Żory

Żory
Market place (rynek)
Flag Coat of arms Wordmark
Żory Żory Show map of PolandShow map of Silesian VoivodeshipShow all
Coordinates: 50°3′N 18°42′E / 50.050°N 18.700°E / 50.050; 18.700Coordinates: 50°3′N 18°42′E / 50.050°N 18.700°E / 50.050; 18.700
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Silesian
County	city county
First mentioned	1258
Town rights	1272
Government
• Mayor	Waldemar Socha
Area
• City	64.64 km2 (24.96 sq mi)
Population  (2019-06-30[1])
• City	62,462
• Density	970/km2 (2,500/sq mi)
• Metro	659,000
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	44-240
Area code(s)	+48 32
Car plates	SZO
Website	www.zory.pl

Żory ([ˈʐɔrɨ]; German: Sohrau, Silesian: Żory) is a town and city county in Silesian Voivodeship, Poland with 62,462 inhabitants (2019). Previously it was in Katowice Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is located in the historic Upper Silesia region about 30 kilometres (19 mi) southwest of Katowice.

History[]

Saints Philip and Jacob parish church.

The settlement on the road from Cieszyn to Kraków was first mentioned in a 1258 deed, when it was part of fragmented Piast-ruled Poland. Żory is one of the oldest towns in Silesia, it was granted city rights according to Magdeburg Law on 24 February 1272 by Duke Władysław of Opole. It remained part of the Upper Silesian Duchy of Opole, since 1327 a Bohemian fief, until in 1532 it was incorporated into the Lands of the Bohemian Crown. In 1645 along with the Duchy of Opole and Racibórz it returned to Poland under the House of Vasa, and in 1666 it fell back to Bohemia. In the 18th century, it was centre of cloth manufacturing, later of metal and machining industry.

After the First Silesian War it was annexed by Prussia in 1742, and from 1871 it was part of Germany. After World War I, in 1918, Poland regained independence, and upon the 1921 Upper Silesia plebiscite, Żory passed to the Second Polish Republic, and was administratively part of the Silesian Voivodeship, though 69.4% of the citizens had voted for Germany.

Żory was the site of a battle between Poles and the invading Germans on the first day of World War II, September 1, 1939. Afterwards it was occupied by Nazi Germany. From 1942 to 1945, the Germans operated a Polenlager forced labour camp for Poles in the city.^[2][3] Among its prisoners were children whose parents were either arrested or deported to Germany.^[2] Poles expelled in 1942 from several villages and the town of Szczyrk were also temporarily held in the camp before deportation to forced labour to Germany.^[4] In the final stages of the war, in January 1945, the Germans murdered 40 prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration camp in the city during a death march.^[5] The city was conquered by Soviet and Czechoslovak troops in March 1945, the German population was expelled,^{[citation needed]} and the city was restored to Poland.

Museum of Fire in Żory

Districts[]

The town is subdivided into 15 districts.^[6]

Education[]

Music school in Żory

• in Katowice – Branch in Żory (Wydział zamiejscowy w Żorach)
• Silesian University of Technology - Branch in Żory

Sport[]

• Pogoń 1922 Żory – women's handball team playing in Polish Ekstraklasa Women's Handball League

Notable people[]

• Otto Stern (1888–1969), physicist and Nobel laureate
• Jerzy Makula (born 1952), pilot, two times European Glider Aerobatic Champion and six times World Glider Aerobatic Champion
• Stanisław Sojka (born 1959), jazz and pop singer-songwriter
• Ewa Swoboda (born 1997), sprinter

Twin towns – sister cities[]

Żory is twinned with:^[7]

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Żory.

• Jewish Community in Żory on Virtual Shtetl