Toszek

History

The beginning of the settlement and fortified keep dates back to the 9th and 10th centuries when the area was ruled by the Piasts, Mieszko I of Poland and later Bolesław I the Brave. The fortified keep had grown to the size of a town during the rule of Duke of Wrocław Bolesław I the Tall and during his rule it received town rights in 1235. After 1281 it became the seat of the regional Duchy and title of local ruler Bolesław was "the enlightened Bolesław, Duke of Toszek". In the 14th century the original Polish settlement passed to the Crown of Bohemia. In 1536, the city received Magdeburg rights from King Ferdinand I of Bohemia. In 1593 Rudolf II sold the castle and the area to Freiherr von Redern auf Groß Strehlitz. Under Habsburg rule, like many other areas in Silesia, the Toszek area was subjected to Germanisation, however a large portion of the population remained Polish. In 1645, along with the Duchy of Opole, Toszek returned to Polish rule under the House of Vasa. Toszek (Tost) burned down on 18 August 1677, and was looted in 1807. From 1742, the town belonged to Prussia and from 1871 was also part of Germany. From 1791 to 1797 it was owned by Joseph von Eichendorff. Administratively, it was part of the Tost-Gleiwitz district in the Province of Silesia. It became part of the Province of Upper Silesia in 1919, close to the Polish border. According to the German census of 1871, the town had a population of 1,775, of which 900 (50.7%) were Poles. On 20 March 1921, the Upper Silesia plebiscite was held in which a majority of inhabitants voted to remain in Germany rather than rejoin Poland, which just regained independence following World War I (1348 or 86% vs. 217 or 13.8%, at 97.4% turnout). Local Polish activists were intensively persecuted since 1937. During…