Rajcza 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 ...

Żywiec County __NOTOC__ Żywiec County ( pl, powiat żywiecki) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland, on the Slovak border. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polis ...

Silesian Voivodeship Silesian Voivodeship, or Silesia Province ( pl, województwo śląskie ) is a voivodeship, or province, in southern Poland, centered on the historic region known as Upper Silesia ('), with Katowice serving as its capital. Despite the Silesian ...

, in the historic province of

Lesser Poland Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name Małopolska ( la, Polonia Minor), is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a ...

, close to the border with

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called

Gmina Rajcza __NOTOC__ Gmina Rajcza is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Żywiec County, Silesian Voivodeship, in southern Poland, on the Slovak border. Its seat is the village of Rajcza, which lies approximately south of Żywiec and south of the ...

. It lies approximately south of

Żywiec Żywiec () (german: Saybusch) is a town in southern Poland with 31,194 inhabitants (2019). Between 1975 and 1998, it was located within the Bielsko-Biała Voivodeship, but has since become part of the Silesian Voivodeship.It is the capital of � ...

and south of the regional capital

Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most populo ...

. The village has a population of 3,438.

Location and transport

Rajcza lies in the

Żywiec Beskids The Żywiec Beskids ( pl, Beskid Żywiecki) is a mountain range in the Outer Western Carpathians in southern Poland. It is the second highest range in Poland, after the Tatra Mountains. The highest peak is Babia Góra Babia Góra (in P ...

, on the

Soła The Soła () is a river in southern Poland, a right tributary of the Vistula. Soła originates in the Western Beskids mountain range near the border with Slovakia. It is made up of the confluence of several small creeks at the village of Rajcza. ...

river, near ''Żywiec Landscape Park''. The village has a rail station, on the line from Żywiec to the Polish-Slovakian border. It is a popular tourist destination, with guest houses and winter sports facilities.

History

The village of Rajcza was founded in the first half of the 17th century, when this area belonged to Kraków Voivodeship, of the Polish - Lithuanian Commonwealth. At that time Rajcza belonged to Queen

Constance of Austria Constance of Austria (german: Konstanza; pl, Konstancja; 24 December 1588 – 10 July 1631) was Queen of Poland as the second wife of King Sigismund III Vasa and the mother of King John II Casimir. Biography Constance was a daughter of Charl ...

, the wife of King

Sigismund III Vasa Sigismund III Vasa ( pl, Zygmunt III Waza, lt, Žygimantas Vaza; 20 June 1566 – 30 April 1632 Adoption of the Gregorian calendar, N.S.) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1587 to 1632 and, as Sigismund, King of Sweden and ...

, part of her

folwark ''Folwark''; german: Vorwerk; uk, Фільварок; ''Filwarok''; be, Фальварак; ''Falwarak''; lt, Palivarkas is a Polish word for a primarily serfdom Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically ...

with main center located at Węgierska Górka. Following the Partitions of Poland Rajcza, together with southwestern Lesser Poland, became annexed by the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central- Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence ...

(1772). In 1843, iron manufacture was opened here, and 1854-1894, the owner of the village, Teodor Primavesi, remodeled a local palace, establishing a park around it. In 1884 Rajcza got rail connection with Żywiec and Cadca, and 10 years later, the village was purchased by the

Lubomirski family The House of Lubomirski is a Polish princely family. The Lubomirski family's coat of arms is the Drużyna coat of arms, which is similar to the Szreniawa coat of arms but without a cross. Origin and the coat of arms The Lubomirski f ...

, who expanded the palace. In 1914, Rajcza was bought by Żywiec branch of the

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

. In 1880 the village had 2,037 inhabitants, with 140 Jews, and 25 Germans. In the

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 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of the First World ...

Rajcza became a popular tourist destination. At that time, it had a Jewish minority, which in 1921 was estimated at 132. 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 ...

, Rajcza, together with whole Żywiec County, was directly incorporated into the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. Local Jews were transported to a ghetto in

Sucha Beskidzka Sucha Beskidzka (before 1961 called only ''Sucha'') is a town in the ''Beskid Żywiecki'' mountain range in southern Poland, on the Skawa river. It is the county seat of Sucha County. It has been in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999; pr ...

, and then murdered in death camps. In October 1940, during

Action Saybusch Action Saybusch (german: Aktion Saybusch, pl, Akcja Żywiec) was the mass expulsion of some 18,000–20,000 ethnic Gorals from the territory of Żywiec County in the area annexed to the German Province of Upper Silesia, conducted by the Wehrm ...

, 115 Polish families (501 persons) were forced to abandon their houses. The Poles were replaced with ethnic Germans from

Bucovina Bukovinagerman: Bukowina or ; hu, Bukovina; pl, Bukowina; ro, Bucovina; uk, Буковина, ; see also other languages. is a historical region, variously described as part of either Central or Eastern Europe (or both).Klaus Peter BergerT ...

. In May 1945, Rajcza was captured by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

. Until 1975, the village remained in Kraków Voivodeship. In 1975 - 1999, it belonged to

Bielsko-Biała Voivodeship Bielsko-Biała (; cs, Bílsko-Bělá, german: Bielitz-Biala, szl, Bjylsko-Bjoło) is a city in southern Poland, with a population of approximately 168,319 as of December 2021, making it the 22nd largest city in Poland, and an area of . It is a ...

Points of interest

* Parish church of St. Lawrence (1890), * Palace of Karol Stefan Habsburg, which in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

was a military hospital, * Palace park, * Kornhauser family house (19th century).

References

Jewish Community in Rajcza
on Virtual Shtetl {{coord, 49, 30, 25, N, 19, 6, 27, E, region:PL_type:city, display=title Villages in Żywiec County Holocaust locations in Poland Nazi war crimes in Poland