Editing Rybnik (section)

==History==
The city's name derives from the Proto-Slavic word for "fish" (''ryba'') and meant "fishpond" in the Old [[Polish language]]. The name highlights the importance of [[fish farming]] for the city's economy in the [[Middle Ages]], which is reflected in its [[coat of arms]] until this day.

The city's origins can be traced back into the 9th and 10th century, when three [[Slavic peoples|Slavic]] settlements existed on Rybnik's present-day territory which eventually merged to form one town. It became part of the emerging Polish state under its first historic ruler [[Mieszko I]] in the 10th century. In the course of the [[medieval]] eastward migration of German settlers ({{lang|de|[[Ostsiedlung]]}}), Rybnik, as many other Polish settlements, was incorporated (granted city status and right) according to the so-called [[Magdeburg Law]] at some point before 1308 (the exact date remains unknown). This, however, is not to be confused with a change in national affiliation; Rybnik continued to be part of the [[Kingdom of Poland (1025–1385)|Kingdom of Poland]], until most of [[Silesia]] became a [[fiefdom]] of the [[Kingdom of Bohemia|Bohemian Crown]] in 1327, however Rybnik was still ruled by local Polish dukes of the [[Piast dynasty]] until 1336.

The city continued to grow and developed into a regional trade centre. In the 15th century, the [[Hussites]] devastated the city, before being eventually defeated in a decisive battle on a hill nearby in 1433, with [[Polish people|Poles]] and [[Czechs]] fighting on both sides. Around 1469 the city passed under [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungarian]] suzerainty, and in 1490 it fell back to Bohemia. From 1521 Rybnik was again ruled by Polish Piast dukes, as it was integrated with the [[Duchy of Opole and Racibórz]], before in 1532 it eventually was incorporated into Bohemia, which itself came under the authority of the [[Habsburg]] crown. Then the city became the capital of a [[state country]] held by various noble families, including the Polish Węgierski family of [[Rola coat of arms]] from 1682 until the state country's dissolution in 1788.

[[File:Rybnik Ansicht.jpg|thumb|left|Early 19th-century view of Rybnik|alt=Etching showing an early 19th-century view of Rybnik.]]At the beginning of the [[War of the Austrian Succession]] between [[Frederick II of Prussia]] (the Great) and the [[Habsburg]] [[empress]] [[Maria Theresa of Austria]], most of Silesia, including Rybnik, was annexed by [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]] in 1740, which [[Habsburg monarchy|Austria]] eventually recognized in 1763. In the 18th century, Rybnik belonged to the tax inspection region of [[Prudnik]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-11-16 |title=Historia Powiatu Prudnickiego - Starostwo Powiatowe w Prudniku |url=http://www.powiatprudnicki.pl/powiatprudnicki-historiapowiatu.html |access-date=2021-12-07 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201116133028/http://www.powiatprudnicki.pl/powiatprudnicki-historiapowiatu.html |archive-date=16 November 2020 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Coal mining gained importance for Rybnik's economy as early as the 18th century. In 1871, Prussia, including Rybnik, merged into the [[German Empire]], the first modern German nation state. At this point, Poland had already ceased to exist as an independent state, having been divided between Prussia, Austria and [[Russian Empire|Russia]] in the [[Partitions of Poland|Third Partition of Poland]] of 1795.

With the intensification of [[Germanisation of Poles during the Partitions|Germanization]] and [[Anti-Polonism|anti-Polish]] policies in the [[German Empire]] in the late 19th and early 20th century, the ethnically mixed region of [[Upper Silesia]] became affected by growing tensions between German nationalists and indigenous Poles. After the end of [[World War I]] in 1918, the [[Second Polish Republic|Polish state]] was finally restored. Amidst an atmosphere of ethnic unrest, the Polish [[Silesian Uprisings]] broke out, the first of which (in 1919) was centered on Rybnik, and the [[Upper Silesia plebiscite]] was held in 1921 to determine the future state affiliation. The lowest share of pro-German votes was registered in the districts of [[Kreis Rybnik|Rybnik]] (34.7%) and [[Pszczyna]] (25.9%).<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=2016-03-04|title=Landsmannschaft der Oberschlesier in Karlsruhe|url=http://home.arcor.de/oberschlesien-ka/abstimmung/rybnik.htm|access-date=2021-07-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304050546/http://home.arcor.de/oberschlesien-ka/abstimmung/rybnik.htm|archive-date=2016-03-04}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-05-02|title=Landsmannschaft der Oberschlesier in Karlsruhe|url=http://home.arcor.de/oberschlesien-ka/abstimmung/pless.htm|access-date=2021-07-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150502200241/http://home.arcor.de/oberschlesien-ka/abstimmung/pless.htm|archive-date=2015-05-02}}</ref> However, in the city of Rybnik, 70.8% of the votes were in favour of [[Weimar Republic|Germany]].<ref name=":0" /> The city and the larger part of the Rybnik district were attached to Poland. Rybnik thus became Polish-ruled for the first time since 1788.

