Jaworzno is a city county in southern Poland in the Silesian Voivodeship, near Katowice. It lies in the Silesian Highlands, on the Przemsza river (a tributary of the Vistula). Jaworzno belongs to Lesser Poland and, despite belonging to the Silesian Voivodeship since 1999, Jaworzno is not part of Silesia. Jaworzno is one of the cities of the 2.7 million conurbation – Katowice urban area and within a more significant Katowice-Ostrava metropolitan area populated by about 5,294,000 people. The population of the city is 89,350 (2021). and in 2017 refused to join the Metropolis GZM (which eventually superseded the Union), mainly due to concerns about public transport quality.

thumb|right|Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union

Climate

The climate of the area is continental and humid. The annual average temperature is (January average and July average °C). Yearly rainfall averages at , the rainiest month being July. The area's characteristic weak winds blow at about 2 m/s from the west (Moravian Gate).

Transport

  • Routes

Jaworzno is located at the intersection of several road routes such as the A4 motorway (part of European route E40), the S1 expressway which is connected with the A1 motorway (both forming part of the European route E75), the National road No. 79 (Warsaw–Bytom), and Voivodeship road 903.

  • Public transport

Public transport is provided by PKM Jaworzno (Przedsiębiorstwo Komunikacji Miejskiej w Jaworznie – public transport company in Jaworzno), not belonging to the KZK GOP. PKM Jaworzno was one of the first public transport companies in Poland that introduced the magnetic card called Jaworznicka Karta miejska (Jaworzno Urban Card) instead of paper tickets. Currently, PKM Jaworzno is one of the most modern public transport companies in Poland. The PKM Jaworzno's fleet is based 40% on electric vehicles.

Districts and housing estates

thumb|Districts of Jaworzno

  • Bory
  • Byczyna
  • Cezarówka
  • Ciężkowice
  • Dąbrowa Narodowa
  • Długoszyn
  • Dobra
  • Gigant
  • Góra Piasku
  • Jeleń
  • Jeziorki
  • Koźmin
  • Niedzieliska
  • Pieczyska
  • Siłownia
  • Podwale
  • Stara Huta
  • Stare Miasto (Old City)
  • Szczakowa
  • Śródmieście (Downtown)
  • Wilkoszyn
  • Wysoki Brzeg
  • Osiedle Stałe
  • Osiedle Awaryjne
  • Osiedle Cegielniana
  • Osiedle Chrząstówka
  • Osiedle Energetyków
  • Osiedle Gagarina
  • Osiedle Górnicze
  • Osiedle Kościuszki
  • Osiedle Warpie
  • Osiedle Leopold
  • Osiedle Łubowiec
  • Osiedle Pańska Góra
  • Osiedle Podłęże
  • Osiedle Skałka
  • Osiedle Pszczelnik
  • Osiedle Sobieski

History

In the Middle Ages, a gord was established on the Grodzisko hill, traces of which can still be found. The first known mention of Jaworzno comes from 1229, and in 1335, a parish church of St. Wojciech existed here. Jaworzno remained a small village, located in western Lesser Poland, near the much larger and more important town of Chrzanów. From 1179, the nearby Przemsza river marked the border between Lesser Poland and Silesia. It also became a state border of Poland until 1922. The area of Jaworzno was originally under the rule of the bishops of Kraków. After Austria seized Silesia at the end of the 17th century, several coal mines were developed near Jaworzno. In the 18th century, silver, lead, iron, and zinc deposits were found here. In 1767, the first coal mine in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was opened in Szczakowa.

thumb|left|Early 20th-century view of the train station

After the Partitions of Poland, Jaworzno belonged to the Habsburg Empire, in 1809 – 1815 it was part of the Duchy of Warsaw, and in 1815–1846, it belonged to the Free City of Krakow, which in 1846 was annexed by the Austrian Empire; Jaworzno remained in Austrian Galicia until November 1918. In the 19th century, the village became famous for the so-called Three Emperors' Corner, where the borders of three powers met (German Empire, Russian Empire, and Austria-Hungary). In 1847, a new railway line connected Jaworzno's Szczakowa district with Kraków and Prussian Upper Silesia. From 1854 until 1867 it was the center of a district () (within until 1865); in 1867 it became part of (, ). The village became a center of industrialization. A power plant was opened in 1898, and Jaworzno's coal mines extracted 84% of Galician coal. Several new factories were established here in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As a result, on September 21, 1901, Emperor Franz Joseph I granted a town charter to Jaworzno.

Following World War I, in 1918, Poland regained independence and control of the town. In the Second Polish Republic, Jaworzno belonged to Chrzanów County and the Kraków Voivodeship, in which it also remained after the war, until 1975.

Following the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland, which started World War II in September 1939, the town was occupied by Germany. It was among the areas annexed to East Upper Silesia during the war. Under German rule it was renamed Arnshalde. The Germans operated several forced labour camps in the town, including a Nazi prison/forced labour camp, a subcamp of the Auschwitz concentration camp mostly for Jews and Poles, the E596 subcamp of the Stalag VIII-B/344 prisoner-of-war camp for Western Allied POWs at the Jan Kanty Coal Mine (under occupation named Dachsgrube), and the E561, E563 and E732 subcamps of Stalag VIII-B/344, located at a local railway depot, at the Sobieski Coal Mine (then renamed Robertsgrube) and in the present-day district of Szczakowa, respectively. On 6 December 1943, the SS committed a massacre of 19 prisoners at the subcamp of Auschwitz, as punishment following an unsuccessful escape attempt.

  • Hereford, England, United Kingdom
  • Karviná, Czech Republic
  • Szigethalom, Hungary
  • Yiwu, China
  • Berezan, Ukraine

References

;Notes

  • Official web site of Jaworzno
  • Popular web site about Jaworzno
  • Community portal of the Jaworzno City
  • Jewish Community in Jaworzno on Virtual Shtetl
  • City Public Library in Jaworzno
  • City Museum