Dębowiec is a village and the seat of Gmina Dębowiec, Cieszyn County in

Silesian Voivodeship Silesian Voivodeship ( ) is an administrative province in southern Poland. With over 4.2 million residents and an area of 12,300 square kilometers, it is the second-most populous, and the most-densely populated and most-urbanized region of Poland ...

, southern Poland. It has an area of and a population of 1,772 (2007). It lies in the historical region of

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 ...

Etymology

Both Polish and German names are of topographic origins, but with a slightly different meanings. The Polish name is derived from oaks (Polish: ''dąb'', plural ''dęby'') and denotes ''an oaken part of wood''. German name: ''Baumgarten'' is a conjunction of two words: Baum (tree) and Garten (''garden'').

History

The village was first mentioned in a Latin document of Diocese of Wrocław called '' Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis'' from around 1305 as ''item in Dambonczal''. It meant that the village was in the process of location (the size of land to pay a tithe from was not yet precise). The creation of the village was a part of a larger settlement campaign taking place in the late 13th century on the territory of what would later be known as Upper Silesia. The village became a seat of a Catholic

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

, first mentioned in an incomplete register of Peter's Pence payment from 1335 as ''Bemgard'' and as such being one of the oldest in the region. It was again mentioned in the register of Peter's Pence payment from 1447 among the 50 parishes of Teschen deanery as ''Bomgarte''. The name from 1335 is of Germanic roots and indicates that among long ethnically Polish (Slavic, as the name from ''Liber fundationis..'' is of Slavic origins) citizens an unknown number of German settlers arrived and gave the common village a German name which eventually evolved into ''Baumgarten''. Politically the village belonged initially to the Duchy of Teschen, formed in 1290 in the process of feudal fragmentation of Poland and was ruled by a local branch of Piast dynasty. In 1327 the duchy became a fee of the

Kingdom of Bohemia The Kingdom of Bohemia (), sometimes referenced in English literature as the Czech Kingdom, was a History of the Czech lands in the High Middle Ages, medieval and History of the Czech lands, early modern monarchy in Central Europe. It was the pr ...

, which after 1526 became part of the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

. After the 1540s Protestant Reformation prevailed in the Duchy of Teschen and a local Catholic church was taken over by Lutherans. It was taken from them, as one from around fifty buildings in the region, by a special commission and given back to the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

on 18 April 1654. On 15 March 1793 the village was bought from Marklowski noble family by Prince Albert of Saxony, Duke of Teschen and included in Teschener Kammer. In 1807 the first school in Dębowiec was opened, before that the local children attended to school in Simoradz. In 1854-1856 new bricked church was built, which replaced old wooden church. Lutherans built a cemetery chapel in 1912. The new school building was opened in 1908, to celebrate 60 years of reign of Franz Joseph I of Austria. After the Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire a modern municipal division was introduced in the re-established Austrian Silesia. The village as a municipality was subscribed to the political district of Bielsko and the legal district of Skoczów. According to the censuses conducted in 1880, 1890, 1900 and 1910 the population of the village dropped from 992 in 1880 to 984 in 1910, with majority of the inhabitants being native Polish-speakers (between 99% and 99.1%) and a few people German-speaking (at most 9 or 0.9% in 1880 and 1890) or Czech-speaking (at most 7 or 0.7% in 1900), in terms of religion in 1910 majority were Roman Catholics (560 or 56.9%), followed by

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

s (417 or 42.4%) and

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 ...

(7 people). The village was also traditionally inhabited by Cieszyn Vlachs, speaking Cieszyn Silesian dialect. At the beginnings of the 20th century

methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The abundance of methane on Earth makes ...

was discovered in the village. Its explosion in 1911 caused a fire lasting few days. After

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the fall of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

, the Polish–Czechoslovak War and the division of

in 1920, it became a part of

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 ...

. It was then annexed by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

at the beginning 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 ...

. During the night between 15 and 16 February 1941 the first elite special-operations paratroops called Cichociemni parachuted over Dębowiec. It was caused by a mistake of navigator and a lack of fuel as they originally intended to land somewhere around Włoszczowa. After the war the village was restored to

. In 2014 graduation tower in the center of the village was opened.

Geography

Dębowiec lies in the southern part of Poland, approximately west of the nearest town, Skoczów, north-east of the county seat,

Cieszyn Cieszyn ( , ; ; ) is a border town in southern Poland on the east bank of the Olza River, and the administrative seat of Cieszyn County, Silesian Voivodeship. The town has 33,500 inhabitants ( and lies opposite Český Těšín in the Czech Repu ...

, west of Bielsko-Biała, south-west of the regional capital

Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...

, and east of the border with the Czech Republic. It is situated on the Knajka river (left tributary of the

Vistula The Vistula (; ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at in length. Its drainage basin, extending into three other countries apart from Poland, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra i ...

), along which many fish ponds are located. It lies on the geographical border between Silesian Foothills (to the south), Ostrava Basin (to north-west) and Oświęcim Basin (to north-east), between

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

; north of the Silesian Beskids; The biggest forest, called ''Dębowczak'', lies in the north-west part of the village. Several oak trees (''Quercus robur'') aged between 250 and 300 years were registered in 1959 as natural monuments.

Footnotes

References

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External links

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Official website of the gmina
{{DEFAULTSORT:Debowiec, Cieszyn County Villages in Cieszyn County Cieszyn Silesia