Editing Bielsko-Biała (section)

===Bielsko===
[[File:Grodzisko_w_Bielsku-Białej.jpg|thumb|Remnats of the Stare Bielsko hillfort]]
There has been human habitation in Bielsko since around 1400 BC, wooden tools have been found along with stone axes dating from 1000 BC. The remnants of a fortified settlement in what is now the [[Stare Bielsko]] (Old Bielsko) district of the city were discovered between 1933 and 1938 by a Polish archaeological team. The settlement was dated to the 12th – 14th centuries. Its dwellers manufactured [[iron]] from [[ore]] and specialized in [[Smith (metalwork)|smithery]]. The current centre of the town was probably developed as early as the first half of the 13th century. At that time a castle (which still survives today) was built on a hill.
[[File:Bielsko-Biała_Language_Island.png|thumb|The boundaries of the Bielsko-Biala German linguistic island (Bielitz-Bialaer Sprachinsel) and earlier mentions of related localities]]
In the second half of the 13th century, the [[Silesian Piasts|Piast]] dukes of [[Duchy of Opole and Racibórz|Opole]] invited [[Ostsiedlung|German settlers]] to colonize the [[Silesian Foothills]]. As the dukes then also ruled over the Lesser Poland lands east of the Biała River, settlements arose on both banks like ''Bielitz'' (now [[Stare Bielsko]]), ''Nickelsdorf'' ([[Mikuszowice, Bielsko-Biała|Mikuszowice Śląskie]]), ''Kamitz'' ([[Kamienica, Bielsko-Biała|Kamienica]]), ''Batzdorf'' ([[Komorowice, Bielsko-Biała|Komorowice Śląskie]]) and ''[[Międzyrzecze Górne|Kurzwald]]'' in the west as well as ''Kunzendorf'' ([[Lipnik, Bielsko-Biała|Lipnik]]), ''Alzen'' ([[Hałcnów]]) and ''Wilmesau'' ([[Wilamowice]]) in the east. Nearby settlements in the mountains were ''Lobnitz'' ([[Wapienica, Bielsko-Biała|Wapienica]]) and ''Bistrai'' ([[Bystra, Bielsko County|Bystra]]). Those settlements did not undergo Slavonicisation in the following centuries, which led to the creation of a German language island (''Bielitz-Bialaer Sprachinsel'') that survived until the 20th century.

