Giszowiec
Encyclopedia
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| Historical region | Silesia Silesia Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław... |
| Voivodship | Silesian |
| City City A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S... |
Katowice Katowice Katowice is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, on the Kłodnica and Rawa rivers . Katowice is located in the Silesian Highlands, about north of the Silesian Beskids and about southeast of the Sudetes Mountains.It is the central district of the Upper Silesian Metropolis, with a population of 2... |
| Status | District of Katowice Katowice Katowice is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, on the Kłodnica and Rawa rivers . Katowice is located in the Silesian Highlands, about north of the Silesian Beskids and about southeast of the Sudetes Mountains.It is the central district of the Upper Silesian Metropolis, with a population of 2... |
| Area Area Area is a quantity that expresses the extent of a two-dimensional surface or shape in the plane. Area can be understood as the amount of material with a given thickness that would be necessary to fashion a model of the shape, or the amount of paint necessary to cover the surface with a single coat... |
12 km² |
| Population Population A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals... |
ca. 18 600 |
| Density Density The mass density or density of a material is defined as its mass per unit volume. The symbol most often used for density is ρ . In some cases , density is also defined as its weight per unit volume; although, this quantity is more properly called specific weight... |
ca. 1550 / km² |
| Area code | (+48) 032 |
Giszowiec (German:
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
Gieschewald) is an eastern district of the city of Katowice
Katowice
Katowice is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, on the Kłodnica and Rawa rivers . Katowice is located in the Silesian Highlands, about north of the Silesian Beskids and about southeast of the Sudetes Mountains.It is the central district of the Upper Silesian Metropolis, with a population of 2...
(Silesian Voivodeship
Silesian Voivodeship
Silesian Voivodeship, or Silesia Province , is a voivodeship, or province, in southern Poland, centering on the historic region known as Upper Silesia...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
), created as a coal miners' settlement in 1907. Initially consisting of about 3,300 miners and their families, the district's population have grown over the years to over 18,000. Although Giszowiec's architectural originality suffered major damages in 1970s and 1980s due to large scale urbanization, its early unique character can be still felt in the surviving miners' housings, the marketplace, numerous individual buildings and structures, as well as the relatively well preserved general design of a "Garden city"
Garden city movement
The garden city movement is a method of urban planning that was initiated in 1898 by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the United Kingdom. Garden cities were intended to be planned, self-contained communities surrounded by "greenbelts" , containing proportionate areas of residences, industry and...
.
Location
Giszowiec is located some 7 kilometers southeast from the center of Katowice and its geographical coordinates are 50° 14' N, 19° 04' O coordinates: 50° 14' N, 19° 04' O. Its boundaries are marked in the north by the motorway A4, in the west by the international European route E75, while in the south and in the east, Giszowiec borders the nearby city of Mysłowice. The settlement is somewhat isolated from other Katowice districts and is surrounded by green areas and forests. The neighboring districts are MurckiMurcki
Murcki is a district of Katowice.-External links:**...
(3 kilometers to the southwest), as well as Janów
Janów
Janów is a very common placenames in Poland. It may refer to:* Janów Lubelski - town in Poland* Janów Poleski - the Polish name for Ivanava, a town in Belarus...
and Nikiszowiec
Nikiszowiec
Nikiszowiec a part of an administrative district Janów-Nikiszowiec of Katowice city.Initially it was coal miners' settlement of Giesche mine built on the land of Gieschewald manor between 1908–1918 on the mining – metallurgical concern initiative Georg von Giesches Erben.On 9 May...
in the north.
Beginnings
The settlement of Giszowiec does not have a long history. The company "Georg von Giesches Erben", which in late 19th century owned many mines in Upper SilesiaUpper Silesia
Upper Silesia is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia. Since the 9th century, Upper Silesia has been part of Greater Moravia, the Duchy of Bohemia, the Piast Kingdom of Poland, again of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown and the Holy Roman Empire, as well as of...
, planned its own settlement for workers, and therefore Colonie Gieschewald was founded 1907.
Structure of the colony
The leading director of the settlement was Anton Uthemann, who came up with the basic project. This work was completed by George and Emil Zillmann, architects from CharlottenburgCharlottenburg
Charlottenburg is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, named after Queen consort Sophia Charlotte...
, who designed the settlement inspired by Ebenezer Howard
Ebenezer Howard
Sir Ebenezer Howard is known for his publication Garden Cities of To-morrow , the description of a utopian city in which people live harmoniously together with nature. The publication resulted in the founding of the garden city movement, that realized several Garden Cities in Great Britain at the...
