Pisarzowice, Krapkowice County

Pisarzowice [pisaʐɔˈvit͡sɛ], German Schreibersdorf is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Strzeleczki, within Krapkowice County, Opole Voivodeship, in south-western Poland.[1]

Pisarzowice Schreibersdorf
Village
Pisarzowice Schreibersdorf
Coordinates: 50°25′N 17°54′E
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Opole
County	Krapkowice
Gmina	Strzeleczki

Before 1945 the area was part of Germany (see Territorial changes of Poland after World War II). Since 2006 the village, like the rest of the commune, has been officially bilingual in German and Polish.

The village has a population of 362 people. The nearby hamlet of Buława (Buhlau), with a population of 120 inhabitants, is administered jointly with this village.

History

The village was first established in the Middle Ages. The name of the village was first recorded in 1285 as Villa Scriptoris, Latin for "Scribe's village". In 1383 its name was recorded by a traveller as Schreibersdorff in German and Pisarcowice in Polish.[2] From 1428 the village belonged to the Cisterian monastery at Leubus. After a period of changing ownership, in 1646 it came under the control of the powerful Oppersdorff family of Oberglogau, who retained ownership of the village until the end of World War II.

The parish church of St. Michael, originally known as the Church of St. Nicholas, was first built in the Middle Ages, and first mentioned in 1301. The church was enlarged around 1600, then renovated in 1784, 1858, and 1950. It has Renaissance and Silesian Baroque elements, and was built of brick and stone. The church has many historical objects of worship, including a 16th-century crucifix and a Baroque monstrance of the 17th century. In the church is the 1548 tombstone of local governor, Nicholas Lesoty, a work of Reinaissance design with a bas-relief stone knight. Around the church stretches a medieval stone wall. There is also a large manor house near the village, built in the mid-18th century in the late Baroque style for a local landowning family. It has a very impressive grand staircase and private chapel. It is currently private property.

In the Upper Silesia plebiscite of 20 March 1921 419 villagers voted to remain with Germany and 76 voted to join the newly created state of Poland. In the Dobrau Gutsbezirk, the local municipal council, 80 people voted for Germany and six for Poland.[3] As a result, Dobrau remained in Germany. In 1933 the village had 628 inhabitants, but by 1939 its population had decreased to 583 people. Before 1945 it belonged to the district of Landkreis Neustadt O.S.

In 1945 Silesia was given to Poland and the German population of Schreibersdorf was largely expelled, dramatically reducing the town's population; it has not since reached its former size. The village was renamed Pisarzowice and annexed to the newly created Silesian Voivodeship. In 1950 it was reassigned to Opole Voivodeship, and in 1999 reassigned from Prudnik County (formerly Neustadt O.S.) to Krapkowice County. On 17 May 2006 the entire commune of Strzelecki/Klein Strehlitz was declared bilingual in German and Polish, and on 24 November 2008 the old German name Schreibersdorf was also made official.

References

1. "Central Statistical Office (GUS) – TERYT (National Register of Territorial Land Apportionment Journal)" (in Polish). 2008-06-01.
2. "Official website" (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2011-10-02.
3. Results of the Upper Silesia plebiscite (in German) Archived 2017-01-29 at the Wayback Machine