Wilamowice (; earlier Willamowice; , ; ) is a town in southern Poland, situated in the Bielsko County, Silesian Voivodeship. The town is inhabited by a Germanic ethnic group of Vilamovians, who speak the highly endangered Wymysorys language.
History
thumb|left|upright|Holy Trinity Church
According to historians, after the desolation of Polish lands by the Mongol invasion in 1241, the then Silesian Piast rulers of the Duchy of Opole and Racibórz decided to bring settlers from the West to the deserted and destroyed lands around the Silesian Foothills, to revive agriculture, industry and trade. The area was settled in the course of the German eastward colonization of Slavic lands. In this way, around 1250, a group of colonists from the area of former Flanders came to the region, specifically from Friesland, near Bruges and established the settlement Wilamowice. In 1529, the two place names were recorded respectively in medieval Latin as Vilamovice Nova and Antiqua Vylamovicze. From 1527, owners of the lordship mentioned include: the nobleman Jakob Saszowski of Gieraltowic and Wilamowic, and in 1533: the nobleman and chief judge of Oświęcim Nicolaus Saszowski of Gieraltowic (aka Gierałtowski), It was not, however, until 1564, at the General sejm, that King Sigismund II Augustus issued privileges of incorporation, recognizing the Duchy of Oświęcim as part of the Polish Crown into the Silesian County of the Kraków Voivodeship.
thumb|left|Wilamowice in 1935
Since the 15th century, the names used in official chronicles were the German versions Wilmeshau and Wilmesdorf for both the new and old Wilamowice respectively.
In 1939, after the joint Invasion of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union, the area was annexed by Germany (see Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany) in the Occupation of Poland. After the end of the Second World War, Polish territories seized by the Red Army as it advanced westward, were restored to the post-war Polish People's Republic.
Archaic dialect
alt=Census map from 1910 showing Wilamowice as a German majority|thumb|left|upright=0.8|1910 census map identifying Wilamowice as a majority ethnic German settlement.
Due to endogamy and geographical isolation of the settlement in a Polish language region near the German linguistic enclave around Bielsko-Biała, Wilamowice formed an independent language or dialect (see: Wymysorys language) since the Late Medieval Period, which was in use in everyday life until the end of the Second World War.