's idea of the "Garden city"
Garden city movement
The garden city movement is a method of urban planning that was initiated in 1898 by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the United Kingdom. Garden cities were intended to be planned, self-contained communities surrounded by "greenbelts" , containing proportionate areas of residences, industry and...
. In just three years the project was completed: high living standard houses for 600 families were built, with four main streets leading to the central marketplace (today called Plac pod Lipami - Square under the Linden
Tilia
Tilia is a genus of about 30 species of trees native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The greatest species diversity is found in Asia, and the genus also occurs in Europe and eastern North America, but not western North America...
Trees). The settlement had its own institutions, a hotel, department stores, a swimming pool and a water tower. Some dwellings were offered to those miners who lived without family. Most inhabitants worked for the Giesche coal mine (today: Wieczorek coal mine), and the total cost of the colony was estimated at 5 million German Marks. In 1914, a narrow-gauge railway to Janów was opened. Throughout its early history the colony was an independent municipality.
Silesian Uprisings
Inhabitants of the settlement took active part in the Silesian UprisingsSilesian Uprisings
The Silesian Uprisings were a series of three armed uprisings of the Poles and Polish Silesians of Upper Silesia, from 1919–1921, against German rule; the resistance hoped to break away from Germany in order to join the Second Polish Republic, which had been established in the wake of World War I...
, and during the Plebiscite in Upper Silesia, over 70% locals voted for Poland.
Giszowiec in Poland
On 20 June 1922 Gieschewald was renamed Giszowiec and became part of the new Autonomous Silesian VoivodeshipAutonomous Silesian Voivodeship
The Silesian Voivodeship was an autonomous province of the interwar Second Polish Republic. It consisted of territory which came into Polish possession as a result of the 1921 Upper Silesia plebiscite, the Geneva Conventions, three Upper Silesian Uprisings, and the eventual partition of Upper...
and was since then part of the Second Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
. In the subsequent years, numerous Polish associations, among them also a choir were created. Giszowiec lost its independent status in 1924, when it was incorporated into the new municipality of Janów.
German troops occupied the settlement on 4 September 1939. During the occupation, the Nazis tried to destroy everything related to Poland, including a monument of the Silesian Uprising. On 27 January 1945, Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
captured Giszowiec.
After the Second World War, Giszowiec was merged with Szopienice
Szopienice
Szopienice-Burowiec is a district of Katowice....
, but later this decision was voided.
In the course of time the appearance of the colony changed. 1964 were established in the area of the colony after hard coal finds the Staszic Steinkohlebergwerk. In order to take up the inflow of new workers, new populated areas were proven. It was decided that the colony should be torn off and be established in the area a new settlement with zehnstoeckigen blocks of flats. Thus 1969 the Stanisław Staszic housing development was built, which approximated in the next decades ever more near to the old colony. In the western part and East part new disk's buildings replaced the old brick houses, and the colony began to lose their old character of a company-owned housing estate. With the resolutions of the responsible curator of 1978 and 1987 to place the old land development under monument protection the colony could be saved fortunately. In the nineties was begun to maintain and also restore the historical settlement. Nevertheless only one third of the old land development remained. 1984 were begun with the building of the Barbarapfarrkirche in the Staszic settlement.
Giszowiec is also today still surrounded by forest and is by its relatively large distance to the urban tightness, a popular local recreation place for the inhabitants of the whole city and, since it is the only garden city in Poland, gladly visited and also inhabited. The houses of the colony were transferred 1999 of the city Katowice, since the houses become sold at private people.
Education
In the old colony there is an elementary school number 51(Szkoła Podstawowa nr 51) with approximately 1000 pupils. School building was constructed in 1993 and is the newest in Giszowiec. The two high schools are older. In the seventies the Konopnicka High School (Gimnazjum numer 16 imienia Marii Konopnickiej) was established, the school chronicles go back however until 1908, thus the beginnings of the Gieschewalder school history. Here there are 400 pupils. In addition there exists another high school (Gimnazjum nr 15), with 374 pupils.Worth seeing
- Colony Gieschewald with received allocation of road and work houses (1907–1910)
- Water tower from the time of origin of the colony
- Forest areas in the environment
Literature
- H.von Reuffurth, Gieschewald ein neues oberschlesisches Bergarbeiterdorf der Bergwerksgesellschaft, Kattowitz 1910
- Lech Szaraniec: Osady i Osiedla Katowic. Katowice 1996 (book concerning the city Kattowitz and their quarters with German summary)
- Leszek Jabłołski, Maria Kaźmierczak: Na trasie Ekspresu Giszowiec Nikiszowiec Szopienice. Przewodnik po dzielnicach Katowic. CRUX, Katowice o.J., ISBN 83-918152-1-8 (leaders by the quarters Giszowiec, Nikiszowiec and Szopienice with English summary)