City name

The city of Chorzów was formed in 1934–1939 by a merger of 4 adjacent cities: Chorzów, Królewska Huta, Nowe Hajduki and Hajduki Wielkie. These cities were a part of Germany. The name of the oldest settlement Chorzów was applied to the amalgamated city.

Chorzów as Charzow on an 18th-century Polish map

The etymology of the name is not known. Chorzów is believed to be first mentioned as Zversov or Zuersov in a document of 1136 by Pope Innocent II as a village with peasants, silver miners, and two inns. Another place-name likely indicating Chorzów is Coccham or Coccha, which is mentioned in a document of 1198 by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, who awarded this place to the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. Chorzów is then mentioned as Chareu or Charev in 1257 and then Charzow in 1292. The last name may originate from the personal name Charz, short for Zachary and may mean Zachary's place. The a in the early names may have been later modified to the current pronunciation with o perhaps due to similarity to the common adjective chory=ill and a presence of a hospital (which was moved in 1299 to Rozbark at the gates of Bytom). Today, the place of the old village is a subdivision called Chorzów III or Chorzów Stary = the Old Chorzów.

The industrial and residential settlement south-west of Chorzów constructed since 1797 around the Royal Coal Mine and Royal Iron Works was named Królewska Huta by the Poles or Königshütte by the Germans, both names meaning Royal Iron Works. As it was growing quickly this settlement was granted city status in 1868. Today this neighbourhood is called Chorzów I or Chorzów-Miasto meaning Chorzów Centre.

Selected historic churches, from the left: Saint Barbara's, Saint Mary Magdalene's, Saint Mary's, Saint Joseph's

The etymology of Hajduki is ambiguous and is interpreted as either related to the German word for moorland (German: die Heide), or adopted from the German/Polish/Silesian term for hajduk(s) (Polish (plural): Hajduki; German (singular): Heiduck), which locally meant bandits. The place was first mentioned in 1627 as Hejduk and shown on 18th century maps as "Ober Heiduk" and "Nieder Heiduk" (i.e., Upper and Lower Heiduk). The later names Hajduki Wielkie and Nowe Hajduki mean Great Hajduks and New Hajduks, respectively. The two settlements were merged in 1903 and named after the Bismarck Iron Works Bismarckhütte. When the international borders shifted, the name of Bismarck was replaced with the name of the Polish king Batory (so-chosen to preserve that initial "B", which appeared on an economically important local trademark). Today this city subdivision is called Chorzów IV or Chorzów-Batory.^[3]

From 12th century to World War I

Royal iron works, coal mines and chemistry

Steelworks at Königshütte, 1872–1875 ("Das Eisenwalzwerk" by Adolf von Menzel)

With the discovery of bituminous coal deposits at the end of the 18th century by the Polish local priest Ludwik Bojarski, new industrial sectors developed in the Chorzów area. In the years 1791–1797 the Prussian state-owned Royal Coal Mine was constructed (Kopalnia Król, Königsgrube, later renamed several times with the changing political winds). In 1799, first pig iron was made in the Royal Iron Works (Królewska Huta, Königshütte). At the time, it was a pioneering industrial establishment of its kind in continental Europe. In 1819 the ironworks consisted of 4 blast furnaces, producing 1,400 tons of pig-iron. In the 1800s the modern Lidognia Zinc Works was added in the area. In 1871 the ironworks were taken over by the holding called Vereingte Königs- und Laurahütte AG für Bergbau und Hüttenbetrieb, which added a steel mill, rail mill and workshops. In the vicinity of the Royal Coal Mine, Countess Laura Coal Mine was opened in 1870, and by 1913–1914 coal production increased to 1 million tons a year. In 1898, a thermal power plant was commissioned which was, until the 1930s, the biggest electricity producer in Poland with a power of 100 MW (electrical). Today, it operates as "ELCHO". In 1915, nitrogen chemical works (Oberschlesische Stickstoffwerke) were built nearby to produce fertilizers and explosives by newly invented processes: from the air, water and coal (see Haber-Bosch process). Today, it operates as "Zakłady Azotowe SA".

