In 2007 the factory was acquired by Sikorsky (in 2015 Sikorsky was acquired by Lockheed Martin), and was planned to be the main production site of the export version UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. Also Mielec has been the production site of sports-luxury car Leopard 6 Litre Roadster.

Historic Sites

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

Minor Basilica In the Catholic Church, a basilica is a designation given by the Pope to a church building. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense (a rectangular ...

Matthew the Evangelist Matthew the Apostle,, shortened to ''Matti'' (whence ar, مَتَّى, Mattā), meaning "Gift of YHWH"; arc, , Mattai; grc-koi, Μαθθαῖος, ''Maththaîos'' or , ''Matthaîos''; cop, ⲙⲁⲧⲑⲉⲟⲥ, Mattheos; la, Matthaeus ...

; * The Oborski family manor-house from the 17th century, now housing the Regional Museum ('' Muzeum Regionalne''); * The Jaderny house (''Jadernówka''), former house and photographic studio of the early 20th-century Polish photographer August Jaderny, meeting point of the Polish underground resistance movement during World War II, now housing the Museum of the History of Photography; * The Dębicki house with a bust of

Tadeusz Kościuszko Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko ( be, Andréj Tadévuš Banavientúra Kasciúška, en, Andrew Thaddeus Bonaventure Kosciuszko; 4 or 12 February 174615 October 1817) was a Polish military engineer, statesman, and military leader who ...

, hero of Polish and

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

independence fights, also a focal point of the Polish underground resistance movement during World War II; * Courthouse, site of an operation in which Polish partisans liberated 180 prisoners from the Germans in March 1943, during World War II; * Musical School; * Baroque St. Mark's church; * Historic townhouses, villas, etc.; * Numerous memorials, including multiple World War II memorials.

Economy

From the beginning of Centralny Okręg Przemysłowy, Mielec is commonly associated with PZL Mielec aviation factory. The first Special Economic Zone in Poland, SEZ EURO-PARK MIELEC, has been founded in Mielec in 1995 and has a positive impact on economy of Mielec. In 2020 Mielec is close to enlarging the zone of SEZ EURO-PARK MIELEC Other products manufactured in the city: * consumer electronics * furniture * metal and electrotechnical components for the

automotive industry The automotive industry comprises a wide range of companies and organizations involved in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, and selling of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest industries by revenue (from 16 % ...

* other components for the production of cars *

golf cart A golf cart (alternatively known as a golf buggy or golf car) is a small motorized vehicle designed originally to carry two golfers and their golf clubs around a golf course with less effort than walking. Over time, variants were introduced ...

s * tempered glass * handmade bicycle frames * Geyer & Hosaja retread tires * Husqvarna petrol lawn mowers * Fakro roof windows * PVC windows * styrofoam * chipboard, MDF, floor panels, countertops * Cobi blocks for kids * AUTOPART starter batteries * Froneri ice cream File:PZL-Mielec M-18A Dromader - N497WP.jpg, Dromader PZL Mielec File:2014 Zakłady Kronospan w Mielcu 03.jpg,

Kronospan Kronospan is an Austrian-founded, Cyprus-based, international company that manufactures and distributes wood-based panels which are used in applications including flooring, furniture and timber-framed houses. The company manufactures particleboar ...

factory File:PZL M-28 Skytruck of the Polish Border Guard.JPG, PZL M28, produced in Mielec File:Leopard-AMI-Leipzig-2007a.JPG, Leopard 6 Litre Roadster, produced in Mielec File:Melex 2.jpg,

Melex Melex is an electric vehicle produced by a company of the same name in Mielec, Poland. It has been in production since 1971. The car, having full necessary equipment such as headlamps and seatbelts, is very quiet and does not pollute the environ ...

cart

Climate

Mielec has warm summers, cold winters and a wide but not extreme variation in temperature between seasons. In the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

, Mielec is on the border between a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...

(Dfb) if the 0 °C (32 °F) isotherm is used or an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

(Cfb) if the −3 °C (27 °F) isotherm is used. There is rain or snow in all months of the year.

Demographics

Sports

* FKS Stal Mielec – men's

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 ...

team, playing in the

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 ...

(country's top division): **Two times Polish champions: 1972–73, 1975–76, and 1974–75 runners-up. ** Polish Cup: finalist in 1976 season **

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

: quarter-finalist in 1975/76 season ** European Champions Cup: first round elimination in 1973/74 season; first round elimination in 1976/77 season **''Notable players'':

Grzegorz Lato Grzegorz Bolesław Lato (Polish pronunciation: ; born 8 April 1950) is a Polish former professional football player and manager who played as a winger. He was a member of Poland's golden generation of football players who rose to fame in the ...

