Godula () is a

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 county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

in the north-east of

Ruda Śląska Ruda Śląska (; ) is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. It is a city in the Metropolis GZM, a metropolis with a population of two million. It is in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica River (tributary of the Oder). It h ...

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 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 has an area of 1.8 km² and in 2006 it was inhabited by 12,151 people.

History

Originally the area belonged to Orzegów, whose landed property was bought by Karl Godulla, after whom the settlement was named. The zinc smelter ''Godullahütte'' was built after his death, 1854–55, and operated until 1919. Adjacent to the establishment developed a working class settlement later called ''Godula'', the first 21 buildings were built in years 1858–61. The church of the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist was under construction since 1867. Trams communication was opened in the 1890s. 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 ...

in the

Upper Silesia plebiscite The Upper Silesia plebiscite was a plebiscite mandated by the Versailles Treaty and carried out on 20 March 1921 to determine ownership of the province of Upper Silesia between Weimar Germany and the Second Polish Republic. The region was ethni ...

2,178 out of 3,516 voters in ''Gutshof Orzegow'', encompassing Godula, voted in favour of joining Poland, against 1,332 opting for staying in Germany. Afterwards it became a part of

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

. Officially the municipality ''Godula'' was established in 1924 and had this year around 9,000 inhabitants. 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 ...

. After the war it was restored to Poland. Godula constituted a

gmina The gmina (Polish: , plural ''gminy'' ) is the basic unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. , there were 2,479 gminy throughout the country, encompassing over 43,000 villages. 940 gminy include cities and tow ...

(municipality) that was merged into Ruda in 1951, and as part of Ruda was amalgamated with

Nowy Bytom Nowy Bytom () is a district serving as administrative centre of Ruda Śląska, Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland. In 2006 it had an area of 4.6 km2 and was inhabited by 12,058 people. On January 12, 2006 a part of it was split off to form ...

to form Ruda Śląska on December 31, 1958.

References

Districts of Ruda Śląska {{Silesian-geo-stub