BRZESKO - Małopolska - Poland (4K)

Brzesko is a town in southern Poland, in Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It lies approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) west of Tarnów and 50 kilometres (31 mi) east of the regional capital Kraków. Since Polish administrative reorganization (in 1999), Brzesko has been the administrative capital of Brzesko County in Lesser Poland Voivodeship. Before reorganization it was part of Tarnów Voivodeship (1975–1998).

As of 2008, its population was 16,828. Historically, the town was subject of various ownerships since its 1385 founding. Okocim Brewery, founded by Jan Goetz in 1845, is located in nearby Okocim (3 km (1.9 mi)).

Brzesko lies on the Uszwica river, along the important rail route from Kraków to Przemyśl, and along the European route E40. The town has a 14th-century church of St. Jacob, and the 19th-century palace of the Goetz family (founders of the Okocim Brewery). Other historic buildings were either destroyed in numerous wars, or burned in fires, such as the great fire of 1904. The name Brzesko probably comes from the word brzeg (shore), as the town is located on the shore of a river.

The town was founded in 1385 by Spytko II of Melsztyn, the castellan of Biecz, with permission of Queen Jadwiga of Poland. Brzesko still retains the medieval shape of its town center, with a market square and the Gothic church of St. Jacob (1447).

In 1440, the town built a hospital for the poor, funded by Gregory of Sanok. Brzesko was administratively located in the Kraków Voivodeship in the Lesser Poland Province of the Polish Crown until 1772, when it was annexed by Austria in the First Partition of Poland. Then it became part of Galicia (Austrian Partition of Poland), to which it belonged until Poland regained independence in 1918. Before that, in 1856, Brzesko got a railway station, along a line from Kraków to Lwów.

During the German invasion of Poland, which started World War II, the Wehrmacht arrived in Brzesko on 5 September 1939. Soon afterwards, the Einsatzgruppe I entered the town to commit various atrocities against the populace. Under German occupation, the town became part of the kreis (county) Tarnów in the Kraków District of the General Government, a separate administrative region of the Third Reich. 44 people were killed and about 200 were injured as they were waiting for the evacuation trains from Silesia. Several Poles from Brzesko were murdered by the Russians in the large Katyn massacre carried out in April–May 1940. A closed Jewish ghetto existed between spring 1941 and September 1942.[1] It spread across 3 areas: Berka Joselewicza Street, then all the buildings north of the Market Square up to the Rynek Sienny (known today as Sobieskiego Street and Chopina Street), and finally Głowackiego Street up to Trzcianka and the Kazimierza Wielkiego Square. Several Poles were imprisoned by the Germans in the local prison and then deported to concentration camps for rescuing Jews. The Red Army arrived in Brzesko on 19 January 1945, and then the town was restored to Poland.

Brzesko – miasto w Polsce, w województwie małopolskim, siedziba powiatu brzeskiego i gminy miejsko-wiejskiej Brzesko. Jest położone na Podgórzu Wiśnickim, nad rzeką Uszwicą.

Brzesko uzyskało lokację miejską w 1289 roku, zdegradowane w 1317 roku, ponowne nadanie praw miejskich około 1385 roku.

W Brzesku znajduje się znany Browar Okocim, założony przez Jana Ewangelistę Goetza w 1845 r. Przemysł metalowy (w tym CAN-PACK S.A. – jeden z większych producentów puszek napojowych na świecie). Neobarokowy kompleks pałacowo-parkowy Goetzów z XIX w. oraz kościół pw. św. Jakuba z XIV w. Zabytkowe cmentarze: wojenne z czasów I wojny światowej (nr 275, 276, 277) i cmentarz wyznania mojżeszowego z ok. trzystoma nagrobkami. W 1904 r. Brzesko nawiedził pożar, który zniszczył znaczną część zabudowy miasta.

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