Niemcza () is a town in
Dzierżoniów County
__NOTOC__
Dzierżoniów County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, south-western Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms p ...
,
Lower Silesian Voivodeship
Lower Silesian Voivodeship (, ) in southwestern Poland, is one of the 16 Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeships (provinces) into which Poland is divided. It covers an area of and has a total population of 2,899,986.
It is one of the wealthiest ...
, in south-western
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 is the seat of the administrative district (
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 ...
) called
Gmina Niemcza. It lies on the
Ślęza River, approximately east of
Dzierżoniów
Dzierżoniów (; until 1946 ; ) is a town located at the foot of the Owl Mountains in southwestern Poland, within the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the seat of Dzierżoniów County, and of Gmina Dzierżoniów (although it is not part of the ...
, and south of the regional capital
Wrocław
Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...
.
History
Niemcza is historically one of the most important towns of Silesia.
[Weczerka, p.361]["Official website of the city](_blank)
/ref> The oldest traces date back to the Bronze Age
The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
. Between 1000 and 800 B.C. people of the Lusatian culture
The Lusatian culture existed in the later Bronze Age and early Iron Age (1300–500 ) in most of what is now Poland and parts of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, eastern Germany and western Ukraine. It covers the Periods Montelius III (e ...
fortified the so-called "city hill" and incorporated this fortification into their Silesian defence system. This fort was probably destroyed during a battle against the Scythian
The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people who had migrated during the 9th to 8th centuries BC fr ...
around 500 BC. Members of the Germanic Silingi
The Silings or Silingi (; – ) were a Germanic tribe, part of the larger Vandal group. The Silingi at one point lived in Silesia, and the names ''Silesia'' and ''Silingi'' may be related.Jerzy Strzelczyk, "Wandalowie i ich afrykańskie państw ...
tribe who did not participate in the Migration Period
The Migration Period ( 300 to 600 AD), also known as the Barbarian Invasions, was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories ...
but stayed in Silesia chose the place in the 4th century as their fortified center of a Germanic settlement area between "mons Silencii" (Ślęża
The Ślęża (; or ''Zobtenberg'', later also ''Siling'') is a high mountain in the Sudeten Foreland in Poland. The mountain is built mostly of granite and is covered with forests.
The top of the mountain has a PTTK tourist mountain hut, a te ...
) and the river "Selenca" (Ślęza
The Ślęza (; ) is a 78.6 km river in Lower Silesia, southern Poland, a left tributary of the Oder. It starts in the Niemcza Hills (), part of the Sudetes, Sudeten Sudeten Foreland, Foreland (''Przedgórze Sudeckie''), and flows near Mount ...
). Slavs
The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and ...
arrived after the 6th century and called this place "Nemci" ( = mute, metaphorically "those who do not speak our language").[Weczerka, p.362] Thietmar of Merseburg
Thietmar (also Dietmar or Dithmar; 25 July 9751 December 1018), Prince-Bishop of Merseburg from 1009 until his death in 1018, was an important chronicler recording the reigns of German kings and Holy Roman Emperors of the Ottonian (Saxon) dynas ...
later described "Nemzi" as "eo quod a nostris olim sitcondita, dicta" (Nemzi is called like that because it is, according to reports, founded by our people). The settlement was expanded and evolved into the center of the Ślężanie
The Silesians () were a tribe of West Slavs, specifically of the Lechitic tribes, Lechitic/Polish tribes, Polish group, inhabiting territories of Lower Silesia, near Mount Ślęża, Ślęża mountain and Ślęza river, on both banks of the Oder, u ...
district.
