Głuchołazy ( ; , also known by other names) is a historic town in southwestern

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 ...

with approximately 13,534 inhabitants as of 2019. It is located within the

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

Opole Voivodeship Opole Voivodeship ( , , ), is the smallest and least populated voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship (province) of Poland. The province's name derives from that of the region's capital and largest city, Opole. It is part of Silesia. A relatively lar ...

(province), near the border with the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

, and is the administrative seat of

Gmina Głuchołazy __NOTOC__ Gmina Głuchołazy is an urban-rural gmina (administrative district) in Nysa County, Opole Voivodeship, in south-western Poland, on the Czech border. Its seat is the town of Głuchołazy, which lies approximately south of Nysa and so ...

Geography

The town is located in the historic

Lower Silesia Lower Silesia ( ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ) is a historical and geographical region mostly located in Poland with small portions in the Czech Republic and Germany. It is the western part of the region of Silesia. Its largest city is Wrocław. The first ...

region on the northern slopes of the Opawskie Mountains, in the valley of the Bělá River. , it has 13,534 inhabitants.

Symbol and etymology

Głuchołazy has a

canting arms Canting arms are heraldry, heraldic bearings that represent the bearer's name (or, less often, some attribute or function) in a visual pun or rebus. The expression derives from the latin ''cantare'' (to sing). French heralds used the term (), ...

– the shield features a

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...

's head in reference to its former name ''Koziaszyja'' (in Polish), ''Ziegenhals'' (in German) and ''Capricolium'' (in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

), which literally means "goat's neck". Other archaic Polish name for the town is ''Cygenhals''. The

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

name ''Hlucholazy'' and regional Silesian Guchołazy are also used by their native speakers.

History

The settlement in the episcopal

Duchy of Nysa The Duchy of Nysa (, ) or Duchy of Neisse () was one of the duchies of Silesia with its capital at Nysa in Lower Silesia. Alongside the Duchy of Siewierz, it was the only ecclesiastical duchy in the Silesian region, as it was ruled by a bis ...

within fragmented Poland was established about 1220 by Bishop Wawrzyniec of Wrocław, who invited German settlers to build up a stronghold against the threatening forces of the Přemyslid margrave

Vladislaus III of Moravia Vladislaus III, also called Vladislaus Henry III ( – 3 January 1247), was the margrave of Moravia and duke of Austria from 1246 until 1247.Jeremi K. Ochab, Jan Škvrňák and Michael Škvrňák, "Detecting Ottokar II's 1248–1249 Uprising and It ...

, brother of King

Ottokar I of Bohemia Ottokar I (; 1155 – 1230) was Duke of Bohemia periodically beginning in 1192, then acquired the title of King of Bohemia, first in 1198 from Philip of Swabia, later in 1203 from Otto IV of Brunswick and in 1212 (as hereditary) from ...

. 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 ...

between 1220 and 1249. In the mid-13th century, the church of St. Lawrence was built, the name of which probably refers to the town's founder, bishop Wawrzyniec (''Lawrence''). The place soon became an important site of

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

and

gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold by mining. Historically, mining gold from Alluvium, alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. The expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface has led to mor ...

, later run by the Thurzó and

Fugger The House of Fugger () is a German family that was historically a prominent group of European bankers, members of the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century mercantile patriciate of Augsburg, international mercantile bankers, and venture capitalists. ...

families. By the mid-14th century the defensive walls and tower were erected. The town was devastated in 1428 during the

Hussite Wars The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars or the Hussite Revolution, were a series of civil wars fought between the Hussites and the combined Catholic forces of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, the Papacy, a ...

. In 1445 it passed to Duchy of

Głogówek Głogówek (, , , ) is a small historic town in southern Poland. It is situated on the Osobloga River, in Opole Voivodeship of the greater Silesian region. The city lies approximately from Opole, the capital of the voivodeship, and is about fro ...

under local Polish Duke Bolko V the Hussite and in 1450 it was again reintegrated with the

, and remained part of it in the following centuries. The town was plundered during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

(1618–1648). After the

First Silesian War The First Silesian War () was a war between Kingdom of Prussia, Prussia and Habsburg monarchy, Austria that lasted from 1740 to 1742 and resulted in Prussia's seizing most of the region of Silesia (now in south-western Poland) from Austria. The ...

and the 1742 Treaty of Breslau the Duchy of Nysa was partitioned and Głuchołazy became a

Prussian Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, the House of Hohenzoll ...

bordertown, while the adjacent area around Zlaté Hory remained with

Austrian Silesia Austrian Silesia, officially the Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia, was an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Habsburg monarchy (from 1804 the Austrian Empire, and from 1867 the Cisleithanian portion of Austria-Hungary). It is la ...