After the partition of the Duchy of Opole in 1281, Bielsko passed to the [[Duchy of Teschen|Dukes of Cieszyn]] within fragmented [[Kingdom of Poland (1025–1031)|Poland]]. The town was first documented in 1312 when Duke [[Mieszko I, Duke of Cieszyn|Mieszko I of Cieszyn]] granted a [[German town law|town charter]]. The Biała again became a border river, when in 1315 the eastern [[Duchy of Oświęcim]] split off from Cieszyn as a separate under Mieszko's son [[Władysław of Oświęcim|Władysław]]. After the Dukes of Cieszyn had become vassals of the [[Kingdom of Bohemia|Bohemian kings]] in 1327 and the Duchy of Oświęcim was sold to the [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Polish Crown]] in 1457, returning to Lesser Poland after three centuries, the Biała River for next centuries marked the border between the [[Lands of the Bohemian Crown|Bohemian crown land]] of Silesia within the [[Holy Roman Empire]] and the [[Lesser Poland Province, Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Lesser Poland Province]] of the [[History of Poland during the Jagiellon dynasty|Kingdom of Poland]] and the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]].
[[File:Mattheus Seuter, Ducatus Teschenensis-Dynast Bilicen.jpg|thumb|Duchy of Bielsko]]
With Bohemia and the Upper Silesian Duchy of Cieszyn, Bielsko in 1526 was inherited by the Austrian [[House of Habsburg]] and incorporated into the [[Habsburg monarchy]]. From 1560 Bielsko was held by [[Frederick Casimir of Cieszyn]], son of Duke [[Wenceslaus III Adam, Duke of Cieszyn|Wenceslaus III Adam]], who due to the enormous debts his son left upon his death in 1571, had to sell it to the Promnitz noble family at [[Duchy of Pless|Pless]]. With the consent of Emperor [[Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian II]], the Promnitz dynasty and their [[House of Schaffgotsch|Schaffgotsch]] successors ruled the [[Duchy of Bielsko]] as a Bohemian [[state country]]; acquired by the Austrian chancellor [[Count Friedrich Wilhelm von Haugwitz]] in 1743, and afterwards by Polish aristocrat [[Aleksander Józef Sułkowski]] in 1752, the ducal status was finally confirmed by Empress [[Maria Theresa]] in 1754. It remained in possession of the Polish [[Sułkowski family]] until the dissolution of the duchy in 1849, while the castle was still owned by the Sułkowskis until World War II.
[[File:Bielsko_1801,_drzeworyt.jpg|thumb|left|Bielsko in 1801, numbers 9 and 10 mark the Bielsko Zion]]
Bielsko was the first town in the Duchy of Cieszyn where the teachings of [[Martin Luther]] spread in the late 1530s, even before Duke [[Wenceslaus III Adam, Duke of Cieszyn|Wenceslaus III Adam]] adopted [[Lutheranism]] in 1545. Also later, Bielsko was home to the strongest Protestant community in the whole of Cieszyn Silesia, which in 1587 obtained a privilege guaranteeing that only Lutheran services would be held in the town. [[Jiří Třanovský]] was active in the Bielsko castle. Bielsko retained its Protestant character also after the [[Thirty Years' War]]. The recatholisation campaign, which started in the second half of the 17th century, was not very successful. Throughout the [[Counter-Reformation]] period, Lutheran services were held—at first in the Holy Trinity Church with the permission of the authorities, later in homes or in the surrounding [[Beskids|Beskid]] forests (the so-called forest churches)—and immediately after the issuing of the [[Patent of Toleration]] by [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Joseph II]] in 1781, an Evangelical district was established north of the historical centre, with the [[Church of the Saviour, Bielsko-Biała|Church of the Saviour]], the present seat of the [[Lutheran Diocese of Cieszyn|Lutheran bishop]] and schools, known as the [[Bielsko Zion]] (''Bielski Syjon''). To this day, it remains a Protestant cultural centre of supra-regional significance. In 1900, a monument to Martin Luther was unveiled there. It was one of only two in the whole of Austria-Hungary (the other was erected in the Bohemian town of [[Aš]]), and now is the only one within the borders of Poland. In the second half of the 19th century, Lutherans ceased to constitute the majority of the population due to the influx of new inhabitants, mostly Catholic or Jewish.

After the [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussian]] king [[Frederick the Great]] had invaded Silesia, Bielsko remained with the Habsburg monarchy as part of [[Austrian Silesia]] according to the 1742 [[Treaty of Breslau]]. In late 1849 Bielsko became a seat of [[Bielitz District|political district]]. In 1870 it became a [[statutory city (Austria)|statutory city]]. 
[[File:Bielsko-Biała_Plac_Teatralny_001.jpg|thumb|From left: the theater, the main post office and the Bielsko Castle]]
[[File:Bielitz_-_Franz_Josef-Strasse._1905_(69115276).jpg|thumb|A 1905 postcard of Franz-Josef-Strasse (now 3 Maja Street) connecting the Old Town with the railway station]]
[[File:Bielsko-Biała,_północna_dzielnica_przemysłowa_1915.jpg|thumb|left|The industrial landscape of Bielsko and Biała at the beginning of the 20th century]]
The town's development in the 19th century was primarily linked to the [[textile industry]], and to a lesser extent the engineering industry. The Bielsko-Biała area was described as the third largest centre of the textile industry in the [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian monarchy]], after [[Brno]] and [[Liberec]]. In the second half of the 19th century, new tenements, villas of wealthy industrialists and public buildings in [[Revivalism (architecture)|Revival]] and [[Art Nouveau]] styles began to spring up in the landscape of the city. These were often inspired by the architecture of Vienna, to which the slogan "Little Vienna", which is still popular today, refers.<ref name="bujak"/> The local architect of the Jewish origin [[Carl Korn]] had the greatest influence on the architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, shaping the character of "Little Vienna", while the plan for urban regulation was prepared in 1899 by the Viennese urban planner [[Max Fabiani]]. In 1855 a branch of the [[Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway]] was built from [[Czechowice-Dziedzice|Dziedzice]] to Bielsko, which in 1877 was extended to [[Żywiec]] and connected to the [[Galician Transversal Railway]]. A {{convert|268|m|ft}} long tunnel under the centre of Bielsko was then built. In 1888, a railway connection to [[Cieszyn]] and [[Kalwaria Zebrzydowska]] was opened. In 1895, an [[Trams in Bielsko-Biała|electric tram line was established]] in Bielsko. It connected the railway station with Zigeunerwald/Cygański Las, which in the meantime was transformed into a forest-park complex on the model of the [[Vienna Forest]] with many summer villas of Bielsko's factory owners built in its surroundings.