Middle Ages
In early times Niemcza became an important base in Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...
s fight for Silesia. After 990 it was seized by 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 ...
under first historic ruler Mieszko I of Poland
Mieszko I (; – 25 May 992) was Duchy of Poland (966–1025), Duke of Poland from 960 until his death in 992 and the founder of the first unified History of Poland, Polish state, the Civitas Schinesghe. A member of the Piast dynasty, he was t ...
and withstood both emperor Henry II. in 1017 ( Siege of Niemcza) and a major offensive of Bohemia in 1093.[Weczerka, p.362] In 1137, the Polish and Czech rulers, Bolesław III Wrymouth
Bolesław III Wrymouth (; 20 August 1086 – 28 October 1138), also known as Boleslaus the Wry-mouthed, was the duke of Lesser Poland, Silesia and Sandomierz between 1102 and 1107 and over the whole of Poland between 1107 and 1138. He was the onl ...
and Soběslav I
Soběslav (; ) is a town in Tábor District in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 7,100 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument zones, ur ...
, met in Niemcza. In 1152 the overthrown Polish ruler Władysław II the Exile
Władysław II the Exile (; 1105 – 30 May 1159) was the high duke of Poland and duke of Silesia from 1138 until his expulsion in 1146. He is the progenitor of the Silesian Piasts.
Governor of Silesia
He was the eldest son of Duke Bolesław III W ...
stayed in Niemcza.[ After 1155 it became the center of a ]Piast
The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I (–992). The Piasts' royal rule in Poland ended in 1370 with the death of King Casimir III the Great.
Branches of ...
castellany district. This preurban civitas consisted of a settlement enclosed by imposing ramparts in great-moravian design (the only one in Silesia), the castellany castle with St. Peter chapel, first mentioned in 1288/95, and a market place around St. Adalbert church, one of the oldest churches of Silesia, outside and to the west of the ramparts. The area was surrounded by several manors.
The German Ostsiedlung
(, ) is the term for the Early Middle Ages, early medieval and High Middle Ages, high medieval migration of Germanic peoples and Germanisation of the areas populated by Slavs, Slavic, Balts, Baltic and Uralic languages, Uralic peoples; the ...
reached Niemcza and the surrounding area already in 1210. The settlement however grew only slow as the new German town was founded directly on the soil of the cramped old Polish urbs, whereas the more spacious market place around St. Adalbert was remodeled to a village. In 1282, Duke Henry IV Probus
Henry Probus (Latin for the Righteous; or ''Prawy''; ; – 23 June 1290) was a member of the Silesian branch of the royal Polish Piast dynasty. He was Duke of Silesia at Wrocław from 1266 as well as the ruler of the Seniorate Province ...
granted Niemcza 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 ...
, although it is possible that town rights were granted earlier.[ Remarkable was the establishment of the parish church of St. Mary, which in 1295 was assigned to both Poles and Germans for shared and separate usage. Before 1300 a new city wall was built, which is in parts preserved. At the same time the wooden castellany castle was replaced by a stone castle, and a city hall was first mentioned in 1474.
]
With the partition of the Duchy of Wrocław
The Duchy of Silesia (, ) with its capital at Wrocław was a medieval provincial duchy of Poland located in the region of Silesia. Soon after it was formed under the Piast dynasty in 1138, it fragmented into various Silesian duchies. In 1327, the ...
in 1311 the town passed to the Duchy of Brzeg
The Duchy of Brzeg () or Duchy of Brieg (; ) was one of the Duchies of Silesia, created in 1311 during the fragmentation of the Duchy of Legnica. A Bohemian fief from 1329, it was ruled by the Silesian Piasts until their extinction in 1675. Its ca ...
. In 1322 both the town and municipal area (Weichbild) became a pledged possession of the Duchy of Åšwidnica, whose duke Bolko I. used the strategic position of Niemcza in his fight against Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...
. In 1331 Niemcza was successfully defended during the Czech invasion of King John of Bohemia
John of Bohemia, also called the Blind or of Luxembourg (; ; ; 10 August 1296 – 26 August 1346), was the Count of Luxembourg from 1313 and King of Bohemia from 1310 and titular King of Poland. He is well known for having died while fighting ...
