Last modified: 2018-12-15 by rob raeside
Keywords: oswiecim | auschwitz |
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![[Oswięcim flag]](../images/p/pl-oswie.gif)
image by Pascal Gross, 20 August 2000, after image from this
site.
Oświęcim: south of Katowice. German name: Auschwitz. In fact, the famous
concentration camp is located some kilometers beyond the city's perimeter,
but it became customary to identify it with that name.
Gwidon S. Naskrent, 6 Sept 2000
Oświęcim (Auschwitz) was a Polish city prior to WWII. When I went to
see the concentration camp (the ultimate in despair), I think someone mentioned
that some of the central buildings of the extermination camp were originally
Polish army barracks. However, that is not to say that its arms were necessarily
the same. The whole Silesian region, Polish at the beginning of the current
millennium, passed out of Polish hands sometime in the 12-13 century. Although
many principalities continued to be ruled by Polish princes, these had
allegiance to the Czech, and later the Habsburg crowns, before coming into
German possession in the 18th century. Hence the unique identity and traditions
of this region.
Robert Czernkowski, 21 Aug 2000
![[Oswięcim county Coat of Arms]](../images/p/pl)oswie.jpg)
image from this
site.