On Żory

ZORY FROM MIDDLE AGES UNTIL CONTEMPORARY TIMES

The first historical note on the Zory village dates from 1258. The name of the village was mentioned in a document concerning the Cistercians monastery in Rudy Raciborskie. This small settlement was supposed to be one of the ancillary villages of the monastery.

On 24 February 1272 Wladyslaw - the Prince of Opole and Raciborz made exchange of several landed estates for Zory village, which belonged at the time to Chwalisz, one of his knights. In the copy of a document issued the aforementioned date, the Prince Wladyslaw states that he is going to found a fortified town. Therefore 24 February 1272 is considered an official date of founding the town.

JIt was already in 1291 when Zory and the whole Duchy of Raciborz became a fiefdom of the king of Czech, Waclaw, while the son of Wladyslaw, Prince Przemyslaw became his vassal. In 1327 the son of Przemyslaw, Leszek paid homage to John of Luxemburg strengthening the fiefdom of Czech to this duchy.
          Soon afterwards, it turned out that the town's defensive walls, which had been being built for several dozen of years since the foundation of the town became very useful to the townsmen. In 1345 the king of Poland, Casimir III the Great incited the war and in due course, he wanted to incorporate Silesia under his reign. Polish troops entered the Duchy of Raciborz, they besieged Zory among other towns, but they could not capture it. Rybnik, the neighboring town, did not have defensive walls, and therefore it was burned to the ground.
          Another bane of Silesian townsmen during the Middle Ages was robbery on the roads, which reached plague proportions and was a great impediment to trade. In result, in 1384 Zory acceded to a union of 22 towns in Silesia and the Wielun region in order to prevent this crime practice. Zory was granted then a privilege to execute the criminals with sword. Possibly, for this historical reason there is the downward sword, apart from the Upper Silesia half-eagle, in the Zory coat of arms.   
          The first half of 15th century in Silesia was a time of Hussite Wars. The Hussite army reached the Zory defensive walls too yet they also could not capture the town.
          In 1526 Zory and all Silesia belonged the Habsburg Monarchy. In consequence, the following century those lands became the centre of battles during the Thirty Years War. Furthermore, Zory troubled by army forced marches and pandemic diseases was significantly impoverished.

Moreover, the town itself was exposed to numerous fires that destroyed the wooden buildings. During one great fire, which broke out 11 May 1702, majority of town's people and the mayor of Zory died. The survivors who saved their lives resolved to commemorate that day and every year 11 May they went carrying burning torches in their hands in a great plea for mercy procession to protect them from another fires. This religious ceremony has been held until this day, and more and more attend the procession at present.
          After 1740, Zory was under the rule of Prussia. In 1806 after another fire, which destroyed most of the wooden town there was a decision held to rebuilt the town in stone only. Since that time there had become a slow process of demolition of town's defensive walls making it a cheap source of building materials.
          In 20th century, there became economic transformations. Cotemporary character of the town living on craft, small trade as well as farming began to be more industrial. In 1830 there was established the "Waleska" ironworks, and in 1842 the "Pawel" ironworks, which was known as an Iron Foundry. In 1842 a steam mill was built, which belonged to the Stern family where in 1888 was Otto Stern was born, a Nobel Prize Winner in Physics. 
          Since the early 20th century among the Polish townspeople in Zory (there were also living a great number of Germans and Jewish community who had been living since 16th century), their willingness to manifest their national identity became intense. The "Feniks" Singing Society was established among others.
              The Zory townspeople fought in all three Silesia Uprisings. In the Third Uprising, in 1921 the XIII Zory Infantry Regiment of Uprising Army took part in it.
          Polish administration authorities seized power 4 July 1922. The same year Zory was visited by The Head of Government Jozef Pilsudski.
          During the interwar period there were new Polish organizations established: the "Sokol" Gymnastics Society or The Polish Scouting and Guiding Association (ZHP). The Karol Miarka Polish National Gymnasium was established in 1922, as well as the "Minerwa" ironware factory.
            Upon the outbreak of 2nd World War, there were living 6100 people in Zory. German occupation started 1 September 1939. The town was defended only by Polish army covering forces ("Rybnik" -the National Defence battalion and the battery of 23 light artillery regiment), while they had to fight against main force of Wehrmacht 5 Armored Division. 
            Zory and the remaining lands of Polish Upper Silesia were directly incorporated into the Reich. The occupation lasted over 5 years. Soon before the end of War, the town witnessed "the death march" of prisoners of Auschwitz - Birkenau concentration camp. 47 prisoners died in the town then. 2nd World War ended up tragically for Zory. 80% of the town was completely destroyed on 24 March 1945 when Russian and Czech military armies attacked.
          Until early seventies of 20th century, Zory was slowly being rebuilt from war damages, yet it remained a small town. With the improvement of mining industry in the Rybnik Mining District, there were started large housing developments here, where new workers from the nearby coalmines moved to along with their families. Within a dozen of years or so, the number of town dwellers grew rapidly over 60 thousand.