However, the demographic boom was weaker than, for example, in the [[Katowice urban area|Upper Silesian conurbation]], due to the restriction of the settlement of workers in the city proper. Many of them lived in the surrounding villages, which formally remained separate, even though they were taking on an increasingly urban character. According to the 1910 census, Bielsko had a population of 18,568. 84.3% used [[German language|German]] in their domestic interactions, 14.3% used [[Polish language|Polish]], 0.7% used [[Czech language|Czech]] or [[Slovak language|Slovak]], and 0.7% used another language. 55.9% were [[Roman Catholic]], 27.6% [[Lutheran]], 16.3% [[Judaism|Jewish]], and 1.1% were of another denomination or with no religion.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Spyra |first1=Janusz|last2=Kenig|first2=Piotr|title=Bielsko-Biała. Monografia miasta – Bielsko od wojen śląskich do zakończenia I wojny światowej (1740–1848)|date=2010 |publisher=Wydział Kultury i Sztuki Urzędu Miejskiego w Bielsku-Białej |location=Bielsko-Biała |isbn=978-83-60136-41-6 |pages=140, 259 |language=pl |chapter=Przeobrażenia struktur społecznych i narodowościowych w Bielsku w drugiej połowie XIX i początkach XX wieku + Przeobrażenia struktur społecznych i narodowościowych w Bielsku w drugiej połowie XIX i początkach XX wieku }}</ref>

After 1918, when [[Austro-Hungary]] collapsed, Bielsko found itself within a [[Polish–Czechoslovak border conflicts|disputed territory between Poland and Czechoslovakia]]. Attempts to incorporate the city into the [[Republic of German-Austria]] failed. In July 1920, the [[Conference of Ambassadors]] decided to divide [[Cieszyn Silesia]] in such a way that Bielsko became part of the autonomous [[Silesian Voivodeship (1920–1939)|Silesian Voivodeship]] in the [[Second Polish Republic]]. Political life was largely shaped by nationalist disputes. The influx of Polish officials and teachers increased the proportion of the Polish population, but Bielsko nevertheless retained its predominantly German character. Polish authorities successively closed down purely German institutions,
even if run by the church. German-speaking citizens fought to preserve the German schools, but had no chance against the Warsaw bureaucrats, who after the Polish experience of paternalism of the Russian and Prussian empires now lashed out against the German-speakers. In southern Poland, this revenge came as a  surprise, because Galicia had been practically a Polish crown land of the Habsburg monarchy since 1867, Polish had been its official language and local officials had been Polish.<ref>{{cite book|author=Gero Vogl|title=Klein-Wien – Eine deutsche Sprachinsel in Österreichisch Schlesien: Bielitz und sein letzter deutscher evangelischer Pfarrer|publisher=Frank & Timme}}</ref>

In the 1930s some [[Volksdeutsche|ethnic German]] citizens, under the leadership of [[Rudolf Wiesner]], formed an [[Anti-Polish sentiment|anti-Polish]], [[Antisemitism|anti-Jewish]] ''[[Jungdeutsche Partei]]'', which de facto served as a foreign branch of the [[NSDAP]]. A considerable number of young Germans joined this Party during the mid-1930s.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A9RWAAAAMAAJ |title=Nazi Front Schlesien: niemieckie organizacje polityczne w województwie Śląskim w latach 1933-1939 |publisher=Wydawnictwo Śląsk, Katowice |year=1963 |access-date=11 September 2014 |author=Karol Grünberg}}</ref>
[[File:Bielsko-Biała, Aleje Sułkowskiego.jpg|thumb|New residential district in the 1930s]]
On the other hand, the interwar period is associated with numerous construction projects, such as a new residential district in [[Modernist architecture|Modernist style]] created since 1934 in place of the former castle gardens, or the building of the first Polish high school (now [[Nicolaus Copernicus High School, Bielsko-Biała|Nicolaus Copernicus High School]]) put into use in 1927. In 1938, the municipality of [[Aleksandrowice, Bielsko-Biała|Aleksandrowice]] was incorporated, where an airport and a pilot school were established.