Grocholub (german: Grocholub, 1936-45: Erbersdorf) is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

, in the administrative district of

Gmina Walce __NOTOC__ Gmina Walce, German Gemeinde Walzen is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Krapkowice County, Opole Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. Its seat is the village of Walce (Walzen), which lies approximately south of Krapkowice an ...

, within

Krapkowice County __NOTOC__ Krapkowice County ( pl, powiat krapkowicki) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Opole Voivodeship, south-western Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local governmen ...

Opole Voivodeship Opole Voivodeship, or Opole Province ( pl, województwo opolskie ), is the smallest and least populated voivodeship (province) of Poland. The province's name derives from that of the region's capital and largest city, Opole. It is part of Upper S ...

, in southern Poland.

Location

It lies approximately north-east of

Walce Walce German: Walzen, is a village in Krapkowice County, Opole Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Walce. It lies approximately south of Krapkowice and south of the regional c ...

, south-east of

Krapkowice Krapkowice (; german: Krappitz; szl, Krapkowicy) is a town in southern Poland with 16,301 inhabitants (2019), situated in the Opole Voivodeship, straddling both banks of the Oder River at the point where it joins with the Osobłoga. It is the r ...

, and south of the regional capital

Opole Opole (; german: Oppeln ; szl, Ôpole) ; * Silesian: ** Silesian PLS alphabet: ''Ôpole'' ** Steuer's Silesian alphabet: ''Uopole'' * Silesian German: ''Uppeln'' * Czech: ''Opolí'' * Latin: ''Oppelia'', ''Oppolia'', ''Opulia'' is a city lo ...

History

The village was first mentioned in a document of Duke

Casimir I of Opole Casimir I of Opole ( pl, Kazimierz I opolski; – 13 May 1230), a member of the Piast dynasty, was a Silesian duke of Opole and Racibórz from 1211 until his death. Early life Casimir was the eldest child and only son of Duke Mieszko I Tangle ...

from 1228, when it was part of fragmented

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. Branch ...

-ruled Poland. Later on, it was also part of Bohemia (Czechia),

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

, and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. In 1936, during a massive Nazi campaign of renaming of placenames, it was renamed to ''Erbersdorf'' to erase traces of Polish origin. 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the Germans operated the E156 forced labour subcamp of the Stalag VIII-B/344

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military priso ...

in the village. After the defeat of Germany in the war, in 1945, the village became again part of Poland and its historic name was restored.

References

Grocholub {{Krapkowice-geo-stub