Editing Bytom (section)

===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>