Jelenia Góra (; ; ) is a historic city in southwestern Poland, within the regions of Silesia and Lower Silesia. Jelenia Góra is situated in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, close to the Karkonosze mountain range, with ski resorts such as Karpacz and Szklarska Poręba situated from the city. Jelenia Góra constitutes a separate urban gmina as well as being the seat of surrounding Karkonosze County. In 2021, the population was 77,366. The area, including the oldest spa district of Cieplice Śląskie-Zdrój, is one of the most valued recreational and leisure locations in Poland.
The city's history dates back to as early as the 10th century, but the settlement was granted town rights under Polish rule in 1288. Jelenia Góra was founded on important trade routes linking the Holy Roman Empire and Bohemia with Eastern Europe. The region flourished as a result of trade privileges that became the basis for the establishment of weaving and mining industries during the Late Middle Ages and early Renaissance periods. Jelenia Góra witnessed many historical conflicts such as the Thirty Years' War and the decisive Silesian Wars. Spared from damage during World War II, the German-speaking population of the city was expelled following 1945 and the city was repopulated by Poles.
The central suburb of Jelenia Góra possesses many historical and architectural structures of great significance, including the 17th-century town hall, baroque churches and a restored central marketplace as well as parks and gardens. The nearby Karkonosze National Park, visited by over 1.5 million tourists annually, has its headquarters in the southwestern neighbourhood of Sobieszów. On 6 May 2015, the city, together with 18 surrounding municipalities, signed an agreement establishing the Jelenia Góra Agglomeration, with a population of 252,300 inhabitants. Currently, the Jelenia Góra Agglomeration (AJ) consists of the city of Jelenia Góra (a city with county rights) and 25 municipalities of urban, urban-rural, and rural character.
Names The city was mentioned by various names in historical sources:
The Polish name Jelenia Góra together with Hyrszberg is mentioned in the book Krótki rys jeografii Szląska dla nauki początkowej published in Głogówek in 1847 by writer Józef Lompa. The 19th-century Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland mentioned the city as Jeleniagóra. The Polish name Jelenia Góra was made official when the city became part of Poland again after World War II ended in 1945. In German, the city was mentioned as Hyrzberc (1281), Hyrspergk (1305), Hirssbergk (1355), and Hirsberg (1521), before eventually becoming the modern-day Hirschberg. In 1927–1945, the city was known as Hirschberg im Riesengebirge. In Czech, the city is known as Jelení Hora. Its historic Czech name, which was derived from the German name, was Hiršperk. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Latin names appear in different records, e.g. Mons Cervi, Cervimontia, Monscervinus, Cervigera.
History Human settlement in the area dates back to prehistoric times, and cemeteries of the Lusatian culture were discovered within the city limits during archaeological excavations.
Middle Ages Archaeological evidence attests to prehistoric activity in the area, including cemeteries of the Lusatian culture found within today’s city boundaries. In the Early Middle Ages the region was settled by West Slavic tribes, specifically the Bobrzanie, one of the old Polish tribes. In the 7th century it was possibly part of the short-lived Samo's Empire, and incorporated into the Duchy of Poland under Mieszko I around 990. A modest fortified hillfort (gród) of probable Piast-period origin existed on the hill known until 1945 as Hausberg (renamed Wzgórze Krzywoustego / Bolesław Wrymouth Hill only after 1945) during the 10th–12th centuries, which lies west of the area where the medieval town was later established.
Later Polish tradition attributes the founding of a settlement to Duke Bolesław III Wrymouth in 1108 Informacje Ogólne Jelenia Góra City Official Webpage and its use as a base for his 1110 campaign against Bohemia Piotr Pregiel, Tomasz Przerwa, Dzieje Śląska (The History of Silesia), page 30 W odwecie Krzywousty najechał Czechy (1110), zaskakując przeciwnika przejściem przez Karkonosze (wykorzystując bazę w Jeleniej Górze). Published by Cadus, 2005, as well as a fortification expansion by Duke Bolesław II the Horned in 1242 ; these claims lack contemporary documentation and are regarded as legendary. The Jelenia Gora Valley remained thinly populated and heavily forested, with no signs of continuous settlement or urban development until the high medieval period.
The documented history of the place begins only in 1281Weczerka, ibidem, p. 189Badstübner, ibidem, p. 387Franke, ibidem, p. 6, when it is first reliably mentioned in written records under its German name Hyrzberc as part of the German eastward expansion (Ostsiedlung). From this Middle High German form the name Hirschberg evolved and remained the official designation until 1945. In 1288 Duke Bolko I the Strict granted city rightsBarbara Czopek, Adaptacje niemieckich nazw miejscowych w języku polskim, 1995, pp.66, , laying the foundation for the planned urban settlement that developed into the medieval town.
