Editing James Louis Sobieski (section)

==Sobieski's Legacy in Oława==
[[File:SM Oława PlacZamkowy15 (11).jpg|thumb|240px|right|During the reign of Jakub Sobieski, [[Oława Castle]] received new interior furnishings and the library was enlarged. After the prince left Oława in 1734, the structure began to decline. The [[Province of Silesia#History|Prussians]] subsequently located a hospital and a bakery in the castle.]]
The connection to the Polish-Lithuanian state which Sobieski's rule brought to Oława set this part of Lower Silesia on a different trajectory, and thanks to it the [[Polish language]] was preserved here long after Jakub' death in 1737. After the end of the Silesian Wars in 1763, the city along with most of Silesia was annexed by the [[Kingdom of Prussia]], which immediately set out to [[Germanize]] their subjects. Yet the population remained Polish speaking in the vicinity of Oława. [[Julius Roger]] in his ethnographic book on Silesian folk songs recorded a Polish tune from Oława in 1863. In his book "Schlesien: eine Landeskunde für das deutsche Volk" published in 1896, outstanding German geographer [[Joseph Partsch]] expresses his surprise that:

{{quote|...''it is difficult to understand how it could have happened that on the west side of the [[Oder|Odra River]], in the Oława district and in the vicinity of parts of Wrocław and [[Strzelin]], that a completely dense territory of Polish-speaking residents could survive, in an area which contains many important roads that extends on all sides from the great transport center which is Wrocław'' <ref>[http://www.sbc.org.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=3315&dirids=1 Joseph Partsch: ''Schlesien: eine Landeskunde für das deutsche Volk'', t.1: ''Das ganze Land'', Breslau 1896].</ref>...}}

After [[World War II]] [[Province of Lower Silesia|German Silesia]] was ceded to the [[Polish People's Republic]]. Since then, a number of sites within Oława have been renamed to commemorate Jakub Sobieski.