POLSKA | POLAND |
województwo: Śląskie | voivodship: Silesia |
miasto na prawach powiatu: Jaworzno | city: Jaworzno |
Glass no. 2290 is a souvenir from the "Dreikaiserreichsecke" (German for "Triangle of Three Empires"), i.e. the place where the borders of the German, Russian and Austrian empires met. The rivers Black and White Przemsa formed the borders at this place. The glass is listed here under the Polish town of Jaworzno, because the dominant part of the picture shows the Austrian side of the border which today is part of Jaworzno. The landscape depicted in the background right part of the picture at the time belonged to the Russian empire; today it is part of the Polish town of Sosnowiec. The landscape depicted in the background left part of the picture (then German Myslowitz), today is part of the Polish city of Mysłowice.
Jaworzno is situated at an elevation of 316 m in the Silesian voivodeship of southern Poland, about 30 km east of Katowice and about 40 km west of Kraków. Jaworzno has a population of about 96,400 (2005).
The oldest knwon document providing a written mention of the town dates from 1229. At its beginnings, the town was in
possession of the dukes of Opole, since 1274 it was part of the duchy of Kraków. The parish of Jaworzno was founded in
1335. In 1788, Jaworzno and several neighbouring villages, which had been in the possession of the bishops of Kraków,
became part of the Kingdom of Poland. After the Third Partition of Poland (1795; see map),
Jaworzno became part of the Habsburg countries (West Galicia). During the Napoleonic times, the area was part of the
Duchy of Warsaw (personal union with the kingdom of Saxony). The Congress of Vienna (1815) handed back
most of the former West Galicia was given to the new Kingdom of Poland ("Congress Poland"), a Personal Union with Russia.
Only the Kraków area was re-established as the independent Republic of Kraków, which, however, in 1846 became part of
Austria again. After World War I, Jaworzno became part of Poland again. During the Second World War SS-Lager Dachsgrube,
a branch of the German concentration camp Auschwitz was estabilished here, transformed into Central Labour Camp Jaworzno
after the war. It was also a location of several POW camps for the Western Allies.