.[ After 1392 the duchy of Åšwidnica was dissolved, Niemcza came back to the duchy of Brzeg, which in 1419 was reunited with the ]Duchy of Legnica
The Duchy of Legnica (, ) or Duchy of Liegnitz () was one of the Duchies of Silesia, formed during the fragmentation of Poland into smaller provincial duchies, ruled by a local line of the Piast dynasty between 1248 and 1675. Its capital was Legni ...
and remained under the rule of the Piast dynasty
The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented List of Polish monarchs, Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I of Poland, Mieszko I (–992). The Poland during the Piast dynasty, Piasts' royal rule in Pol ...
until 1675, although under Bohemian suzerainty. The Hussite
file:Hussitenkriege.tif, upright=1.2, Battle between Hussites (left) and Crusades#Campaigns against heretics and schismatics, Catholic crusaders in the 15th century
file:The Bohemian Realm during the Hussite Wars.png, upright=1.2, The Lands of the ...
s seized Niemcza/Nimptsch in 1430 and held the town for several years. After six unsuccessful sieges it was returned in 1434 and razed to the ground by the burghers of Wrocław
Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...
. In 1455 duchess Hedwig of Legnica confirmed the town rights of Niemcza.[
]
Modern era
In 1481 the administration of the municipal area was moved to Białobrzezie.[ Nimptsch, which was equipped below average, enclosed by noble properties, on the periphery of the municipal area, in the extreme western corner of the duchy and close to the far more successful foundations of Reichenbach (Dzierżoniów) and ]Frankenstein
''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 Gothic novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a Sapience, sapient Frankenstein's monster, crea ...
(ZÄ…bkowice ÅšlÄ…skie), could never overcome such backlashes. A moderate recovery, marked by the reconstruction of the town wall, the modernisation of the never used, ducal residence, the rebuilding of St. Adalbert as the Protestant church St. George in 1612 and the awarding of several town rights, was stopped by 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 ...
. During the war, in 1625 a plague epidemic broke out, and in the 1630s the town was destroyed and plundered by foreign troops.[ In 1635 Daniel Casper von Lohenstein was born in the residence, the only building not destroyed during this war. Only 12 out of 103 landlords of Nimpsch survived firestorm and pest. In 1642 the town hall was rebuilt.][
The slow rebuilding, with the help of immigrated Bohemians, was again stopped by several major fires, which destroyed the town hall and parts of the residence. After the extinction of the local Piasts in 1675 the ]Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation (), also sometimes called the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to, and as an alternative to or from similar insights as, the Protestant Reformations at the time. It w ...
obtained the tension-filled reestablishment of a Catholic commune. At the same time Nimptsch became a center of sacred music thanks to Protestant cantor Johann Heinrich Quiel.
In 1742 it was annexed by Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...
. In 1826 Fryderyk Chopin
The Fryderyk is the annual award in Polish music. Its name refers to the original Polish spelling variant of Polish composer Frédéric Chopin's first name. Its status in the Polish public can be compared to the US Grammy and British BRIT Awar ...
travelled through the town. In 1832 and 1846, Protestant and Catholic schools were built.[
]
20th century
In 1940, the Germans established a 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 ...
camp in the town,[ and in 1944 also the ''AL Nimptsch'' subcamp of the Groß-Rosen concentration camp, whose prisoners were mostly Poles. After the defeat of ]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 ...
Nimptsch passed again to 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 ...
and the historic Polish name ''Niemcza'' was restored. The German inhabitants were expelled and the town was resettled with Poles, many of whom where themselves expelled from former eastern Polish territories, annexed by the Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
.[ Also ]Greeks
Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...
, refugees of the Greek Civil War
The Greek Civil War () took place from 1946 to 1949. The conflict, which erupted shortly after the end of World War II, consisted of a Communism, Communist-led uprising against the established government of the Kingdom of Greece. The rebels decl ...
, settled in Niemcza in the 1950s.[ The town was not destroyed in ]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 ...
. Of the three preserved historical buildings at that time the Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
octagon of the residence and the Catholic Church are decayed and demolished. The St. George church is preserved, as well as the late Baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
residential buildings on the market place (''Rynek'').
