Toszek

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Toszek

Toszek Castle

Coat of arms

Toszek

Coordinates: 50°27′N 18°31′E / 50.45, 18.517

Country

Poland

City rights

about 1235

Government

- Mayor

Jacek Zarzycki

Area

- Total

9.67 km² (3.7 sq mi)

Population (2006)

- Total

3,822

- Density

395.2/km² (1,023.7/sq mi)

Time zone

CET (UTC+1)

- Summer (DST)

CEST (UTC+2)

Postal code

44-180

Car plates

SGL

Website: http://www.toszek.pl/

Toszek [ˈtɔʂɛk] (German: Tost) is a town in Poland, in Gliwice County, Silesian Voivodeship, with 4,000 inhabitants.

1 History
2 Literature
3 Notes
4 External links

[edit] History

The beginning of the settlement and fortified keep is dated at IX and X century when the area was ruled by Piasts Mieszko I of Poland and later Bolesław I the Brave [1]. The Piasts had been established as dukes by the emperors Otto. The Piasts and Boleslaw especially sought to enlargen their territory widely by conquests.

The fortified keep had grown to the size of town during the rule of Bolesław Wysoki Zachowane wzmianki informują o istnieniu kasztelani i osady typu miejskiego during the rule of Duke of Wrocław Bolesław I the Tall. The town received city rights in 1235. After 1281 it became the seat of regional Duchy and title of local ruler Bolesław was "jaśnie oświecony Bolesław, książę Toszka" (the enlightened Bolesław, Duke of Toszek).

In the 1300s the originally Piast settlement passed to imperial Habsburgs. In 1536, the city received Magdeburg rights from King Ferdinand I (later Emperor). In 1593 Rudolf II sold the castle and the area to Freiherr von Redern auf Groß Strehlitz. It was owned by Joseph von Eichendorff from 1791 to 1797.

Like many other areas in Silesia, Toszek area was subjected to Germanisation when Silesian dukes became indedendent from Poland[2].

Tost burned down on 18 August 1677, and was looted in 1807.

On 20 March 1921 during the voting a majority of inhabitants voted to remain in Germany rather than be moved to Poland (1348 or 86% vs. 217 or 13,8 %, at 97,4 % turnout). During Kristallnacht Toszek Jews were sent to concentration camps were later they all were murdered[3].

After the Second World War a Soviet NKVD camp was established in the city where between June-December 1945 about 3000 incarcerated people died. About 1000 prisoners were from Silesia including Breslau but since July 1945 the NKWD brought in thousands more prisoners from the Bautzen area of Saxony. Sybille Krägel [4] from Saxony, who's father died in the Tost prison and others traced the prisoner lists and over 4500 are identified by now with 800 more yet unidentified, also see Soviet NKVD[5] A a memorial to NKVD victims is placed in Toszek[6]

[edit] Literature

Johannes Chrząszcz: Geschichte der Städte Peiskretscham und Tost sowie des Toster Kreises in Ober-Schlesien (Verlag: G. Palla, Peiskretscham, 1900)
Johannes Chrząszcz: Die Geschichte der Städte Peiskretscham und Tost sowie des Kreises Tost-Gleiwitz (2., verbesserte und erweiterte Auflage; Verlag: Palla, Peiskretscham, 1927) (djvu-Datei)
Kurt Rosenberg: Tost vor 100 Jahren (erschienen in "Oberschlesien – Zeitschrift zur Pflege der Kenntnis und Vertretung der Interessen Oberschlesiens" (7. Jahrgang, 1908, S. 531–598).)
Krägel: Bild-Dokumentation Tost.Gefängnis-Lager des sowjetischen NKWD in Oberschlesien, Freisinger Künstlerpresse W. Bode, 2. Aufl. 2001, ISBN 3927067164