In 1920 Cieszyn Silesia was divided between the two newly created states ofPoland andCzechoslovakia, with the smaller western suburbs of Cieszyn becoming part of Czechoslovakia as a new town calledČeský Těšín. The larger part of the town joined Poland as Cieszyn.[2] Three bridges connect thetwin towns. After Poland and the Czech Republic joined theEuropean Union and its passport-freeSchengen zone, border controls were abolished and residents of both the Polish and Czech part could move freely across the border. The combined population of Polish and Czech parts of the city is 61,201 inhabitants.[citation needed] Cieszyn is the southern terminus of the PolishNational road 1 leading toGdańsk on theBaltic coast.
The town combines both Polish andOld–Austrian peculiarities in the style of its buildings. Because of several major fires and subsequent reconstructions (the last one in the late 18th century), the picturesque old town is sometimes calledLittle Vienna.[citation needed] The only relic of the ancient castle is a square tower, dating from the 14th century and 11th centuryromanesque chapel.[citation needed]
The area has been populated byWest Slavic peoples since at least the 7th century. According to legend, in 810 three sons of a prince – Bolko, Leszko and Cieszko, met here after a long pilgrimage, found a spring, and decided to found a new settlement. They called it Cieszyn, from the wordscieszym się ("We're happy"). This well can be found atulica Trzech Braci ("Three Brothers Street"), just west of the town square.[3][4]
TheDistrict Court of Cieszyn built in 1905, an example of the town's long prosperous history and its impact on architecture
The area became part of the emerging Polish state in the 10th century. The town was the capital of theDuchy of Cieszyn, established during the fragmentation of Poland into smaller duchies, since 1290, which was ruled byPiast dynasty until 1653 and by theHabsburg Dynasty of Austria until 1918. It was in Teschen thatMaria Theresa andFrederick II in May 1779 signed theTeschen Peace Treaty, which put an end to theWar of the Bavarian Succession. In the 19th century Teschen was known for its ethnic, religious and cultural diversity, containing mostly German, Polish, Jewish and Czech communities.[5] There was also a small Vlach community[6] and aHungarian community in the town consisting mostly of officers and clerks.[7]
The town was divided in July 1920, by theSpa Conference, a body formed by theVersailles Treaty, leaving a Polish minority on the Czechoslovak side.[8] Its smaller western suburbs became what is now the town ofČeský Těšín in theCzech Republic. During the interwar period two villages were merged into Cieszyn:Błogocice in 1923 andBobrek in 1932. After 1920 many ethnic Germans left the town, while many Poles from the Czechoslovakian part of the region moved in. According to the Polish census of 1921, Cieszyn had 15,268 inhabitants, of whom 9,241 (60.5%) were Poles, 4,777 (31.2%) were Germans, 1014 (6.6%) were Jews, and 195 (1.3%) were Czechs. The census from 1931 indicated 14,707 inhabitants, of whom 12,145 (82.7%) were Poles, while the rest consisted mostly of Germans and Jews (in 1937 estimated to be 12 and 8% respectively).[9]
Cieszyn and Český Těšín were merged again in October 1938 when Poland annexed theTrans-Olza area together with Český Těšín. Following the joint German-Sovietinvasion of Poland, which startedWorld War II in September 1939, Cieszyn wasoccupied by Germany until 1945. In 1939–1940, the Germans carried out mass arrests of local Poles during the genocidalIntelligenzaktion campaign, and then imprisoned them in a newly established Nazi prison in the town.[10] Many Polish teachers, school principals, priests and activists were deported toconcentration camps and murdered there.[11] The Nazi prison had twoforced labour subcamps in the town, and two more in nearbyKarviná andKonská.[12] The Germans also established a camp for children up to the age of 2-3, where they were beaten, tortured and subjected tomedical experiments.[13] Almost the entire Jewish community was murdered by the Nazis.
After World War II, the border between Poland and Czechoslovakia was restored to that of 1920. Most Germansfled or were expelled in accordance with thePotsdam Agreement and were replaced with Poles expelled from thePolish areas annexed by the Soviet Union. Signs of the former German presence in the town were removed by a special committee.[14]
Since the 18th century Cieszyn Silesia has been an important centre of PolishProtestantism when theJesus Church was built as the only one inUpper Silesia. Currently, Cieszyn is also the site of the Cieszyn Summer Film Festival, one of the most influentialfilm festivals in Poland. There is also an earlier established Czech-Polish-Slovak film festival.
Cieszyn is an important centre of the electromechanical industry. It is also the site of theOlza Cieszyn sweets factory (where the famousPrince Polowafers are made) and theBrackie Browar, whereŻywiec Porter is brewed. The main source of income for many citizens is trade with the nearbyCzech Republic and retail trade associated with transit across the two bridges over theOlza to Český Těšín. In the past, the city was home to many furniture factories.[15]
^ab"Local Data Bank". Statistics Poland. Retrieved2022-07-27. Data for territorial unit 2403011.
^Edmund Jan Osmańczyk, Anthony Mango (2003).Encyclopedia of the United Nations and international agreements - Volume 1 A-F (2003 ed.).Taylor & Francis. p. 382.ISBN0-415-93921-6.
^Jerzy Runge, Anna Runge (2020). "The role of the state border in socio-cultural changes of a divided town. Cieszyn/Český Tĕšín in a regional context".Spatial Conflicts and Divisions in Post-socialist Cities (2020 ed.). Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. pp. 23–39.doi:10.1007/978-3-030-61765-3_2.
^Kostkiewicz, Janina (2020). "Niemiecka polityka eksterminacji i germanizacji polskich dzieci w czasie II wojny światowej". In Kostkiewicz, Janina (ed.).Zbrodnia bez kary... Eksterminacja i cierpienie polskich dzieci pod okupacją niemiecką (1939–1945) (in Polish). Kraków:Uniwersytet Jagielloński,Biblioteka Jagiellońska. p. 58.
Wawreczka, Henryk;Janusz Spyra; Mariusz Makowski (1999).Těšín, Český Těšín na starých pohlednicích a fotografiích / Cieszyn, Czeski Cieszyn na starych widokówkach i fotografiach. Nebory, Třinec: Wart.ISBN80-238-4804-6.
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