. In 1834 the town suffered a fire, and in the following decades large parts of the medieval walls were demolished. In the 19th century it became a

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath, Somerset, Ba ...

. During

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 ...

, the Germans established the E355, E371, E476 and possibly also E574

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...

subcamps 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 as Prisoner of war, prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, inte ...

in the town. In the final stages of the war, the populace was evacuated in January 1945. In 1945, a German-conducted

death march A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war, other captives, or deportees in which individuals are left to die along the way. It is distinct from simple prisoner transport via foot march. Article 19 of the Geneva Convention requires tha ...

of thousands of prisoners of several subcamps of the

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...

passed through the town towards the

Gross-Rosen concentration camp Gross-Rosen was a network of Nazi concentration camps built and operated by Nazi Germany during World War II. The main camp was located in the German village of Gross-Rosen, now the modern-day Rogoźnica in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland, di ...

. Leon Foksiński, who escaped from the death march in Głuchołazy, is an honorary citizen of the town. Retreating Germans blew up bridges behind them, and finally left the town in May 1945. After the war the remaining German population was expelled and with the implementation of the Oder-Neisse line in 1945, the area was transferred to the

Republic 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 ...

, all in accordance to the

Potsdam Agreement The Potsdam Agreement () was the agreement among three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union after the war ended in Europe that was signed on 1 August 1945 and published the following day. A ...

. The town was repopulated by

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

, many of whom were displaced from former eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union, as well as settlers from war-devastated central Poland, especially from the area of Myszków. The first post-war mayor of Głuchołazy was Szymon Koszyk, pre-war Polish activist, writer and publicist in Upper Silesia and participant in the

Silesian Uprisings The Silesian Uprisings (; ; ) were a series of three uprisings from August 1919 to July 1921 in Upper Silesia, which was part of the Weimar Republic at the time. Ethnic Polish and Polish-Silesian insurrectionists, seeking to have the area tran ...

. The town was severely affected during the 2024 Central European floods.

Sports

The local

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club is . It competes in the lower leagues.

Notable people

* Michał Bajor (born 1957), actor and musician *

Kamil Bortniczuk Kamil Bortniczuk (born 11 June 1983) is a Polish politician, member of the VIII and IX Sejm as a member of the Agreement political party, within the Law and Justice parliamentary club as part of the United Right coalition. He represents the Op ...

(born 1983), politician, member of the Polish Sejm, Polish Minister of Sport and Tourism * (born 1958), activist, author of the logo of the Order of the Smile * Jakub Ćwiek (born 1982), fantasy writer * Roman Dąbrowski (born 1972), footballer * Roland Gumpert (born 1944), engineer and founder of the Gumpert sports car company * Szymon Koszyk (1891-1972), writer, soldier, national activist, first mayor of Głuchołazy * Lothar Mosler (1913-1995), historian * (born 1991), female basketball player * Andrzej Sośnierz (born 1951), politician and physician * Carl Stangen (1833-1911), entrepreneur * Mieczysław Walkiewicz (born 1949), politician, member of the Polish

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

Twin towns – sister cities

See twin towns of Gmina Głuchołazy.

Gallery

Upper Gate Tower in Głuchołazy (4).jpg, Upper Gate Tower, a remnant of the medieval defensive walls Głuchołazy, kościół św. Franciszka 01.jpg, Saint Francis of Assisi Church Głuchołazy, skrzyżowanie.jpg, Town centre Głuchołazy, ulica Korfantego.jpg, Pedestrian zone in the old town Głuchołazy (Ziegenhals) - Górny Stawek (Goldenteich).jpg, Spa Park in spring Głuchołazy, Andersa 52 willa.jpg, Villas in spa district Głuchołazy, ulica Andersa 04.jpg, Historic

tenements A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...

Głuchołazy, Bohaterów-Warszawy 4-8.jpg, Bohaterów Warszawy Street Głuchołazy Miasto 01.jpg, Railway station

References

External links

Official town webpage

Głuchołazy Unofficial Website
*
Głuchołazy in Photography

Jewish Community in Głuchołazy
on Virtual Shtetl {{Authority control Cities in Silesia Cities and towns in Opole Voivodeship Nysa County 13th-century establishments in Poland