Góreczno g is a village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 in the administrative district of Gmina Głogówek (Gemeinde Oberglogau), within Prudnik County

Prudnik County

Prudnik County is a unit of territorial administration and local government in Opole Voivodeship, south-western Poland, on the Czech border. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its administrative seat and largest town is...

, Opole Voivodeship

Opole Voivodeship

- Administrative division :Opole Voivodeship is divided into 12 counties : 1 city county and 11 land counties. These are further divided into 71 gminas.The counties are listed in the following table .- Economy :...

, in south-western Poland, close to the Czech

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

 border. It lies approximately 5 kilometres (3 mi) south of Głogówek (Glogow), 21 km (13 mi) east of Prudnik

Prudnik

Prudnik is a town in Poland, located in the southern part of Opole Voivodeship. Its population numbers 26,400 inhabitants . It is the capital of Prudnik County.- Education :* * * II Liceum Ogólnokształcące w Prudniku...

, and 41 km (25 mi) south of the regional capital Opole

Opole

Opole is a city in southern Poland on the Oder River . It has a population of 125,992 and is the capital of the Upper Silesia, Opole Voivodeship and, also the seat of Opole County...

.

Before 1945 the area was part of Germany (see Territorial changes of Poland after World War II

Territorial changes of Poland after World War II

The territorial changes of Poland after World War II were very extensive. In 1945, following the Second World War, Poland's borders were redrawn following the decisions made at the Potsdam Conference of 1945 at the insistence of the Soviet Union...

). However, though most of the area is now bilingual in German and Polish, this village is not because its population of German speakers was thoroughly eliminated after WWII.

History

The name of this village derived from its location; until 1945 it was called Bergvorwerk, meaning "estate on the mountain". The owners of the estate, amounting to 1000 hectares of arable land, were the von Gaffron-Prittwitz family, descendants of Hussars rewarded by Frederick the Great of Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

 for their loyalty with a large fief. After the death of the last member of the family, Alexander Friedrich von Gaffron-Prittwitz (1845-1923), his widow sold the estate, along with one in nearby Kasimir

Kazimierz, Opole Voivodeship

Kazimierz is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Głogówek, within Prudnik County, Opole Voivodeship, in south-western Poland, close to the Czech border...

. The land was then parceled out into a dozen large farms, including one belonging to Alois Dambon of nearby Roschowitzwald. In the 1930s a waterworks for Oberglogau was built in the town. There is also a Neolithic archeological site in the town.

After 1945, when Silesia was given to Poland, the town was renamed Stroków, and then renamed again to Góreczno.