| Osieczów | |
|---|---|
| Village | |
  Osieczów Location of Osieczów | |
| Coordinates: 51°17′N15°26′E / 51.283°N 15.433°E Coordinates: 51°17′N15°26′E / 51.283°N 15.433°E | |
| Country |  |
| Voivodeship | Lower Silesian |
| County | Bolesławiec |
| Gmina | Osiecznica |
Osieczów [ɔˈɕet͡ʂuf] (German : Aschitzau) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Osiecznica, within Bolesławiec County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. [1] It lies approximately 5 km (3 mi) south of Osiecznica, 10 km (6 mi) west of Bolesławiec, and 114 km (71 mi) west of the regional capital Wrocław.
German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol (Italy), the German-speaking Community of Belgium, and Liechtenstein. It is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg and a co-official language in the Opole Voivodeship in Poland. The languages which are most similar to German are the other members of the West Germanic language branch: Afrikaans, Dutch, English, the Frisian languages, Low German/Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, and Yiddish. There are also strong similarities in vocabulary with Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, although those belong to the North Germanic group. German is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English.
Gmina Osiecznica is a rural gmina in Bolesławiec County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. Its seat is the village of Osiecznica, which lies approximately 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) north-west of Bolesławiec and 116 km (72 mi) west of the regional capital Wrocław.
Bolesławiec County is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, southwestern Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its administrative seat is the town of Bolesławiec, famed for its pottery, and its only other town is Nowogrodziec. The county covers an area of 1,303.3 square kilometres (503.2 sq mi).
Prior to 1945 it was in Germany. Following World War II the native German populace was expelled and replaced by Poles.
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central and Western Europe, lying between the Baltic and North Seas to the north, and the Alps, Lake Constance and the High Rhine to the south. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, and Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands to the west.
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.
The flight and expulsion of Germans from Poland was the largest of a series of flights and expulsions of Germans in Europe during and after World War II. The German population fled or was expelled from all regions which are currently within the territorial boundaries of Poland, including the former eastern territories of Germany and parts of pre-war Poland.
