Kluczbork

Infobox Settlement
name = Kluczbork


imagesize = 250px
image_caption = Main Square
image_shield = POL Kluczbork COA.svg
pushpin_

pushpin_label_position = bottom
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = POL
subdivision_type1 = Voivodeship
subdivision_name1 = Opole
subdivision_type2 = County
subdivision_name2 = Kluczbork County
subdivision_type3 = Gmina
subdivision_name3 = Gmina Kluczbork
leader_title = Mayor
leader_name = Jarosław Kielar
established_title = Established
established_date = 13th century
established_title3 = Town rights
established_date3 = 1252
area_total_km2 = 12.35
population_as_of = 2006
population_total = 25910
population_density_km2 = auto
timezone = CET
utc_offset = +1
timezone_DST = CEST
utc_offset_DST = +2
latd = 50
latm = 59
lats =
latNS = N
longd = 18
longm = 13
longs =
longEW = E
elevation_m = 190
postal_code_type = Postal code
postal_code = 46-200, 46-203
area_code = +48 77
blank_name = Car plates
blank_info = OKL
website = http://www.kluczbork.pl Kluczbork [IPA-pl|'|k|l|u|dż|b|o|r|k] ( _de. Kreuzburg O.S.) is a town in southwestern Poland with 26,670 inhabitants (2003), situated in the Opole Voivodeship. It is the capital of Kluczbork County and an important railroad junction. In Kluczbork the major rail line from Katowice splits into two directions - westwards to Wroclaw and northwards to Poznan. It is also connected with Fosowskie.

History

Archaeologists have determined that settlement existed at the location of present-day Kluczbork by 1000-800 BC. The Scirii and Bastarnae settled in the vicinity and were followed ca. 100 BC by Celts and Vandals. The latter left Silesia ca. 400 AD, allowing West Slavs to settle the region.

In the 13th century the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star acquired the "Kreuzburger Land" and territory near Breslau (Wrocław), including the villages Ullrichsdorf (Młodoszów), Kuhnau (Kuniów), and Kotschanowitz (Chocianowice). The Knights began the settlement of "Cruzeburg" (Kreuzburg) on November 2 1252. It received Magdeburg rights on February 26 1253, the official date of foundation for the town. The Knights adjudicated in the town until 1274, when it was administered by a vogt of local Silesian dukes and juries were introduced. Dukes holding sway over Kreuzburg included Henryk IV Probus (until 1290), Henry III of Glogau (Głogów) (until 1309), and Konrad I of Oels (Oleśnica).

With the Congress of Visegrád (1335), King Casimir III of Poland renounced his rights to Silesia and Kreuzburg passed to King John I of Bohemia. The town was repeatedly pawned during this time period and received the privileges of a salt market in 1426. From 1480 the town was inhabited by a predominantly Polish-speaking populace. After the death of King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia at the Battle of Mohács in 1526, Silesia was inherited by the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria.

On January 25 1588, the day after the Battle of Byczyna, Polish troops under Jan Zamoyski plundered Kreuzburg. The townspeople accepted the Protestant Reformation in 1656 and converted the local Roman Catholic Church into a Lutheran one. The town passed to the direct control of the Catholic Habsburgs the following year. Kreuzburg had a population of approximately one thousand inhabitants in 1681.

Citing an obscure inheritance treaty, King Frederick II of Prussia invaded Silesia in 1740 and began the Silesian Wars. Kreuzburg was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1741 and became part of the Province of Silesia. The town became part of the German Empire upon the unification of Germany in 1871. It had a predominantly German-speaking population of 5,238 in 1875. The population grew to 8,750 by 1895 and 10,236 by 1900.

Following the Treaty of Versailles after World War I, Kreuzburg was involved in the Upper Silesian referendum in 1921. 95.6% (37,957 votes out of 39,703 participants) voted to remain within Weimar Germany instead of joining the Second Polish Republic. It became part of the Province of Upper Silesia; to differentiate between other places named Kreuzburg, it was known as "Kreuzburg O.S." (referring to "Oberschlesien", or Upper Silesia). By 1939 the town was the seat of Landkreis Kreuzburg O.S. and had 11,693 inhabitants.

Kreuzburg was occupied by the Soviet Union's Red Army in January 1945 during World War II. Following the war in 1945, the town was placed under Polish administration and renamed to the traditional Polish name of "Kluczbork". The Germans remaining in the town were largely expelled and replaced with Poles.

Over the centuries the town suffered repeatedly from conflagration. The textile industry began to grow in importance in 1553, but suffered a fire in 1569. Another great fire destroyed many houses on December 8 1562. Another fire on April 23 1737 almost completely destroyed the town, leaving only a few houses and the castle unscathed. Several years of rebuilding passed before it reached its previous size. Yet another fire occurred in 1819, in which burned down an almshouse built by Carl Gotthard Langhans in 1778. Eight of the "Twelve Apostles", a complex of Baroque buildings in the town center, burned down in 1925.

Notable residents

*Jan Dzierżon (1811-1906), apiarist
*Gustav Freytag (1816-1895), dramatist and novelist
*Kurt Daluege (1897-1946), SS leader
*Joanna Gleich (born 1959), painter
*Edyta Górniak (born 1972), singer
*Tomasz Garbowski (born 1979), politician

Twin towns

Kluczbork is twinned with:
*flagicon|Germany Bad Dürkheim (Germany)
*flagicon|Ukraine Berezhany (Ukraine)

References

External links

* [http://www.kluczbork.pl/ver/en/ Official website]
* [http://www.kluczbork.pl/ver/en/1.php History of Kluczbork]