Poland - Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski

Multiviews of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski.

Sent by Paulina, a postcrosser from Kielce, Poland.

This is from Wikipedia : Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski Polish pronunciation: [ɔsˈtrɔvʲɛt͡s ɕfʲɛntɔˈkʂɨskʲi] ( listen) is a town in south-central Poland (historic province of Lesser Poland), with 74,211 inhabitants (2006). Main industry is metallurgy. Ostrowiec is the capital city of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski County, part of Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (since 1999), previously it belonged to Kielce Voivodeship (1975–1998).

The oldest testimonies of human habitation date back to the Stone Age (ca 4000 BC). In that time, there were nomadic tribes belonging among others to Lengyel and Globular Amphora cultures. They came here from Danube river region.

The earliest documents about Ostrowiec village, that gave beginning to the contemporary Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, come from 14th century. The city itself, at that time part of Sandomierz Voivodeship, was built from scratch in 1597 by Jakub Gawroński ofRawa coat of arms on the left bank of the Kamienna river, situated in the Vistula river basin. It received town privileges in 1613. It became a property of Janusz Ostrogski, a statesman and one of the richest magnates of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Later it belonged to many Polish aristocratic families: Tarnowski family, Czartoryski family, Lubomirski family, Radziwiłł family,Zasławski family, Sanguszko family, Wielopolski family, Dobrzański family, Łubieński family. After the 2nd WW it was confiscated and became a property of the state.

In 19th c. metallurgical industry developed. Steel plant of Ostrowiec was second big in the whole of Congress Poland in 19th/20th centuries. During Revolution of 1905 Ostrowiec was a place of massive demonstrations and industrial action.

During the 2nd World War, Ostrowiec was a lively centre of resistance activity against the Nazi German occupation. There was an underground weapon production, independent underground press, etc. The Jewish population was forced to live in a local ghetto. About 11 thousand Jews were murdered by the Nazis in 1943-1944.

Poland - Starachowice

Views of Starachowice.

Sent by Piotr, a postcrosser from Poland.

This is from Wikipedia : Starachowice [staraxɔˈvʲit​͡sɛ] is a town in south-central Poland with 55,126 inhabitants (2008). Starachowice is situated in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (since 1999); it was formerly in the Kielce Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is the capital of Starachowice County. It is situated upon the River Kamienna, a tributary of the Vistula River, among hills and forests.

In the location of present day Starachowice, a forge existed, which in the 16th century belonged to the Starzechowski family (most probably, the name of the town comes from this family). A settlement, which was built around the forge, belonged until 1817 to the Cistercians from Wąchock Abbey, located nearby. It was the monks who in 1789 initiated construction of a blast furnace (see also Old-Polish Industrial Region).

In 1815, the furnace was taken over by the government of Congress Poland, and in the following years, the industrial settlement of Starachowice emerged as main center of metallurgy. According to a plan devised by Stanisław Staszic, metal industry was developed along the Kamienna river, and the settlement of Starachowice was its center.

After Poland regained independence in 1918, the government in Warsaw decided to build an arms factory in Starachowice. On October 12, 1920, The Society of Starachowice Mining Company signed a contract with Main Office of Supplying the Army. Soon afterwards, works on construction of artillery ammunition factory began. Zakłady Starachowickie (Starachowice Works), which was an industrial complex including ammunition factory, artillery equipment factory and iron works, was main Poland’s producer of such materiel. It also manufactured Bofors 37 mm guns, used by the Polish Army in 1939.

The very town of Starachowice was not created until April 1, 1939, when the ancient town of Wierzbnik (founded 1624) was merged with the settlement of Starachowice Fabryczne and the village of Starachowice Górne. At first, the new town was named Starachowice-Wierzbnik, and in 1952 the name was changed into Starachowice.

During the Holocaust, the ghetto in Wierzbnik, a town located nearby, was liquidated on October 27, 1942, and many of its prisoners were sent to the death camp Treblinka.the remaining Jewish residents of Starachowice and Wierzbnik were sent to labor camps in the vicinity. Those camps were liquidated in the Summer of 1944. The remaining survivors were deported to Auschwitz where many of them met their deaths at the hands of the S.S. There was a munition plant there where Jewish slave labor was used.

Starachowice was an important center of the Home Army, where units of Jan Piwnik and Antoni Heda operated.

After World War Two Starachowice prospered as an important industrial center. Besides Starachowice Works, truck producer FSC Star was opened in 1948. A Star truck was used as the basis for the first Popemobile for Pope John Paul II's during his first visit to his home country as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church (1979). When Communist system collapsed, the situation in Starachowice worsened, and unemployment grew. The town currently has a special economy zone with lower tax rates to help the settlement of new industry.