Skarżysko-Kamienna () is a city in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship in south-central Poland by Kamienna river, to the north of Świętokrzyskie Mountains; one of the voivodship's major cities.

Skarżysko-Kamienna is an industrial city formed in 1923 from the merger of several smaller localities dating back to the medieval and early modern periods. Mining in the area dates back to 10,000 BC, whereas iron ore mining and metallurgical production date back over 550 years. Since the 19th-century industrial revolution it became an important centre of industrial production, and since 1922 it became known as one of Poland's munition production centres, nowadays also hosting a military equipment museum. During World War II, it was the site of German Nazi atrocities with over 19,000 people killed.

Prior to 1928, it bore the name of Kamienna; in less formal contexts usually only the first part of the name (Skarżysko) is used. It belongs to historic Polish region of Lesser Poland.

Skarżysko-Kamienna is an important railroad junction, with two main lines (Kraków – Warsaw and Sandomierz – Koluszki) crossing there.

History

Prehistory

The present-day districts of Łyżwy and Nowy Młyn were the locations of Paleolithic industrial settlements, which are now archaeological sites, part of the Rydno Archaeological Reserve, consisting of several hundred former Paleolithic sites stretching from Skarżysko-Kamienna to Wąchock. The sites were discovered in 1923–1925. The oldest known mentions of the present-day districts of Bzin and Skarżysko come from 1260 and 1275, respectively. Pogorzałe was mentioned in the 15th century. Around 1440, iron ore mining begins in the present-day district of Bzin.

In the present-day districts of Bzin and Rejów bloomeries were established in 1700 and 1730, then replaced by blast furnaces and metallurgical plants in 1754 and 1770, respectively, and greatly upgraded in the 19th century. Until the 1880s, up to 1,638 tonnes of raw iron and 491.4 tonnes of castings were produced annually in Rejów, and up to 1,474.2 tonnes of iron were produced annually in Bzin. Several hundred people worked there, producing items such as pots, stoves and sewer pipes. Młodzawy had quarries.

thumb|left|Railway station in 1909

Around 1885 Kamienna became an important rail junction on the newly built Ivangorod-Dąbrowa Railway. The main line of the railway connecting Ivangorod (Dęblin) and Dąbrowa Górnicza ran through the town from north to south, and two branch lines to Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski and Koluszki radiated from the town east and west, respectively. The rail junction spurred the growth of Kamienna from a village into a sizeable town by 1920, when it had about 20 enterprises employing 1000 workers, as well as railway workshops employing an additional 1000 workers.

During World War I, only sawmills increased their production as the Austrian occupiers conducted overlogging. On 1 November 1918, the Poles began disarming the occupying forces, mostly Czechs conscripted into the Austrian army, who surrendered their arms to the Poles without resistance. There were five cinemas, two printing houses, three sports clubs, an amateur theater, a professional fire department, five pharmacies, and a municipal library.

In the 1930s, a technical gas factory and an enamelware factory were launched.

In 1937 the town had 19,700 inhabitants, among them 2,800 Jews (about 14% of the total).

German occupation of Skarżysko-Kamienna (1939–1945)

Following the September 1939 invasion of Poland by Germany, which started World War II, Skarżysko-Kamienna was under German occupation until liberated by the Soviet army in January 1945. The Germans controlled the ammunition factory to support their own war effort, and from 1940 it was controlled by the company Hugo Schneider Aktiengesellschaft (HASAG), which ran it as a subcontractor for the Wehrmacht.

The Polish underground resistance organization () was organized in the town. Among its members were local monks, and a weapons depot used by Polish partisans was located in the local monastery. The secret Polish Council to Aid Jews "Żegota", established by the Polish resistance movement, operated in the town. There are several known cases of Poles, who were either executed on sight or imprisoned in the local prison and deported to concentration camps for rescuing and aiding Jews.

thumb|Monument to [[Polish Scouting and Guiding Association|Polish Scouts killed in World War II]]

The German company HASAG operated a forced labour camp divided into three subcamps (A, B, C) at the munitions factory. An estimated 25,000 to 30,000 people passed through the camp and 18,000 to 23,000 prisoners died there; prisoners were mostly women. The poisonous fumes corroded their clothes, eyes, skin and lungs, and fatal accidents at work were frequent.

At least nine Boy Scouts and two Girl Scouts from the town were murdered by the Germans during the occupation (see Nazi crimes against the Polish nation). A monk who managed to avoid capture by the Germans in 1940, died in the Allied bombing of the town in 1945. The murderers, among them the head of the Soviet-installed town police and another communist policeman, were put on trial in Łodź. Three of them received the death penalty. The remaining Jews left Poland, except for Dr. Zundel Kahanel and his wife Bima who spent the rest of their lives in the city. In 1969, The White Eagle Museum was established. In 1984, city limits were expanded by including the neighboring settlements of Łyżwy and Nowy Młyn as new districts. In 1999, Skarżysko County was established as a result of the Local Government Reorganization Act (1998).

Politics and administration

thumb|Seat of the local branch of the [[General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways]]

Mayors

  • Jan Zbroja 1918
  • Antoni Biernacki 1918–1923
  • Tadeusz Miażdżyński 1924–1925
  • Wawrzyniec Ergietowski 1925–1928
  • Konstanty Bobowski ?–1934
  • Franciszek Tatkowski 1934

Points of interest

  • The White Eagle Museum () - a regional museum with a large outdoor display of military equipment, most items dating back to the World War II period.
  1. Indoor display – uniforms, ammunition, pistols and smaller guns, soldier equipment, photographs and documents
  2. Outdoor display – one of Poland's few ships displayed onshore (torpedo boat Odważny - The Brave), planes, tanks (including one of world's few preserved Sturmgeschütz IV vehicles), helicopters, cannons, etc.
  • Several scenes of Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List were filmed at MESKO.

<gallery class="center" widths="180px">

File:Zalew Rejów 01 ssj 20070520.jpg|Rejów Lake

File:Skarżysko-Kamienna. Kościół Najświętszego Serca Pana Jezusa 3.jpg|The Sacred Heart of Jesus Church

File:Skarżysko-Kamienna. Sanktuarium MB Ostrobramskiej 20.jpg|Sanctuary Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn

</gallery>

Sports

thumb|Skarżysko-Kamienna Sports Hall

The town's most notable sports clubs are football team ZKS Granat Skarżysko and volleyball team , which both compete in the lower leagues.

Notable people

  • Miłosz Kruk (born 2003), mixed martial artist
  • Antoni Matla (1912–1987), Polish locksmith and politician
  • Daria Pikulik (born 1997), track cyclist
  • Wiktoria Pikulik (born 1998), racing cyclist
  • Krzysztof Ratajski (born 1977), professional darts player
  • Sylwia Spurek (born 1976), politician and lawyer
  • Happysad (formed 2001), indie rock band

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Skarżysko-Kamienna is twinned with:

  • Stafford
  • Zhmerynka
  • Kavarna
  • Franklin Park, Illinois
  • Chicago
  • Langfang

References

  • skarzysko.pl - official site of the town's municipality