Kożuchów

History

The town was founded in the 12th century, when it was part of the Kingdom of Poland. It was granted town rights in 1273 in the process of Ostsiedlung. As a result of the fragmentation of Poland, it became part of the Duchy of Głogów, ruled by the Piasts and Jagiellons until its dissolution in 1506. While it was a part of Austrian Silesia, the town became highly significant to German literature during the Baroque era. During the Thirty Years War in 1632, war poet Andreas Gryphius witnessed the pillaging and burning of Freystadt by the Protestant army of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. Gryphius immortalized the sack of the city in a detailed account entitled Fewrige Freystadt, which made him many enemies. In the Silesian Wars of the 18th century the town was annexed by Frederick the Great to the Kingdom of Prussia and, from 1871, was part of the German Empire. Three annual fairs were held in the town in the late 19th century. After the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, the town became again part of Poland, although with a Soviet-installed communist regime, which stayed in power until the Fall of Communism in the 1980s. It was renamed to its historic Polish name Kożuchów. The town's German-speaking population was expelled in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement and replaced by an ethnic Polish population similarly expelled from former eastern Poland annexed by the USSR.

Most-observed species

• Common Buzzard

  Buteo buteo (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  90
• Common Crane

  Grus grus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  79
• Common Wood-Pigeon

  Columba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  72
• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  71
• Red Kite

  Milvus milvus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  70
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  69
• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  66
• Yellowhammer

  Emberiza citrinella Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  64

Most recent

• M 4.2 — 2026-05-03
  6 km E of Radwanice, Poland
• M 4.2 — 2026-01-21
  5 km E of Polkowice, Poland
• M 4.1 — 2025-12-08
  4 km NNW of Polkowice, Poland
• M 4.5 — 2025-10-21
  1 km WSW of Grębocice, Poland
• M 4.5 — 2025-10-18
  2 km SW of Polkowice, Poland
• M 4.5 — 2025-09-12
  3 km NE of Lubin, Poland