Dębica
Dębica | |
---|---|
UTC+2 (CEST) | |
Postal code | 39-200 to 39-210 |
Area code | +48 14 |
Car plates | RDE |
Website | http://www.debica.pl |
Dębica (
Area and location
According to the 2006 data, Dębica's area is 33.81 square kilometres (13.05 sq mi).
Economy
Since the mid-1930s Dębica, despite its size, has been a large industrial hub. A number of companies were then created thanks to governmental industry development programs. Most of them still exist today, though they were privatized in the 1990s:
- Firma Oponiarska Dębica S.A. (Tire Company Dębica) now owned by Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, previous name - Stomil Dębica
- Lerg S.A. - a chemical manufacturer located in the village of Pustków, a village in Dębica County
- Tikkurila Polska S.A. (formerly Polifarb Dębica) - a paint manufacturer
- Wytwórnia Urządzeń Chłodniczych WUCh (Freezer Appliances Producer WUCh)
- Zakłady Mięsne (Meatworks)
Since the early 1990s a relatively large number (in proportion to the city's size) of successful companies have been started and run by local residents:
- bicycle, motorcycle and electric car manufacturer Arkus and Romet Group
- Sportatut - producer of sports nutritionals
- chemical industry manufacturers (paint producers such as Śnieżka Brzeznica and Plastbud Pustków)
- marble producer Jabo Marmi and brickyard Igloobud
- food companies such as Igloomeat and Animex Poludnie
Transport
The A4 highway runs just to the north of the city. There are two exits from the highway into Dębica. The section of the highway going westwards from Dębica to Tarnów was completed in October 2014.[2] In result, the city has now a direct highway connection with the western Polish border and in consequence with all of Western Europe. A car journey to Kraków (approximately 120 km) takes around an hour, while Rzeszów, the capital of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship located to the East of Dębica, can be easily reached in less than 30 minutes.
Dębica is also located by the 94 country road, which was formerly part of the European route E40. This two-lane road has been renovated in recent years. However, with the completion of the A4 highway, it lost its former significance. Dębica is also connected with the cities of Mielec and Tarnobrzeg thanks to the local road number 985.
Dębica is situated along a vital railway line that spans from the western to the eastern borders of Poland. This line supports train speeds of up to 160 km/h, enabling the fastest Express InterCity Premium trains to reach Krakow in just over an hour. Between 1988 and 1990 Dębica was connected with Straszęcin by a trolleybus line.
Education
Dębica has been home to two branches of higher education institutions:
- Wyższa Szkoła Informatyki i Zarządzania in Rzeszów, branch in Dębica
- University of Economics in Kraków, branch in Dębica
History
Middle Ages
One of the oldest documented references to this area dates back to the year 1293. It records a settlement by the name of Dambicha, belonging to the noble Gryfita family.[3] In 1305, the village was raided by the Tatars, who burned a wooden church. The church was rebuilt in 1318, and by 1325, Dębica was the seat of a deanery, located on the outskirts of the mighty Sandomierz Forest. The Dębica Deanery consisted of fourteen parishes, among them Przecław, Sędziszów Małopolski, and Strzyżów.
In 1358
In 1474, Dębica, together with other towns of southern Lesser Poland, was ransacked by the Black Army of Hungary. In 1502, a Crimean Tatar raid caused widespread destruction, and as a result of it, the town was burned and depopulated.
Early modern era
To prevent the complete disappearance of Dębica, its owners exempted residents from all taxes for 14 years, also allowing them to collect free timber and firewood in local forests. In 1504, Dębica was exempted from royal taxes by King Alexander Jagiellon. Due to all these privileges, Dębica emerged in the 16th century as a local center of skilled craftsmen. Still, it was much smaller than Pilzno and Ropczyce, also because it remained a private town, whose owners argued with each other. In 1554, most of Dębica burned down, together with the wooden parish church of St. Margaret. In the late 16th century, the population of the town was app. 700.
Like almost all Lesser Poland's towns and cities, Dębica was completely destroyed in the
In the late 17th century, the so-called New Dębica was established, around the now non-existing St. Barbara church, app. one kilometre (0.62 miles) west of Old Dębica. Both Dębicas had different mayors, who were governed by one
Late modern era
A battle between Poles and Russians took place here during the Bar Confederation, and in 1772, as a result of the First Partition of Poland, Dębica was annexed by the Habsburg Empire, as part of newly established Galicia, where it remained until November 1918. Austrian authorities decided that it should no longer be regarded as a town, but rather a village and renamed it Dembitz. This decision marked the decline of the town.[3]
Bad times came to an end in the second half of the 19th century, when the Austrian government decided to build a main West-East
In 1918, after Poland regained independence, Dębica was included in the
World War II
The
On the outskirts of Dębica, near the villages of
Implicated in war crimes was SS-man Alois Kurz (ID 382378) who, from 1940 to 21 April 1941, served in the SS Regiment Westland, then was assigned to a construction battalion for the SS training ground and labor camp serving the
Polish priest Jan Nagórzański, who joined the Polish resistance and
Post-war
After the war, in new, Communist Poland, Dębica again became the seat of a county, but the town was moved from the Kraków to the Rzeszów Voivodeship. In 1946, executions of anti-communist activists took place there (1946 Public execution in Dębica). Polish priest Jan Wójcik, who aided Polish partisans and Jews during the German occupation, died in Dębica in 1954, shortly after he was released from prison by the communists, who imprisoned him in 1949.[9] War destruction again stopped the town's development, but recovery this time was fast and based on pre-war factories. In 1975, after administrative reform, counties in Poland ceased to exist and were replaced by numerous and small Voivodeships. Dębica again was moved - this time from Rzeszów to the newly created Tarnów Voivodeship. In the late 1970s, Dębica gained importance as a centre of food and agricultural production. This was due to the creation of Kombinat Rolno-Spozywczy Igloopol, which, under an influential Communist dignitary Edward Brzostowski, developed very fast. Igloopol built a huge factory and a completely new district, with numerous condominiums, located on the northern side of the rail line. The company achieved its peak in the late 1980s. After the collapse of the Communist regime, the company was divided into several smaller firms, controlled by former Communist activists.
