Home > Olawa

Olawa ( German Ohlau) is a town in southwestern Poland with 31,800 inhabitants (1995).

Situated in the Lower Silesian Voivodship (since 1999), previously in Wroclaw Voivodship (1975-1998).

Olawa began to develop during the early 12th century at a site that was protected by the rivers Odra and Olawa. It was first mentioned as Oloua in a document of 1149 confirming its donation to the abbey of St. Vincent in Wroclaw. In 1206 Olawa became one of the residence towns of the dukes of the Piast dynasty, who also granted Olawa the status of a town in 1234. During its history Olawa was destroyed completely three times. In 1241 it was destroyed by the Tatars, in 1448 by the Hussites, and again in 1634 during the Thirty Years' War. After the Polish King Casimir III had renounced his rights on Silesia with the contract of Trencín in 1335, Silesia became a Bohemian fief. In 1526, when the Habsburgs gained the Bohemian crown, Silesia came under Austrian sovereignty. After the death of the last Piast duke in 1675, Olawa ceased to be a residence town. Together with most of Silesia, the town became part of Prussia in 1741. The 18th and 19th centuries were a period of economic growth and Olawa became well-known as a centre of tobacco-growing. In 1842 the railroad between Olawa and Wroclaw, the first one in Silesia (and of modern Poland), was opened. The historic town of Olawa did not suffer much damages during World War I, but in World War II about 60% of the town were destroyed. Olawa became part of Poland in 1945 and its German-speaking population was expelled. After the war, Olawa became a garrison town of the Soviet Army and remained so until 1992.