Pyskowice

Pyskowice
Town square with historic tenements

Coat of arms
Pyskowice
Coordinates: 50°23′N 18°37′E / 50.383°N 18.617°E / 50.383; 18.617
Country  Poland
Voivodeship Silesian
County Gliwice
Gmina Pyskowice (urban gmina)
First mentioned 1256
Government
 • Mayor Wacław Kęska
Area
 • City 31.89 km2 (12.31 sq mi)
Population (2008)
 • City 19,104
 • Density 600/km2 (1,600/sq mi)
 • Urban 2,746,000
 • Metro 5,294,000
Time zone UTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST) UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code 44-120
Car plates SGL
Climate Cfb
Website http://www.pyskowice.pl/

Pyskowice [pɨskɔˈvʲit͡sɛ] ( listen) (German: Peiskretscham) is a town in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. Borders on the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union - metropolis with the population of 2 millions. Located in the Silesian Highlands.

It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship since its formation in 1999, previously it was in Katowice Voivodeship. Pyskowice is one of the towns of the 2,7 million conurbation - Katowice urban area and within a greater Silesian metropolitan area populated by about 5,294,000 people.[1] The population of the town is 19,104 (2008).[2]

During the Second World War Pyskowice, then known as Peiskretcham, was one of the many sites where Canadian and British prisoners of war, nominally attached to Stalag VIIIB/344 Lamsdorf (Lambinowice) had to work for their German captors. There were more than 600 such working parties belonging to Stlag VIIIB/344 in this region. In January 1945, as the Soviet armies resumed their offensive and advanced into Germany, the prisoners based in Pyskowice were marched westward in the so-called Long March or Death March. Some died from the bitter cold and exhaustion.Eventually the survivors were liberated by American troops in April or May 1945.

Twin towns

Pyskowice is twinned with:

People

References

  1. ↑ European Spatial Planning Observation Network (ESPON) "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-07-28. Retrieved 2009-03-28.
  2. ↑ Powierzchnia i ludność w przekroju terytorialnym w 2008 - Central Statistical Office in Poland ISSN 1505-5507 , 13.08.2008

Coordinates: 50°24′N 18°38′E / 50.400°N 18.633°E / 50.400; 18.633

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