The city flourished in the 14th century, and became a center of crafts and trade. Weaving developed, and the citizens were exempt from tolls in trade with Wrocław and Bohemia. In 1317, the Corpus Christi Hospital was first mentioned in documents, although it possibly was founded in the 13th century. In 1345 a city council was established. In 1348 an earthquake struck the city, and Duke Bolko II the Small granted it new privileges. In 1361 the city was allowed to build a winery, market stalls and was given the privilege of minting its own gold and silver coins. When the Silesian Piasts lost inheritance and Agnes of Habsburg, the last duchess of Świdnica-Jawor died in 1392, the city passed to Bohemia, ruled by the House of Luxembourg.Weczerka, p. 491 In 1426 and 1427 the city was invaded by the Hussites.
Modern era In 1502 King Vladislaus II issued a privilege extending the city's autonomy and in 1519 King Louis II granted the right to an annual fair.
The town was inherited by Habsburg Austria in 1526, two years after the town adopted the Protestant faith. In 1533, all old privileges of the city were confirmed. In 1539, a second annual fair was established. In 1540 the municipal school suffered a fire. In 1548, the city refused to support Charles V in the religious Schmalkaldic War, for which he fined the city and deposed the mayor. A Protestant school was built in 1566. In 1560 a fire destroyed large parts of the city and stopped the economic development, which until then had been characterized by linen-weaving. The city recovered when Joachim Girnth, a shoemaker on a return journey from Holland, introduced veil-weaving. The first "light veils" were offered in 1625, and five years later the city received an imperial privilege by Ferdinand II for these veils.
During the Thirty Years' War the city suffered badly. It was beleaguered by troops of both parties, paid high contributions, and during a siege in 1634 the city burned down again. Two more sieges followed in 1640 and 1641. The town needed several years to recover. One reason for the new boost was the creation of a merchant society in 1658, which secured the city's position as the most important center of linen and veil trade in the Silesian mountains during the 17th and 18th centuries.
The Protestants of the city were oppressed during the Counter-Reformation, but the second Treaty of Altranstädt, which allowed a Protestant community center and church to be established outside the medieval city walls, brought relief. Great sacrifices by the merchant society, especially its most prominent member Christian Menzel, made the construction of a large church, modelled after Church of Catherine in Stockholm, possible. The cemetery of the church was the preferred burial place for most merchant families.
Hirschberg was annexed with Lower Silesia by the Kingdom of Prussia during the Silesian Wars. The city was again partly destroyed, had to pay contributions and was seized several times. The detachment from Austria and the new border in the mountains to the south badly damaged the economy as the merchants lost a large part of their customers. Although Prussia took on substantial efforts to revive the economy, they never recovered completely and finally lost their position during the Industrial Revolution.
In 1800, John Quincy Adams, ambassador in Berlin at that time and future President of the United States, visited Hirschberg and said: "Nothing can be more beautiful than the location of Hirschberg, a beautifully built city with numerous splendid buildings, in a valley surrounded by hills on all sides, with the magnificent view of the Giant Mountains".
In 1871 the town became part of the German Empire with the Prussian-led unification of Germany, as one of the largest towns in the Province of Silesia. In 1882, a railway connecting the city with Kowary was opened, and in 1905 it was further expanded to Kamienna Góra. In 1891, a railway connecting the city with Piechowice was opened, and in 1902 it was further expanded to Szklarska Poręba and Harrachov. In 1889 the Deutsche Riesengebirgsverein (German Giant Mountains Club), an organization to protect the environment of the Giant Mountains and to promote tourism, was founded by Theodor Donat and 47 other dignitaries of the region.
20th century After World War I, the town became part of the Prussian Province of Lower Silesia in 1919, and in 1922 became a separate city. On September 1, 1939, the day of the German invasion of Poland and the outbreak of World War II, Luftwaffe used the airport in Hirschberg to conduct air raids on Poland. In April 1940, the first transport of 2,000 Poles deported from Sosnowiec, Będzin and Olkusz for forced labor arrived to the city. In the city, the Germans organized 19 labor camps in which they imprisoned mainly Poles, Czechs, Frenchmen and Belgians, but also Luxembourgers, Russians, Ukrainians, Greeks, and Estonians, including women. They also established four prisoner-of-war camps: two for French, one for Jews from different countries and one for Soviets. French POWs organized a secret resistance movement and cooperated with Poles from other camps. There were also two subcamps of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp, whose prisoners were mostly Poles and Jews from various German-occupied countries, chiefly Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Hungary. In 1943 and 1944 there was a significant influx of Germans from the bombed German cities, and in 1944, after the crushing of the Warsaw Uprising, Poles deported from Warsaw were temporarily imprisoned there.
When the Red Army captured the city on 8 May 1945, as a result of the influx of people in the last years of the war, there were 160,000 people in the city. On 19 May, the first representatives of a Polish operational group arrived and set about establishing a Polish administration. At this point, the bulk of the pre-war German population was still in place. A first wave of expulsions of Germans began in June 1945, accompanied by a simultaneous mass influx of Polish settlers, whom the Polish State Repatriation Office (Państwowy Urząd Repatriacyjny) transported to the city by freight train. To make room for the newcomers, part of the German population was driven from their homes and confined to a single district of the city, where they were forced to live under ghetto-like conditions. Some Germans were arrested and detained in a Polish Citizens' Militia prison, where they were subjected to mistreatment, in a number of cases with fatal consequences.