Bielsko (, ) was until 1950 an independent town situated in

Cieszyn Silesia Cieszyn Silesia, Těšín Silesia or Teschen Silesia ( ; or ; or ) is a historical region in south-eastern Silesia, centered on the towns of Cieszyn and Český Těšín and bisected by the Olza River. Since 1920 it has been divided betwe ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. In 1951 it was joined with Biała Krakowska to form the new town of

Bielsko-Biała Bielsko-Biała (; ; , ; ) is a city in southern Poland, with a population of approximately 166,765 as of December 2022, making it the List of cities and towns in Poland#Largest cities and towns by population, 22nd largest city in Poland, and an a ...

. Bielsko constitutes the western part of that town. Bielsko was founded by the Cieszyn Piast dukes in the late 13th century on the grounds of village later called Stare Bielsko (''Old Bielsko''), on the Biała River. It was first mentioned in a written document in 1312. Originally settled by Germans, it became the largest German-language center (''Deutsche Sprachinsel Bielitz'') in the

Duchy of Teschen The Duchy of Teschen (), also Duchy of Cieszyn () or Duchy of Těšín (), was one of the Duchies of Silesia centered on Cieszyn () in Upper Silesia. It was split off the Silesian Duchy of Opole and Racibórz in 1281 during the feudal divisio ...

, and remained so until the end of

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 ...

. In 1572 it gained autonomy as the Duchy (State) of Bielsko. During the 18th century a rapid development of

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

industry occurred, and at the beginning of the 19th century more than 500 weavers worked in the town. After the 1920 division of

between

and

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

it became, despite the protests of local Germans, a part of Poland. According to the Austrian census of 1910 the town had 18,568 inhabitants. The census asked people for their native language: 15,144 (84.3%) were German-speaking, 2,568 (14.3%) were Polish-speaking and 136 (0.7%) were Czech-speaking.

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

were not allowed to declare

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

, and most of them thus declared German as their native language. The most populous religious groups were

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

with 10,378 (55.9%), followed by

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

with 4,955 (26.7%) and the

with 3,024 (16.3%).Ludwig Patryn (ed):
Die Ergebnisse der Volkszählung vom 31. Dezember 1910 in Schlesien
', Troppau 1912. The vast majority of the Jews were exterminated by Nazis during World War II, and the German population was expelled by the

Soviets The Soviet people () were the citizens and nationals of the Soviet Union. This demonym was presented in the ideology of the country as the "new historical unity of peoples of different nationalities" (). Nationality policy in the Soviet Union ...

after the war under the terms demanded by Stalin at the Potsdam Conference.

Notable people

* Three well-known

Holocaust survivors Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universall ...

from Bielsko are Kitty Hart-Moxon, Roman Frister and Gerda Weissmann Klein. All three have written autobiographies and other works about their experiences during the Second World War. *

Shlomo Avineri Shlomo Avineri (Hebrew: שלמה אבינרי; born Jerzy Wiener; 20 August 1933 – 30 November 2023) was an Israeli political scientist. He was a professor of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and member of the Israel A ...

, an Israeli political scientist * The ancestors of the British peer Christopher Tugendhat, Baron Tugendhat, are also from what was Bielitz. * Gustav Gyula Geyer (1828–1900), Hungarian educator and entomologist * Maurice Bloomfield, an American linguist

Footnotes

References

External links

*
History of Bielsko
{{Authority control Bielsko-Biała Cieszyn Silesia Capitals of former nations

Notable people

See also

Footnotes

References

External links