Brzeszcze

Brzeszcze is a city in the powiat Oświęcimski in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland. She is also seat of the urban and rural municipality ( gmina miejsko - wiejska ).

Geography

Brzeszcze located 7 km south-west of Oświęcim and 32 km south-east of Katowice and has an area of ​​19.17 km ².

History

The first written mention dates back to 1438th The first settlers came from Flemish. The village was destroyed during the Polish - Swedish wars. In 1772 came Brzeszcze in the partitions of Poland, under Austrian administration. In 1903 began the construction of the first coal mine. At this time the village had 1500 inhabitants lived mainly from agriculture. The mine in 1908 about 450 people in 1912, it was then already 1225th At this time, the first housing estate was built. In the years after the First World War, the number of employees varied widely.

During the Second World War, when this was the concentration camp Jawischowitz, a satellite camp of KZ Auschwitz. As part of the Germanization of the annexed territory a renaming of Brzeszcze in Ulmenau was planned, but never entered into force.

In 1962 Brzeszcze got the Charter. The early seventies, the population rose to over 10,000. Von 1975-1998 the village belonged to the Province of Katowice.

Twinning

• Londa, Italy, since 2008

Economy and Transport

The main economic activity in Brzeszcze is coal mining which Kopalnia wegla Kamiennego Brzeszcze - Silesia has their headquarters here

Through the village run the railway line Trzebinia - Zebrzydowice and Droga wojewódzka 933 ( DW933 ) and the DW949.

Community

Geography

The municipality has a surface area of 46.13 km ². 56 % of its territory is used for agriculture, 12% is covered by forest.

Sołectwo

The parish includes the Sołectwos: Jawiszowice, Przecieszyn, Skidzin, Wilczkowice and Zasole.