Editing Bytom (section)

==History==
[[File:Plackosciuszki.jpg|thumb|left|[[Tadeusz Kościuszko|Kosciuszko]] Square in the 1890s]]
Bytom is one of the oldest cities of [[Upper Silesia]], originally recorded as ''Bitom'' in 1136, when it was part of the Medieval [[Kingdom of Poland (1025–1385)|Kingdom of Poland]]. Archaeological discoveries have shown that there was a fortified settlement (a ''[[gród]]'') here, probably founded by the Polish King [[Bolesław I the Brave]] in the early 11th century.<ref>J. Kramer, ''Chronik der Stadt Beuthen in Ober-Schlesien'', Bytom, 1863, p. 1</ref>

After the [[Testament of Bolesław III Wrymouth|fragmentation of Poland]] in 1138, Bytom became part of the [[Seniorate Province]], as it was still considered part of historic [[Lesser Poland]]. In 1177 it became part of the [[Duchy of Silesia|Silesian]] province of Poland, and remained within historic [[Silesia]] since.<ref>Roman Majorczyk, ''Historia górnictwa kruszcowego w rejonie Bytomia'', Bytom, 1985, p. 9</ref> Bytom received [[city rights]] from Prince [[Władysław of Salzburg|Władysław]] in 1254 with its first centrally located market square. The city of Bytom benefited economically from its location on a trade route linking [[Kraków]] with Silesia from east to west, and [[Hungary]] with [[Moravia]] and [[Greater Poland]] from north to south. The first [[Roman Catholic]] Church of the Virgin Mary was built in 1231. In 1259 Bytom was raided by the [[Mongols]]. The Duchy of Opole was split and in 1281 Bytom became a [[Duchy of Bytom|separate duchy]], since 1289 under overlordship and administration of the [[Kingdom of Bohemia]]. [[Bytom Castle]] was built in around 1284-1299 and demolished in later centuries.  They duchy existed until 1498, when it was re-integrated with the [[Piast dynasty|Piast]]-ruled [[Duchy of Opole]]. Due to German settlers coming to the area, the city was being [[Germanization|Germanized]].

It came under the control of the [[Habsburg monarchy]] of [[Austria]] in 1526, which increased the influence of the German language. In 1683, Polish King [[John III Sobieski]] and his wife Queen [[Marie Casimire Louise de La Grange d'Arquien|Marie Casimire]], visited the city, greeted by the townspeople and clergy, on the king's way to the [[Battle of Vienna]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wilanow-palac.pl/jan_iii_sobieski_na_slasku_w_drodze_na_odsiecz_wiedniowi_roku_1683.html|title=Jan III Sobieski na Śląsku w drodze na odsiecz Wiedniowi roku 1683|website=Muzeum Pałacu Króla Jana III w Wilanowie|author=Paweł Freus|access-date=6 December 2020|language=pl}}</ref> The city became part of the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] in 1742 during the [[Silesian Wars]] and part of the [[German Empire]] in 1871. In the 19th and the first part of the 20th centuries, the city rapidly grew and industrialized.
[[File:Bytom Legionow 49 2023.jpg|thumb|left|190px|Polish Gymnasium in Bytom (2023)]]
[[File:Kalide002.jpg|thumb|[[Sleeping Lion, Bytom|The Sleeping Lion]] at Bytom's Market Square]]
Bytom was one of the main centers of Polish resistance against Germanization in Upper Silesia in the 19th century, up until the mid-20th century. Polish social, political and cultural organizations were formed and operated here. From 1848, the newspaper ''[[:pl:Dziennik Górnośląski|Dziennik Górnośląski]]'' was published here. Poles smuggled large amounts of gunpowder through the city to the [[Russian Partition]] of Poland during the [[January Uprising]] in 1863.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Pater|first=Mieczysław|year=1963|title=Wrocławskie echa powstania styczniowego|journal=Śląski Kwartalnik Historyczny Sobótka|language=pl|issue=4|page=418}}</ref> According to the Prussian census of 1905, the city of Beuthen had a population of 60,273, of which 59% spoke [[German language|German]], 38% spoke [[Polish language|Polish]] and 3% were bilingual.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Belzyt|first=Leszek|url=https://opacplus.bsb-muenchen.de/search?isbn|title=Sprachliche Minderheiten im preussischen Staat: 1815 - 1914 ; die preußische Sprachenstatistik in Bearbeitung und Kommentar|date=1998|publisher=Herder-Inst.|isbn=978-3-87969-267-5|location=Marburg}}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In 1895, the [[Polish Sokół movement|"Sokół" Polish Gymnastic Society]] was established, and, during the [[Silesian uprisings]], in 1919–1920, Polish football clubs [[Szombierki Bytom|Poniatowski Szombierki]] and [[Polonia Bytom]] were founded, which later on, in post-[[World War II]] Poland both won the national championship. After [[World War I]], in the [[Upper Silesia plebiscite|Upper Silesian plebiscite]] of 1921, 74.7% of the votes in Beuthen city were for [[Weimar Republic|Germany]], and 25.3% were for [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]], due to which it remained in Germany, as part of the [[Province of Upper Silesia]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Aktuelle News, Schlagzeilen und Berichte aus aller Welt - Arcor.de|url=https://www.arcor.de/|access-date=2020-12-18|website=www.arcor.de}}</ref> In the interwar period, Bytom was one of two cities (alongside [[Kwidzyn]]) in [[Weimar Germany|Germany]], in which a Polish gymnasium was allowed to operate. In 1923 a branch of the [[Union of Poles in Germany]] was established in Bytom. There was also a Polish [[preschool]],<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rosenbaum|first1=Sebastian|last2=Węcki|first2=Mirosław|year=2010|title=Nadzorować, interweniować, karać. Nazistowski obóz władzy wobec Kościoła katolickiego w Zabrzu (1934–1944). Wybór dokumentów|language=pl|location=Katowice|publisher=[[Institute of National Remembrance|IPN]]|page=306|isbn=978-83-8098-299-4}}</ref> two [[scout troop]]s and a Polish bank.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Cygański|first=Mirosław|year=1984|title=Hitlerowskie prześladowania przywódców i aktywu Związków Polaków w Niemczech w latach 1939 - 1945|journal=Przegląd Zachodni|language=pl|issue=4|pages=31, 33}}</ref> In a secret ''[[Sicherheitsdienst]]'' report from 1934, Bytom was named one of the main centers of the Polish movement in western Upper Silesia.<ref>Rosenbaum, Węcki, p. 60</ref> Polish activists were persecuted since 1937.<ref>Cygański, p. 24</ref> The [[Bytom Synagogue]] was burned down by Nazi German [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] and [[Sturmabteilung|SA]] troopers during the [[Kristallnacht]] on 9–10 November 1938. Before 1939, the town, along with Gleiwitz (now [[Gliwice]]), was at the southeastern tip of German Silesia.

