Polkowice () is a town 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 situated in
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 ...
. The town is the seat of
Polkowice County and of
Gmina Polkowice.
Geography
Polkowice is located in historic
Lower Silesia, about northwest of
Lubin. The nearest airport is
Wrocław Airport, located from Polkowice.
Situated in a traditional mining region, the town is part of the largest industrial
copper
Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...
-extraction area in Poland, with a copper-processing plant operating nearby. Nearby
Polkowice Dolne is the site of a former
State Agricultural Farm (PGR) and, since 1998, of a
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...
diesel engine plant, another major employer in the region.
Designated as an
urban-type settlement
Urban-type settlement, abbreviated: ; , abbreviated: ; ; ; ; . is an official designation for lesser urbanized settlements, used in several Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern European countries. The term was primarily used in the So ...
from 1945, Polkowice regained town status in 1967. In 1975–1998 it was in the former
Legnica Voivodeship.
History
The name of the town is probably derived from
Slavic (
Old Polish) ''
Boleslaw'', meaning "great glory", a favoured dynastic name in the Polish royal
House of Piast
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 ...
. According to legend, The
Silesian duke
Bolesław I the Tall
Bolesław I the Tall (; 1127 – 7 or 8 December 1201) was Duke of Wrocław from 1163 until his death in 1201.
Early years
Boleslaw was the eldest son of Władysław II the Exile by his wife Agnes of Babenberg, daughter of Margrave Leopold II ...
(1127–1201) had a hunting lodge erected near the later town, later called ''Bolkewice'' or, adjusted to the German pronunciation, ''Polkovicz'' (1333). In the ''Statuta synodalia episcoporum Wratislaviensium'' from 1475 the town is named ''Polkewicze'' and ''Polkowice''. As a result of the
fragmentation of Poland
The period of rule by the Piast dynasty between the 10th and 14th centuries is the first major stage of the history of Poland, history of the Polish state. The dynasty was founded by a series of dukes listed by the chronicler Gall Anonymous in t ...
into smaller duchies, it became part of the
Duchy of Silesia
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, t ...
, and later on the
Duchy of Głogów. Polkowice was mentioned as a town (''civitas'') in a 1276 deed. It remained part of the Duchy of Głogów, ruled by the Polish houses of Piast and
Jagiellon, including future Polish kings
John I Albert and
Sigismund I the Old, until the duchy's dissolution in 1506, when it was incorporated into the
Bohemian (Czech) Kingdom under the
Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.
Parts of the medieval town were destroyed by a blaze in 1457, it suffered further damages 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 ...
and by a plague epidemic in 1680. After the
First Silesian War in 1742, it was annexed by
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
and later incorporated into the
Province of Silesia. During the
Napoleonic Wars
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Napoleonic Wars
, partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
, image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg
, caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
, the town was visited by
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
twice, in 1807 and 1812. The town was renamed ''Heerwegen'' in 1937 by
German Nazi authorities during a campaign of erasing placenames of Polish origin. 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 ...
, a German
forced labour subcamp of the prison in
Jawor was operated in the present-day district of
Polkowice Dolne.
On January 11, 1945, the German administration evacuated the population, leaving only the army in the town. On February 9, 1945, the town was captured by the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
. Afterwards the abandoned town became part of Poland, in accordance with the preliminary border regulations of 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 displaced from
former eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union.
In 2005 the neighbouring village of
Polkowice Dolne was included within the town limits.
Education
* Lower Silesian College of Enterprise and Technology ''(Dolnośląska Wyższa Szkoła Przedsiębiorczości i Techniki)''
Sport
*
Górnik Polkowice – football team, playing in the
Polish third division. The team played in the country's
top flight in
season 2003-2004
*
MKS Polkowice – women's basketball team, 3rd place in
Sharp Torell Basket Liga in 2004/2005 season
*
CCC Polsat Polkowice – Road Cycling Team
UCI Professional Continental team
Twin towns – sister cities
See
twin towns of Gmina Polkowice
Notable residents
*
Fritz Thiel (1916–1943), German resistance fighter
*
Hans Kratzert (born 1940), German screenwriter and film director
Gallery
"1zetem" Polkowice - Kościół pomocniczy św. Barbary.jpg, Saint Barbara church at night
POL Polkowice ZGZM Office.JPG, ZGZM (''Copper Basin Gminas Association'') Office
Polkowice - ul. Gdańska (zetem).jpg, Gdańska street
Polkowice - Ośrodek historyczny miasta (zetem)5.jpg, Town center
Pomnik ku chwale górników polskiej miedzi - panoramio.jpg, Memorial stone dedicated to Polish copper miners
References
{{Authority control
Cities and towns in Lower Silesian Voivodeship
Polkowice County