Kluczbork

Gothic Church of Christ Saviour

Archaeologists have determined that a settlement existed at the location of present-day Kluczbork by 1000–800 BCE. The Germanic Scirii and Bastarnae settled in the vicinity, and were followed c. 100 BCE by Celts and various Germanic tribes, including Silingi and Vandals. The latter left Silesia c. 400 and West Slavs came to the region in the 7th century (see Silesians). In the late 10th century the Silesian territory was included to the just established Polish state by its first historic ruler Mieszko I of Poland.

In the 13th century the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star acquired territory near Wrocław, including the villages Młodoszów, Kuniów, and Chocianowice. The Knights built a settlement on November 2, 1252. Named Cruceburg, it received Magdeburg rights on February 26, 1253, the official date for founding of the town. The Knights adjudicated in the town until 1274, when it started to be administered by a vogt of local Silesian dukes and juries were introduced. As a result of the fragmentation of Poland, Kluczbork was part of various Polish duchies ruled by the Piast dynasty: Duchy of Silesia until 1293, Duchy of Głogów until 1312, Duchy of Oleśnica until 1323 and Duchy of Legnica until 1341, when it came under direct rule of the King of Poland, Casimir III the Great.[2] In 1356 it passed to the Czech Crown Lands,[2] and it soon returned under the rule of local Polish dukes of the Piast dynasty, as part of various duchies. From 1536 it was part of the Piast-ruled Duchy of Brzeg until its dissolution in 1675.[2] Afterwards it was incorporated into the Habsburg-ruled Czech Kingdom.

Renaissance-Baroque Kluczbork Town Hall

A mint operated in Kluczbork during the reign of Duke Bolesław III the Generous, in the early 14th century.[2] In 1426 Duke Louis II of Brzeg granted Kluczbork privileges of a salt market in 1426.[2] For centuries the town was inhabited by a predominantly Polish-speaking populace. The textile industry began to grow in importance in 1553, but suffered a fire in 1569. Another great fire destroyed many houses on December 8, 1562. On January 25, 1588, the day after the Battle of Byczyna, Polish troops under Jan Zamoyski plundered the city. The townspeople accepted the Protestant Reformation in 1656 and converted the local Roman Catholic Church into a Lutheran one. The Polish Brethren settled in the city after 1660, and organized their synods in the city in 1663 and 1668.[2] The town had a population of approximately 1,000 inhabitants in 1681.

A fire on April 23, 1737 almost completely destroyed the town, leaving only a few houses and the castle unscathed. Several years of rebuilding passed before it reached its previous size.

Cruceburg (later spelled Creutzburg, Creuzburg, Kreuzburg) was originally part of the Lower Silesian Duchy of Brieg, but in the 18th century came to Upper Silesia. Citing an inheritance treaty, which was not honored by Habsburg rulers, King Frederick II of Prussia invaded Silesia in 1740 and began the Silesian Wars. Kreuzburg was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1741 and became part of the Province of Silesia.

The town became part of the German Empire upon the unification of Germany in 1871. It had a predominantly German-speaking population of 5,238 in 1875, although it was located in a Polish-dominated district.[3] The population grew to 8,750 by 1895 and 10,236 by 1900.

Memorial plaque at the site of the former German Oflag VIII A prisoner of war camp and Ilag VIII/Z camp

Following the Treaty of Versailles after World War I, Kreuzburg was involved in the Upper Silesian referendum in 1921. 95.6% (37,957 votes out of 39,703 participants) voted to remain within Weimar Germany instead of joining the Second Polish Republic. It became part of the Province of Upper Silesia; to differentiate between other places named Kreuzburg, it was known as Kreuzburg O.S. (referring to Oberschlesien, or Upper Silesia). By 1939 the town was the seat of Landkreis Kreuzburg O.S. and had 11,693 inhabitants. After the Nazi Party took power in Germany in the 1930s, anti-Polish and anti-Jewish sentiments became more visible. In 1936, the Germans changed the Polish-sounding street names, and in 1938, during the Kristallnacht they burned down the synagogue, built in 1886.[2] During World War II, in 1939, the Germans established the Oflag VIII A prisoner of war camp in the city, and in 1943 they transformed it into the Ilag VIII/Z camp for interned citizens of the United Kingdom and the United States.[2] The Germans evacuated the populace before the advancing Soviet army in January 1945.[2]

The town was captured by the Soviet Union's Red Army in 20 January 1945 toward the end of World War II. Following the war in 1945, the town became part of Poland. A majority of the Germans remaining in the town fled or were expelled and replaced with Poles from Poland's eastern provinces newly annexed by the Soviet Union, as well as from other parts of Poland.

A monument of Jan Dzierżon, pioneering and world-famous Polish apiarist, was unveiled in 1981.[4]

Kluczbork budget income's sources as of 2015.

Kluczbork's economy is dominated by the production of machinery, knitwear and construction material, alongside newly emerging industries, namely: the transport sector, trade, agriculture and the food production sector as well as being the centre for the Kluczbork County's banks and other financial institutions. The Gmina Kluczbork has some 1800 businesses (1300 of which are located within the city's boundaries). The largest factories in Kluczbork are: Fabryka Maszyn i Urządzeń „Famak” (machinery production), PV „Prefabet - Kluczbork” S.A. (concrete materials) and Wagrem sp. z o.o. Kluczbork (weighing scale repairs).

The part of the town of Kluczbork, around Ligota Dolna, is part of the Wałbrzych Special Economic Zone (area of 53939 ha). The current investors in the Wałbrzych Special Economic Zone are: Marcegaglia Poland,[5] Inpol-Krak Tubes Service Center and the German Seppeler Gruppe Ocynkownia Śląsk (galvanisation company).[6]

MKS Kluczbork is a professional association football club founded in 2003 as a result of a merger of two local clubs.

Jan Dzierżon, Polish apiarist and "father of modern apiculture", was born in Łowkowice, Kluczbork County

• Adam Gdacjusz (1615–1688), parish priest in this city
• Samuel Crellius (1660–1747), philosopher and theologian
• Jan Dzierżon (1811–1906), apiarist
• Gustav Freytag (1816–1895), dramatist and novelist
• Walther von Lüttwitz (1859, Bogacica, near this city – 1942)
• Kurt Daluege (1897–1946), Nazi SS police chief executed for war crimes
• Heinz Piontek (1925–2003), author
• Edyta Górniak (born 1972), singer
• Tomasz Garbowski (born 1979), politician

See twin towns of Gmina Kluczbork.

• 
  Market Square (Rynek)
• 
  Kraków Gate Tower
• 
  Church of St. Mary of Help
• 
  Park Miejski (Municipal Park)
• 
  Monastery of the Sisters of Saint Elizabeth
• 
  The grave of Polish soldiers killed in World War II in 1939

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kluczbork.

• Jewish Community in Kluczbork on Virtual Shtetl