From 1975 to 1998 Niemcza was in Wałbrzych Voivodeship
Walbrzych Voivodeship () was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland from the years 1975 to 1998, eventually superseded by the Lower Silesian Voivodeship.
Major cities and towns (population in 1995)
* Wałbrzych (139, ...
. The town suffered in the 1997 Central European flood
The 1997 Central European flood or the 1997 Oder Flood of the Oder and Morava (river), Morava river basins in July 1997 affected Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany, taking the lives of 114 people and causing material damages estimated at $4. ...
.[
]
Population
Cuisine
The officially protected traditional food
Traditional foods are foods and Dish (food), dishes that are passed on through generations or which have been consumed for many generations. Traditional foods and dishes are traditional in nature, and may have a historic precedent in a national ...
s from Niemcza (as designated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland) are various meat products, including ''kiełbasa niemczańska'' and ''kiełbasa galicjanka z Niemczy'', two local types kiełbasa
Kielbasa (, ; from Polish ) is any type of meat sausage from Poland and a staple of Polish cuisine. In American English, it is typically a coarse, U-shaped smoked sausage of any kind of meat, which closely resembles the ''Wiejska'' ''sausage'' ...
, ''szynka wieprzowa niemczańska'', a local type of smoked
Smoking is the process of flavoring, browning, cooking, or preserving food, particularly meat, fish and tea, by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering material, most often wood.
In Europe, alder is the traditional smoking wood, but ...
ham
Ham is pork from a leg cut that has been preserved by wet or dry curing, with or without smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in '' Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 39. As a processed meat, the term '' ...
, ''słonina marynowana z Niemczy'', a local type of marinated
Marinating is the process of soaking foods in a seasoned, often acidic, liquid before cooking. This sauce, called the marinade, can be either acidic (made with ingredients such as vinegar, lemon juice, or wine), or enzymatic (made with ingredien ...
słonina, and home-made Niemcza meat in pieces (''mięso w kawałkach niemczańskie domowe''), which consists of various types of meat, cut into pieces, marinated with spices
In the culinary arts, a spice is any seed, fruit, root, Bark (botany), bark, or other plant substance in a form primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of pl ...
, and seasoned
Seasoning is the process of supplementing food via herbs, spices, and/or salts, intended to enhance a particular flavour.
General meaning
Seasonings include herbs and spices, which are themselves frequently referred to as "seasonings". Salt may ...
with salt
In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...
, pepper, garlic
Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plants in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chives, Welsh onion, and Chinese onion. Garlic is native to central and south Asia, str ...
and herb
Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typically distingu ...
s.
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 ...
team is Niemczanka Niemcza. It competes in the lower leagues. It was the first club of Niemcza native, Poland national football team
The Poland national football team () represents Poland in men's international Association football, football competitions since their first match in 1921. It is governed by the Polish Football Association (PZPN), the governing body for football ...
player, Krzysztof PiÄ…tek.
Notable people
* Friedrich von Logau
Friedrich von Logau (January 1605 – 24 July 1655) was a German poet and epigrammatist of the Baroque era.
Life
He was born the son of Georg von Logau, Estate (land), estate owner in Brochocin, ZÄ…bkowice ÅšlÄ…skie County, Brockut near Niemcza, ...
* Daniel Casper von Lohenstein
* Sigmar Wittig
* Jo Brauner
Joachim "Jo" Brauner (born 29 November 1937) is a German former news anchorman and journalist.
Life
During the Second World War, Brauner was evacuated in January 1945 with his mother and three siblings from Breslau (Wroclaw) to Saale in Thur ...
* Paweł Sibik
* Krzysztof Piatek
Twin towns – sister cities
See twin towns of Gmina Niemcza.
Surroundings
* Gola Dzierżoniowska Castle
* Cistercian monastery at Henryków
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
Notes
{{Authority control
Cities and towns in Lower Silesian Voivodeship
Dzierżoniów County
Populated riverside places in Poland
Cities in Silesia