===World War II and post-war period===
During the German [[invasion of Poland]], which started [[World War II]], the Germans carried out mass arrests of local Poles. On September 1, 1939, the day of the outbreak of the war, Adam Bożek, the chairman of the Upper Silesian district of the Union of Poles in Germany, was arrested in Bytom and then deported to the [[Dachau concentration camp]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Wardzyńska|first=Maria|year=2009|title=Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=IPN|page=78}}</ref> The Germans carried out revisions in the Polish gymnasium and the local Polish community centre, 20 Polish activists were arrested on September 4, 1939, then released and arrested again a few days later to be deported to the [[Buchenwald concentration camp]].<ref>Cygański, p. 32</ref> Also three Polish teachers, who had not yet fled, were arrested, while the assets of the Polish bank were confiscated.<ref>Cygański, p. 33</ref> The ''[[Einsatzgruppen|Einsatzgruppe I]]'' entered the city on September 6, 1939, to commit [[Nazi crimes against the Polish nation|atrocities against Poles]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Wardzyńska|first=Maria|year=2009|title=Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=IPN|page=58}}</ref> Many Poles were conscripted to the [[Wehrmacht]] and died on various war fronts, including 92 former students of the Polish gymnasium.<ref>Cygański, p. 63</ref> The [[Beuthen Jewish community]] was liquidated via the first ever [[Holocaust trains|Holocaust transport]] to be exterminated at [[Auschwitz-Birkenau]].<ref>[http://ellisisland.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/translations.html Jews deported from Beuthen (Bytom), list prepared in 1942] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090715230956/http://ellisisland.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/translations.html |date=15 July 2009}}</ref><ref>[http://ellisisland.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/bytom/Bytom1.html Elsa Drezner, Yizkor Book Project Manager Avraham Groll, Names of Jews deported from Beuthen] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726202938/http://ellisisland.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/bytom/Bytom1.html |date=26 July 2011 }}</ref><ref>[http://ellisisland.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/bytom/bytom.html Translations: deportation] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726203021/http://ellisisland.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/bytom/bytom.html |date=26 July 2011}}</ref>

The Germans operated a Nazi prison in the city with a [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labour]] subcamp in the present-day Karb district.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=432|title=Zuchthaus Beuthen|website=Bundesarchiv.de|access-date=6 December 2020|language=de}}</ref> There were also multiple forced labour camps within the present-day city limits, including six subcamps of the [[Stalag VIII-B|Stalag VIII-B/344]] [[German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II|prisoner-of-war camp]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lamsdorf.com/working-parties.html|title=Working Parties|website=Stalag VIIIB 344 Lamsdorf|access-date=6 December 2020|archive-date=October 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029103834/https://www.lamsdorf.com/working-parties.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Dozens of prisoners were sent from the Nazi prison on a [[Death marches during the Holocaust|death march]] westwards towards [[Głubczyce]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Konieczny|first=Alfred|year=1974|title=Więzienie karne w Kłodzku w latach II wojny światowej|journal=Śląski Kwartalnik Historyczny Sobótka|publisher=[[Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich]], Wydawnictwo [[Polish Academy of Sciences|Polskiej Akademii Nauk]]|location=Wrocław|language=pl|volume=XXIX|issue=3|page=377}}</ref>

In January 1945, the city was captured by the Soviet [[Red Army]]. Soviet troops then committed massacres of civilians in the present-day district of Miechowice and Stolarzowice, killing some 400 and 70 people, respectively, and raped many women.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hanich|first=Andrzej|year=2012|title=Losy ludności na Śląsku Opolskim w czasie działań wojennych i po wejściu Armii Czerwonej w 1945 roku|journal=Studia Śląskie|volume=LXXI|location=Opole|language=pl|page=217|issn=0039-3355}}</ref> In 1945, the city was transferred to Poland as a result of the [[Potsdam Conference]].{{citation needed|date=December 2023}} Its German population was largely [[Expulsion of Germans after World War II|expelled]] by the Soviet Army and the remaining indigenous Polish inhabitants were joined mostly by [[Polish population transfers (1944–1946)|Poles repatriated]] from the eastern [[Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union|provinces annexed by the Soviets]].{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

In 2017, the [[Historic Silver Mine in Tarnowskie Góry|Tarnowskie Góry Lead-Silver-Zinc Mine and its Underground Water Management System]], located mostly in the neighboring city of [[Tarnowskie Góry]], but also partly in Bytom, was included on the [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage List]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1539/multiple=1&unique_number=2165|title=Tarnowskie Góry Lead-Silver-Zinc Mine and its Underground Water Management System|website=UNESCO|access-date=29 September 2019}}</ref>