Królewska Huta: from village to city

Headframe of the closed President coal mine

Settlements grew near the new coal and ironworks. Since 1797, one group of settlements was called Königshütte (Królewska Huta in Polish) after the ironworks. In 1846 Królewska Huta received a railway track to Świętochłowice and Mysłowice, in 1857 to Bytom and until 1872 to all major cities in the Silesian region. Królewska Huta received city status in 1868 as part of Bytom County, and in 1898 it was made a separate city-county.

The population of Królewska Huta was increasing rapidly: from 19,500 inhabitants in 1870 to 72,600 in 1910. Among them 17,300 workers were employed in the industry (similar number for 1939). The population spoke mostly Polish or German.

Interwar Poland (1922–1939)

Chorzów in the 1930s

Ulica Wolności (Freedom Street), one of the main areas of commerce in the city

In the Upper Silesia plebiscite a majority of 31,864 voters voted to remain in Germany while 10,764 votes were given for Poland^[4] Following three Silesian Uprisings, the eastern part of Silesia, including Chorzów and Królewska Huta, was separated from Germany and awarded to Poland in 1922. Migrations of people followed. Because of its strategic value, the case of the nitrogen factory Oberschlesische Stickstoffwerke was argued for years before the Permanent Court of International Justice, finally setting some new legal precedents on what is "just" in international relations.^[5] In 1934, the industrial communities of Chorzów, Królewska Huta and Nowe Hajduki were merged into one municipality with 81,000 inhabitants. The name of the oldest settlement Chorzów was given to the whole city. In April 1939, the settlement of Hajduki Wielkie with 30,000 inhabitants was added to Chorzów.

In part due to the German-Polish trade war in the 1920s, the industry of Chorzów, a border city at that time, stagnated until 1933. In 1927, a division of Huta Piłsudski was separated into a company making rail cars, trams and bridges; today it operates as Alstom-Konstal. The State Factory of Nitrogen Compounds (Państwowa Fabryka Związków Azotowych) was in 1933 merged with a similar company (largely its copy) in Tarnów-Mościce.

German occupation during World War II (1939–1945)

Memorial to local Poles murdered by the Germans in the Ravensbrück concentration camp

On the day of the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, Chorzów was taken by Nazi Germany. Polish irregulars, mainly Silesian uprising veterans and scouts, put up resistance to the regular German forces for three days, afterwards the city was occupied by Germany, and on September 6, 1939, the Einsatzgruppe I entered the city to commit various atrocities against Poles.^[6] Most of the Polish defenders were murdered in mass executions. An execution of three Poles was carried out by the German Freikorps already on September 3, 1939.^[7] A unit of the Einsatzgruppe I was stationed in Chorzów, and it was responsible for many crimes against Poles committed in Chorzów and the nearby cities of Czeladź and Siemianowice Śląskie.^[8] Polish property was confiscated, and Chorzów was promptly re-incorporated into German Silesia; the Upper Silesian industry being one of the pillars of the Nazi Germany war effort. In 1939 and 1940, the Germans carried out mass arrests of Polish intelligentsia, especially teachers, for which a prison was operated in the city (see Intelligenzaktion).^[9] Local Polish teachers were among Poles murdered in 1939 in Chorzów and Strzybnica (present-day district of Tarnowskie Góry), and later in the Dachau concentration camp.^[10]

There were several forced labour camps in Chorzów, including one Polenlager solely for Poles,^[11] two camps solely for Jews,^[12][13] the E246, E594 and E725 subcamps of the Stalag VIII-B/344 prisoner-of-war camp,^[14] and, in years 1944–1945, a subcamp of the Auschwitz concentration camp, in which approximately 200 Jews from German-occupied France, Belgium and Czechoslovakia were imprisoned.^[15] In January 1945, the prisoners of the subcamp of Auschwitz were evacuated on foot to Gliwice, and then deported to the Nordhausen-Dora concentration camp.^[15] Chorzów was occupied by the Soviet Red Army in January 1945 with the subsequent persecution of many ethnic Polish Silesians and Germans.^[16]

After 1945

A Chorzów street in 1993, following the dissolution of communism.

