Wąsosz (formerly german: Herrnstadt) is a town in

Góra County __NOTOC__ Góra County ( pl, powiat górowski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, south-western Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local governm ...

, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in western

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 ...

. It is the seat of the administrative district ( gmina) called Gmina Wąsosz. It lies approximately south-east of

Góra Góra (german: Guhrau) is a town in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in western Poland. It is the administrative seat both of Góra County and of the smaller district (gmina) called Gmina Góra. Geography The town is located within the historic Low ...

, and north-west of the regional capital

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

. The rivers Orla and Barycz meet here. As of 2019, the town had a population of 2,662.

History

Wąsosz dates back to the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

Piast The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I (c. 930–992). The Piasts' royal rule in Poland ended in 1370 with the death of king Casimir III the Great. Branche ...

-ruled

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Królestwo Polskie; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a state in Central Europe. It may refer to: Historical political entities * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom existing from 1025 to 1031 * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom exi ...

and its name is of Polish origin. It was granted

town 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 tradition ...

by Henry III, Duke of Głogów in 1290. It was part of the Duchy of Głogów of fragmented Poland and in the 14th century the local castle of the Piast dukes was built. The castle was unsuccessfully besieged by the

Hussites The Hussites ( cs, Husité or ''Kališníci''; "Chalice People") were a Czech proto-Protestant Christian movement that followed the teachings of reformer Jan Hus, who became the best known representative of the Bohemian Reformation. The Huss ...

in 1432. In 1520 Wąsosz passed to the bishops of Wrocław and in 1525 it passed again under Piast rule as part of the

Duchy of Legnica The Duchy of Legnica ( pl, Księstwo Legnickie, cs, Lehnické knížectví) or Duchy of Liegnitz (german: Herzogtum Liegnitz) was one of the Duchies of Silesia. Its capital was Legnica (''Liegnitz'') in Lower Silesia. Legnica Castle had become ...

. After the dissolution of the duchy in 1675, the town became part of Habsburg-ruled Bohemia, in the 18th century it was annexed by the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...

. With the Prussian-led

Unification of Germany The unification of Germany (, ) was the process of building the modern German nation state with federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without multinational Austria), which commenced on 18 August 1866 with adoption of t ...

, it became part of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in 1871 and was located in the Guhrau district in the Prussian

Province of Silesia The Province of Silesia (german: Provinz Schlesien; pl, Prowincja Śląska; szl, Prowincyjŏ Ślōnskŏ) was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1919. The Silesia region was part of the Prussian realm since 1740 and established as an official p ...

and later in the

Province of Lower Silesia The Province of Lower Silesia (german: Provinz Niederschlesien; Silesian German: ''Provinz Niederschläsing''; pl, Prowincja Dolny Śląsk; szl, Prowincyjŏ Dolny Ślōnsk) was a province of the Free State of Prussia from 1919 to 1945. Between ...

. 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, in 1943, the Germans established a camp for Polish children up to 5 years of age, who were deemed " racially worthless", and whose mothers were deported to forced labour camps in Lower Silesia. At least 485 Polish children passed through the camp, and due to its terrible sanitary conditions many died and the bodies were transported in

wheelbarrow A wheelbarrow is a small hand-propelled vehicle, usually with just one wheel, designed to be pushed and guided by a single person using two handles at the rear, or by a sail to push the ancient wheelbarrow by wind. The term "wheelbarrow" is ma ...

s to the local cemetery. Only 39 children survived until the liberation of the camp. Local pastor Paul Tillmann rescued these children when, during the German evacuation the camp, he opposed the idea of blowing up the building with the children, and looked after them until the town was liberated. Towards the end of

, the town was captured by the

Soviet Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

that was assigned to Poland. The totality of its populace was expelled for new Polish settlers to find a new home here.

Gallery

Saint Joseph church in Wąsosz, Poland.jpg, Catholic Church of Saint Joseph Pomnik smoleński, Wąsosz.jpg,

Smolensk air disaster On 10 April 2010, a Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft operating Polish Air Force Flight 101 crashed near the Russian city of Smolensk, killing all 96 people on board. Among the victims were the president of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, and his wife, Maria, ...

memorial Wasosz, plaque on market square (1).jpg, Plaque from 1960 commemorating the 1000th anniversary of Poland, 670th anniversary of Wąsosz and the 15th anniversary of Poland's recovery of Lower Silesia

References

External links

Town of Wąsosz official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wasosz Cities and towns in Lower Silesian Voivodeship Góra County