Jaworzno

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Jaworzno is a town in southern Poland with 98,500 inhabitants (1995). It is located in the Silesian Voivodship, which it has been since 1999). Previously, it could be found in Katowice Voivodship (1975-1998).

Before 1975 it was situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodship. It was first mentioned in the 13th century. Historically linked with Lesser Poland, as since the XIIIth century its area belonged to the Cracovian bishops. Since Austria took over the power of Lesser Poland (at the end of the 17th century) several coal mines developed there. After the First World War it became Polish again. During the Second World War SS-Lager Dachsgrube, a branch of the German concentration camp Auschwitz was located there, transformed into Central Labour Camp Jaworzno after the war.

Contents

1 Location
2 History
3 Communications
4 Sport and Culture
5 Environment
6 See also

Location

The town of Jaworzno lies in the eastern part of the Province of Silesia, at the place where the regions of Upper Silesia and Little Poland meet.

Number of inhabitants: 97,137. In respect of area Jaworzno is among the largest towns in Poland; its area is 152.2 km².

The town does not form a compact structure of settlement but several districts situated radially towards the centre are divided by strips of green. This contributes to Jaworzno's peculiar functional and special character.

History

Jaworzno (Neu-Dachs) was a subcamp of Auschwitz located near the town of Jaworzno. The complex consisted of labor camps working for various German companies. Below are thumbnails of a folded letter from prisoner # 130383 at the labor camp EVO Jaworzno postmarked August 31, 1943. This labor camp was in existence from June 1944 to January 1945. EVO were the initials of Energieversorgung Oberschlesien AG. The folded letter is identified in Lordahl as type F1a and bears a type C7 censor mark.

Communications

Jaworzno is situated at the crossing of some major lines of road, railway and air communication. The town is crossed by the national roads: Gdansk - Cieszyn, Warsaw - Bytom, connecting the western and eastern borders of the country (its Katowice - Cracow section is a paid A4 motorway). The railway junction at Jaworzno-Szczakowa is a major transshipment point. Owing to the vicinity to the A4 motorway the town is very well communicated to the international airport at Kraków - Balice (at a distance of c 50 km from Jaworzno) and thanks to the nearness of the national road No. 79 - to the international airport at Katowice - Pyrzowice (c 40 km from Jaworzno).

Sport and Culture

The town of Jaworzno has many sporting facilities on European level and offers a rich variety of educational and cultural activities. The town's showpiece is The Show and Sports Hall (Hala Widowiskowo-Sportowa) which can seat 2500 spectators - the Hall hosts not only sporting events but also concerts and cultural performances.

The inhabitants of Jaworzno can visit such places of recreation as, first of all, the water sports centre Sosina, hosting the anual Polish water-skiing championships, the Horse-riding Centre, the Divers' Base, and the Skittle-alley - all these facilities are very attractive. People who live in Silesia and the nearby towns of Little Poland are also glad to visit Jaworzno's swimming-pool, which is one of the modernest in the region.

Szczakowianka Jaworzno - football team (2nd league 2003/2004)

Environment

Greens, forests and undeveloped land constitute 60% of the town's area. Environment-friendly projects are conducive to the coming of many species of plants and animals finding their habitat here. Jaworzno has some environmentally valuable areas characterised by diverse topographic profile and vegetation as well as a rich flora and fauna. These include the nature reserve "Dolina Zabnika", the landscape protection area "Dobra Wilkoszyn", the surface monument of nature "Sasanka", the "Grodzisko" hill, and the "Sosina" bay. Within Jaworzno's boundaries there are 41 plant species under strict protection and 11 under partial protection.