Main post office

At the end of World War II, Chorzów was given to Poland. Generally, the Chorzów industry suffered little damage during World War II due to its inaccessibility to Allied bombing, a Soviet Army enveloping manoeuvre in January 1945,^[17] and perhaps Albert Speer's slowness or refusal to implement the scorched earth policy. This intact industry now played a critical role in the post-war reconstruction and industrialization of Poland. After the war, businesses were nationalized and operated, with minor changes, until 1989. Some were used as Soviet labour and concentration camps. Some industrial hardware and at least 100,000 Polish Silesians were deported to the Ukrainian Donbass region. At the "fall of communism" in 1989, the area was in decline. Since 1989, the region has been transitioning from heavy industry to a more diverse economy.

On 28 January 2006, a roof collapsed at an exhibition hall, killing 65 people. See Trade hall roof collapse in Katowice, Poland.

In 2007, Chorzów became a part of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union, a voluntary union of a continuous chain of cities aimed at increasing the poor visibility of the area, improving its competitiveness, and modernizing the infrastructure.

The region experienced several waves of migrations, including those commencing in 1945 (to Germany and from Poland and Ukraine), in 1971–1976 (to Germany), in 1982 (to Western countries), and from 2003 (to other countries of the EU).

Location

Chorzów is in the middle of the largest urban center in Poland. The recently (2007) formed Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union is the largest legally recognized urban entity in Poland with a population of 2 million.

Nine million people live within 100 kilometres (62 miles) of Stadion Śląski in Chorzów. Six European capitals are located within 600 km (373 mi): Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Bratislava, Budapest and Warsaw.

Climate

The average annual temperature in Chorzów is 7.9 °C (46.2 °F). The annual precipitation is 723 mm (28 in). Weak West winds (less than 2 m/s) prevail.

Born in Chorzów

• Kurt Alder (1902–1958), German chemist, Nobel Prize in chemistry
• Reinhard Appel (1927–2011), German journalist and television presenter
• Gerard Cieślik (1927–2013), Polish footballer
• Marcin Dylla (born 1976), Polish classical guitarist
• Jakub Dziółka (born 1980), Polish former footballer
• August Froehlich (1891–1942), German Roman Catholic priest, member of the resistance against Nazism and martyr
• Karolina Gluck, Polish victim of the 7/7 Bombing in London on 7 July 2005 (killed on the Number 30 bus at Tavistock Square)
• George Golla (born 1935), Australian jazz musician
• Monika Hojnisz (born 1991), biathlete
• Szymon Kapias (born 1984), Polish footballer
• Agnieszka Krukówna (born 1971), actress
• Marek Kubisz (born 1974), Polish footballer
• Olgierd Łukaszewicz (born 1946), Polish actor
• Janusz Michallik (born 1966), former American national team soccer player, currently a commentator for ESPN
• Walter Mixa (born 1941), Bishop of Augsburg and military Bishop of the Bundeswehr
• Helga Molander (1896–1986), German actress, and mother of Hans Eysenck
• Paul Mross or Paweł Mróz (1910–1991), Polish and German chess player
• Leonard Piątek (1913–1967), Polish soccer star of the interbellum period
• Antoni Piechniczek (born 1942), Polish soccer coach (lead twice the national team at World Cup)
• Ladislaus Pilars de Pilar (1874–1952), Polish poet and entrepreneur
• Ryszard Riedel (1956–1994), blues rock vocalist
• Günther Rittau (1893–1971), German cameraman and film director
• Oskar Seidlin (1911–1984), American scholar
• Tino Schwierzina (1927–2003), last mayor of East Berlin
• Hanna Schygulla (born 1943), German actress and chanson singer
• Stephan Stompor (1931–1995), musicologist
• Adam Taubitz (born 1967), German jazz and classic musician
• Franz Waxman (1906–1967), American composer
• Friedrich Weißler (1891–1937), lawyer
• Gerard Wodarz (1913–1982), Polish soccer star of the interbellum period

Associated with Chorzów

• Friedrich Wilhelm von Reden (1752–1815), German pioneer in mining
• John Baildon (1772–1846), Scottish pioneer in metallurgy
• Adolph Menzel (1815–1905), German artist
• Ignacy Mościcki (1867–1946), Polish chemist and then President of Poland
• Fritz Haber (1868–1934), German chemist
• Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski (1888–1974), eminent Polish economist and politician
• Joe Wickham (1890–1968), Irish sportsperson
• Ernest Wilimowski (1916–1997), Silesian soccer star
• Jerzy Buzek (born 1940), Prime minister of Poland, former President of the European Parliament