[[File:Rybnik. Ul. Marszalka Pilsudskiego i kosciol sw. Antoniego. po 1906 (70650537).jpg|thumb|Rybnik on a postcard from the interwar period]]
Within the [[Second Polish Republic]] of the interwar period, Rybnik was part of the Silesian Voivodeship and enjoyed far-reaching political and financial autonomy. In 1933, brothers Karol and Antoni Szafranek, eminent Polish musicians, founded a music school, today known as the [[Karol and Antoni Szafranek Secondary and Tertiary State School of Music]].

During the joint German-Soviet [[invasion of Poland]], which started [[World War II]], in September 1939, Rybnik was captured by Germany, and the ''[[Einsatzgruppen|Einsatzgruppe I]]'' entered the city to commit [[Nazi crimes against the Polish nation|atrocities against Poles]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Wardzyńska|first=Maria|title=Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion|publisher=[[Institute of National Remembrance|IPN]]|year=2009|isbn=978-83-7629-063-8|location=Warszawa|page=58|language=pl}}</ref> Under [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|German occupation]] the city was directly annexed into Germany. The population was [[Racial policy of Nazi Germany|ethnically categorized]] and either "re-Germanized" or disfranchised and partially [[Expulsion of Poles by Nazi Germany|expelled]] into the [[General Government]] (German-occupied central Poland). Local teachers and school principals were among Polish teachers and principals murdered in [[Nazi concentration camps]].<ref>Wardzyńska (2009), p. 138-139</ref> The Germans operated a Nazi prison in the city.<ref>{{cite web|title=NS-Gefängnis als Straflager Rybnik|url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&id=100000742|access-date=6 November 2020|website=Bundesarchiv.de|language=de}}</ref> The ''[[Polenlager]] No. 97'', a [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labour]] camp for Poles, was operated in the city from 1942 to 1945.<ref>{{cite web|title=Polenlager Nr. 97 Rybnik|url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&id=100000743|access-date=6 November 2020|website=Bundesarchiv.de|language=de}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Wardzyńska|first=Maria|title=Wysiedlenia ludności polskiej z okupowanych ziem polskich włączonych do III Rzeszy w latach 1939-1945|publisher=IPN|year=2017|isbn=978-83-8098-174-4|location=Warszawa|page=448|language=pl}}</ref> In the camp, the Germans mainly held children whose parents were either arrested or deported to Germany, and also elderly people.<ref>Wardzyńska (2017), p. 448, 452</ref> Nevertheless, the [[Polish resistance movement in World War II|Polish resistance movement]] was active in Rybnik. In the final stages of the war, in January 1945, the Germans murdered 385 prisoners of the [[Auschwitz concentration camp]] in the city during a [[Death marches during the Holocaust|death march]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Szlakiem Marszów Śmierci|url=http://auschwitz.org/historia/ewakuacja/szlakiem-marszow-smierci|access-date=6 November 2020|website=Miejsce Pamięci i Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau|language=pl}}</ref>

After the eventual German defeat which ended World War II in the European theatre of war in 1945, Rybnik was once more integrated into Poland, the territory of which was shifted westward on [[Joseph Stalin]]'s initiative. Rybnik thus ceased to be a German-Polish border city. A large portion of ethnic Germans from Rybnik eventually settled in the [[West Germany|West German]] city of [[Dorsten]], which eventually became one of Rybnik's [[twin towns]] in 1994.

In the post-war period, coal mining continued to gain importance. Under Poland's [[People's Republic of Poland|communist rule]] in 1945–1989 the city was projected to grow as a main mining centre of southern Poland. The 1970s saw the construction of an important [[Fossil fuel power plant|coal-fired power plant]]. A reservoir on the river [[Ruda River (Odra)|Ruda]] was constructed to provide it with cooling water. In 2002, the University of Economics (''Akademia Ekomomiczna''), the [[University of Silesia]] (''Uniwersytet Śląski''), both based in [[Katowice]], and the Silesian Polytechnic University (''Politechnika Śląska'') based in [[Gliwice]] established a joint campus in Rybnik to improve academic training opportunities in the area.