Szobiszowice is a neighborhood of the

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

city of

Gliwice Gliwice (; german: Gleiwitz) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. The city is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica river (a tributary of the Oder). It lies approximately 25 km west from Katowice, the regional cap ...

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, locate ...

, located in the central part of the city.

History

The village was first mentioned in 1276 through the divestiture of its owner Graf Peter von Slaventaw, who sold the village to the new lord of Szobiszowice, Hermann. In the early 14th-century ''

Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis ( pl, Księga uposażeń biskupstwa wrocławskiego, ''Book of endowments of the Bishopric of Wrocław'') is a Latin manuscript catalog of documents compiled in the later 13th or in the early 14th centu ...

'' it was mentioned under the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

ized name ''Novo Sobyssowitz''. The name Szobiszowice is of Polish origin, and it probably comes from the name of its founder Sobiech. The old Church of St. Bartholomew was built in this suburb of

in the 13th century and was a place of activity for the

Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon ( la, Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Salomonici), also known as the Order of Solomon's Temple, the Knights Templar, or simply the Templars, was a Catholic military order, o ...

. Alike Gliwice, Szobiszowice was part of various duchies 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 Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

. In 1683 Polish troops led by King

John III Sobieski John III Sobieski ( pl, Jan III Sobieski; lt, Jonas III Sobieskis; la, Ioannes III Sobiscius; 17 August 1629 – 17 June 1696) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1674 until his death in 1696. Born into Polish nobility, Sobie ...

stopped in the settlement before the

Battle of Vienna The Battle of Vienna; pl, odsiecz wiedeńska, lit=Relief of Vienna or ''bitwa pod Wiedniem''; ota, Beç Ḳalʿası Muḥāṣarası, lit=siege of Beç; tr, İkinci Viyana Kuşatması, lit=second siege of Vienna took place at Kahlenberg Mo ...

. The population in this area grew rapidly in the 18th and 19th centuries due to this area's industrialization. The area was annexed by

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 ...

in the 18th-century, and became part of Germany in 1871. The communities of Szobiszowice (then officially ''Petersdorf'') and Trynek were incorporated in the municipal area of Gliwice on April 1, 1897. Before this incorporation, Petersdorf was an area in the

Landkreis Tost-Gleiwitz In all German states, except for the three city states, the primary administrative subdivision higher than a ''Gemeinde'' (municipality) is the (official term in all but two states) or (official term in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia ...

. As a neighborhood of Gleiwitz the area experienced further expansion. 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 established and operated a ''

Polenlager The ''Polenlager'' (, ''Polish Camps'') was a system of forced labor camps in Silesia that held Poles during the World War II Nazi German occupation of Poland. The prisoners, originally destined for deportation across the border to the new semi-c ...

'' forced labour camp for Poles in the district. In 1977, future

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

delivered a sermon in the church of St. Bartholomew. In February 2008 the eastern section of Szobiszowice became a new neighborhood known as Zatorze.

Notable landmarks

Szobiszowice contains the following landmarks: * Old Saint Bartholomew church from the 13th century, one of the oldest structures of Gliwice * The New Church of St. Bartholomew (the restored church, Polish: ''Kościół św. Bartłomieja''), * The wooden

Radio mast Radio masts and towers are typically tall structures designed to support antennas for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. There are two main types: guyed and self-supporting structures. They are among the tallest human-mad ...

the supports the former

Gliwice Radio Tower The Gliwice Radio Tower is a transmission tower in the Szobiszowice district of Gliwice, Upper Silesia, Poland. Structure The Gliwice Radio Tower is 111 m tall, with a wooden framework of impregnated siberian larch linked by brass connectors. It ...

, * The felstone in Łabędy Forest Formerly in Szobiszowice, but moved to Zatorze due to the boundary shift.: * Christ the King Church (Polish: ''Kościół Chrystusa Króla'', designed by Karl Mayr), * Linden Cemetery (''Cmentarz Lipowy'') with the children's cemetery sculpted by Paul Ondrusch, * Funeral Hall (Jewish Cemetery) and new Jewish cemetery (''Nowy Cmentarz Żydowski'') Other monuments have disappeared or became unidentifiable, such as the former castle and the Swedish column.

References

{{reflist * Gliwice, Niedziela, Dnia 13-Go Marca 1903 R. Ogłasza Urzędowy Dziennik Rosyjski. W Ode Zwie Swej Powiada Car, że Religia Prawosławna (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 25 Feb. 2016. .

External links

Gliwice

J. Rusinowska-Trojca: Städtebau und Wohnarchitektur in Gleiwitz (Gliwice)
Districts of Gliwice