Sports
There are two major sports clubs in Dębica. Klub Sportowy (Sports Club) Wisłoka Dębica, founded in 1908, is one of the oldest sports organizations in the country. Wisłoka is famous for its wrestlers, who have won numerous medals in the Olympic Games, World and European Championships. Other fields in which Wisłoka's athletes achieved significant achievements are: soccer, boxing, cycling and karate. The club was sponsored by Tire Company Dębica and it had its heyday in the 1970s.
Another team, Igloopol Dębica, was founded in 1978 and is the brainchild of a prominent activist of Polish communist party, Edward Brzostowski. Igloopol enjoyed strong support from the local government. Brzostowski was for some time Minister of Agriculture and director of Polish Football Association, so his favorite team prospered in soccer as well as in boxing, achieving significant successes. Igloopol's best years, the late 1980s, are closely associated with the peak of its sponsor.
Lately, both teams played in regional lower divisions, hoping to win promotion. Both clubs contest the Dębica derby, one of the fiercest derbies in south-eastern Poland.
Notable residents
- Paweł Bochniewicz (born 1996), Polish professional footballer
- Mateusz Borek (born 1973), sports commentator
- Krzysztof Cios (born 1950), computer scientist
- Jarosław Duda, computer scientist
- Seweryn Gancarczyk (born 1981), football defender
- Artur Jędrzejczyk (born 1987), Polish professional footballer
- Józef Lipień (born 1949), wrestler
- Kazimierz Lipień (1949–2005), wrestler
- Tadeusz Łomnicki (1927–1992), one of the most popular Polish actors
- Teresa Orlowski (born 1953), Polish film star and producer
- Krzysztof Penderecki (1933–2020), composer and conductor
- Waldemar Piatek (born 1979), football goalkeeper
- Leszek Pisz (born 1966), footballer
- Krzysztof Pyskaty (born 1974), Polish footballer
- Radek Rak (born 1987), writer, Nike Award laureate
- Ryszard Siwiec (1909—1968), Home Army resistance member who committed suicide by self-immolation in protest against the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia
- Władysław Strumski (1922–1990), writer
- Paweł Wolak (born 1981), professional boxer, nicknamed "The Raging Bull"
- Jerzy Żuławski (1874–1915), writer, philosopher and translator
Twin towns - sister cities
Dębica is
Former twin towns:
- Puurs, Belgium
On 13 November 2020, the Belgian municipality of Puurs-Sint-Amands suspended its 20-year-long partnership with the Dębica because of the town's adoption of the Charter of The Rights of The Family, which discriminates against LGBT people.[11]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Local Data Bank". Statistics Poland. Retrieved 2022-07-28. Data for territorial unit 1803011.
- ^ "A4 dłuższa o 35 km. Otwarto odcinek z Tarnowa do Dębicy". Ukraine. Retrieved 2014-10-30.
- ^ a b c d Urząd Miejski w Dębicy (2011). "Urząd Miejski w Dębicy - oficjalna strona internetowa". debica.pl. Retrieved 1 October 2011.
- ^ Wardzyńska, Maria (2009). Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion (in Polish). Warszawa: IPN. p. 58.
- ^ "HL-Heidelager: SS-TruppenÜbungsPlatz". Historia poligonu Heidelager w Pustkowie (in Polish). Pustkow.Republika.pl. 2013. Archived from the original (with collection of historical photographs) on 18 April 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
- ^ "Historia poligonu Heidelager". Pustkow.republika.pl. Archived from the original on 2014-04-18. Retrieved 2013-03-12.
- ^ "Detailansicht". www.kz-gedenkstaette-neuengamme.de. Archived from the original on 2014-01-02. Retrieved 2013-03-12.
- ^ a b "Jan Nagórzański" (in Polish). Retrieved 13 February 2021.
- ^ "Jan Wójcik" (in Polish). Retrieved 13 February 2021.
- ^ "Miasta Partnerskie". debica.pl (in Polish). Dębica. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
- ^ "Belgijska gmina zawiesza 20-letnią współpracę z Dębicą" (in Polish). Retrieved 2020-11-14.