Gorlice () is a town and an urban municipality ("gmina") in south-eastern Poland with around 24,825 inhabitants (2025). (since 1999), previously in Nowy Sącz Voivodeshi (1975–1998). It is the capital of Gorlice County.
History
Gorlice was founded during the reign of Casimir the Great in 1354. In that year, the Stolnik of Sandomierz, Derslaw Karwacjan, received royal permission to found a town in a densely forested area of the Carpathian foothills. The existence of the town is mentioned in sources from 1388, 1404 and 1417. In the 15th century, Gorlice remained private property of the Karwacjan family.
The town quickly developed, becoming a regional center of crafts and trade. In 1504, Jan Karwacjan received royal permission for two fairs annually and a weekly market. During the Polish Golden Age, Gorlice prospered. Its artisans and merchants had contacts not only with other Polish towns, but also with merchants from Upper Hungary. In the second half of the 16th century, Gorlice became property of the Odrowaz family, which supported Protestant Reformation. Swedish invasion of Poland (1655–60) brought widespread destruction: the population of Gorlice fell from 1200 (in 1657) to only 284 (in 1662).
Age of Partitions and first kerosene lamp
thumb|left|upright|A monument at the site of the world's first [[kerosene lamp]]
As a result of the First Partition of Poland (Treaty of St-Petersburg dated 5 July 1772), the town was annexed by the Habsburg Empire (for more details, read the article Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria). In 1806, the Austrian government sold the town to a local nobleman, Jan Nepomucen Stadnicki of Roznow.
Until 1918, the town remained part of Austria-Hungary (Cisleithania) after the compromise of 1867, head (since 1865) of the county with the same name, one of the 78 Bezirkshauptmannschaften in Austrian Galicia province (Crown land). By the mid-19th century, the population of Gorlice reached 4000. The town entered the period of its prosperity after its 1854–1858 resident Ignacy Łukasiewicz invented the kerosene lamp in 1853. In a few years, sprawling oil wells emerged in Gorlice, and the town was called the cradle of Polish oil industry; its rapid industrialization was spurred with the construction of a railroad (1883).
By the early 20th century, the population of Gorlice grew to 6,000, but its development was halted by World War I. The city was the focal point of the German Gorlice-Tarnów Offensive during World War I, in May 1915. Extremely heavy and prolonged fighting took place here, Gorlice frequently changed hands, and as a result, the town was completely destroyed. Hence the "Gorlice fair" or "Gorlice days" held every year during the May Bank Holidays and adjoining days, which are enjoyed by many visitors both domestic and from abroad.
20th century
thumb|left|An early 20th century postcard of Gorlice
During the First World War, Gorlice played a strategically significant role in the 1915 Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive. On May 1, 1915, the combined forces of Austria-Hungary and Germany initiated artillery barrages against Russian soldiers stationed on the battle line stretching from Gorlice to Tarnow. The following day, Austro-German infantry units launched an unsuccessful attack near Tarnow. In Gorlice, the weakened Russian forces were unable to defend against the Austrian and German attackers. On May 6, General Radko-Dmitriev, commander of the Russian Third Army, ordered his troops to retreat. An attempt by General Radko-Dmitriev to counterattack on May 7 and 8 resulted in disaster for the Russians, as German reinforcements outnumbered the defenders.
The following spring, General Alexei Brusilov, commander of the Russian Eighth Army, launched a counteroffensive that nearly destroyed the Austro-Hungarian Army. The Brusilov Offensive, as it is known, is regarded as one of the most successful operations in the First World War.
thumb|Gorlice in 1937
In the Second Polish Republic, Gorlice belonged to Kraków Voivodeship. Since local oil wells had been almost exhausted, the center of Polish oil industry moved eastwards, to Borysław. This resulted in widespread unemployment, street demonstrations and increased popularity of Communist ideology among local workers. On 1 May 1936, a May Day rally attracted 20,000 people.
The German occupation of Gorlice began on 7 September 1939 (see Invasion of Poland). During the war, the town's Jewish community was first herded by Nazi Germans into the newly formed Gorlice Ghetto and then murdered at Belzec. On 16 January 1945, the Red Army liberated Gorlice.
History of Jews in Gorlice
When Gorlice was first founded there were not any Jewish communities. Most of the Jews in the area would live in villages or Polish landowners estates. There were a few reasons for Jews at this time to not live within Gorlice. One was the Magdeburg Rights, by living outside of Gorlice in villages or on estates, the Jewish communities did not have to follow the city's laws. Some of the suburbs that Jews did live in were Ropica Polska, Siary, Strezeszyn, Marianpolski and Magdaleni. Another reason that Jews were not residing in Gorlice in earlier times was because of "De non tolerandis Judaeis". This was a ruling that some cities had during the 16th century, forbidding Jews from living in them. (These were anti-Semitic edicts, used to prevent competition in business and other areas of work).
In the 18th century there were a few Jewish families living in Gorlice. When the Jews first settled in Gorlice they were mostly making a living through trading wine and corn. It was not until the later half of the 19th century that Jewish people started really settling into the city. The Jews settling in Gorlice at that time were mostly settling in the area by the market square and its nearby streets. This area that most Jews were settling in would in the future, under German occupation, become the Gorlice Ghetto. While the non-Jewish residents were working with agriculture, the Jews were prevailing in the oil industry with trade and development. In 1874, Jewish investors helped with the development of an oil refinery, along with another one nearby in 1883.