, Henryk Kasperczak, Andrzej Szarmach,

Jan Domarski Jan Andrzej Domarski (born 28 October 1946 in Rzeszów) is a Polish former footballer and bronze-medal winner in the 1974 World Cup tournament in Germany. He played in seventeen matches for the Poland national team and was a double-champion Stal ...

* KPSK Stal Mielec - women's

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

, team went bankrupt: 2nd place in 1999/2000 season, 3rd place in 1991/1992, 1993/1994, 1998/1999, 2003/2004 seasons. * SPR Stal Mielec – men's

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic 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 throwing it into the ...

team playing in PGNiG Superliga: 2nd place in 1974/45 season; 3rd place in 2011/12 season. File:Stal mielec.png, FKS Stal Mielec File:PL - Mielec - rzeźba Biegaczki - (Henryk Burzec) - Kroton 001.jpg, Sports monument

Education

Elementary schools * Szkoła Podstawowa nr 1 im. Władysława Szafera w Mielcu * Szkoła Podstawowa nr 2 im. Tadeusza Kościuszki w Mielcu * Szkoła Podstawowa nr 3 im. Wojska Polskiego w Mielcu * Szkoła Podstawowa nr 6 im. Żwirki i Wigury w Mielcu * Szkoła Podstawowa nr 9 im. Władysława Jasińskiego "Jędrusia" w Mielcu * Szkoła Podstawowa nr 11 im. Jana Pawła II w Mielcu * Szkoła Podstawowa nr 12 im. Henryka Sienkiewicza w Mielcu * Szkoła Podstawowa nr 13 im. Jana Bytnara "Rudego" w Mielcu * Szkoła Podstawowa przy Niepublicznej Szkole Mistrzostwa Sportowego w Mielcu im. Grzegorza Lato Junior High Schools * Gimnazjum nr 1 w Mielcu * Gimnazjum nr 2 w Mielcu * Gimnazjum nr 3 w Mielcu * Gimnazjum nr 4 w Mielcu * Gimnazjum przy Niepublicznej Szkole Mistrzostwa Sportowego w Mielcu im. Grzegorza Lato * Niepubliczne Gimnazjum w Mielcu High Schools and Vo-Tech Schools * I Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Stanisława Konarskiego w Mielcu * II Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Mikołaja Kopernika w Mielcu * Zespół Szkół Ogólnokształcących nr 1 w Mielcu im. st. sierż. pilota Stanisława Działowskiego ** V Liceum Ogólnokształcące * Liceum przy Niepublicznej Szkole Mistrzostwa Sportowego w Mielcu im. Grzegorza Lato * Zespół Szkół Budowlanych im. Żołnierzy Armii Krajowej w Mielcu ** Zasadnicza Szkoła Zawodowa Nr 2 ** Technikum Nr 2 ** II Liceum Profilowane * Zespół Szkół Ekonomicznych w Mielcu ** Zasadnicza Szkoła Zawodowa Nr 1 ** Technikum Nr 1 ** I Liceum Profilowane * Zespół Szkół Technicznych w Mielcu ** Zasadnicza Szkoła Zawodowa Nr 3 ** Technikum Nr 3 ** III Liceum Profilowane ** III Liceum Ogólnokształcące ** Szkoła Policealna Nr 3 ** Technikum Uzupełniające Nr 3 ** III Uzupełniające Liceum Ogólnokształcące * Zespół Szkół im. prof. Janusza Groszkowskiego w Mielcu ** Zasadnicza Szkoła Zawodowa Nr 4 ** Technikum Nr 4 ** IV Liceum Profilowane ** IV Liceum Ogólnokształcące Colleges and universities * Wyższa Szkoła Gospodarki i Zarządzania * Nauczycielskie Kolegium Języków Obcych (UMCS patronage)

Notable people

(born 1950), Polish football player, World Cup 1974 top goalscorer, senator, former president of the Polish Football Association * Nate Mack (1891–1965), American banker, born in Mielec, co-founder of the Bank of Las Vegas. * Kamil Rado (born 1990), Polish footballer * Andrzej Rżany (born 1973), Polish boxer * Józef Stala (born 1966), Polish Catholic priest, theologian, and philosopher * Władysław Szafer (1886–1970), Polish biologist

International relations

Twin Towns - Sister Cities

Mielec is twinned with:

References

External links

Mielec home page (in Polish)

PZL aviation factory in Mielec

History of Mielec

* {{Authority control Mielec Mielec County Lesser Poland Sandomierz Voivodeship Populated places in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Kraków Voivodeship (1919–1939) Holocaust locations in Poland