Kietrz

Place in Opole Voivodeship, Poland

Kietrz ([kʲɛtʂ]; Czech: Ketř; Silesian: Ketrz) is a town in Głubczyce County, Opole Voivodeship, in southern Poland, near the border with the Czech Republic. As of 2019, it has a population of 6,005.

History

During World War II, in 1941, Nazi Germany established the Stalag 338 and Stalag 348 prisoner-of-war camps for Polish and French POWs, which, however, were soon relocated to Kryvyi Rih and Rzeszów, respectively.^[2] From 1942 to 1945, the Germans operated a Polenlager forced labour camp for Poles in the town.^[3] In January 1945, a German-conducted death march of prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration camp and its subcamps passed through the town.^[4]

Notable people

• Alfons Luczny (1894–1986), Luftwaffe general
• Olga Tokarczuk (born 1962), Polish writer, Nobel laureate

Twin towns – sister cities

See twin towns of Gmina Kietrz.

References

1. "Population. Size and structure and vital statistics in Poland by territorial division in 2019. As of 30th June". stat.gov.pl. Statistics Poland. 2019-10-15. Retrieved 2020-02-14.
2. Megargee, Geoffrey P.; Overmans, Rüdiger; Vogt, Wolfgang (2022). The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV. Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. p. 334–335, 349. ISBN 978-0-253-06089-1.
3. "Polenlager Katscher". Bundesarchiv.de (in German). Retrieved 12 October 2023.
4. "The Death Marches". Sub Camps of Auschwitz. Retrieved 12 October 2023.

External links

• Jewish Community in Kietrz on Virtual Shtetl