page_title: Pszczyna
section_title: Late Modern period
hierarchical_section_title: Pszczyna / History / Late Modern period
caption_attribution_description: The market square (Rynek) in Pszczyna
context_page_description: Pszczyna is a town in southern Poland with 25,823 inhabitants within the immediate gmina. The town is in the Silesian Voivodeship. It was a part of Katowice Voivodeship from 1975 until administrative reform in 1998.
context_section_description: Pszczyna was ravaged and pillaged during the Thirty Years' War. During the War of Austrian succession, The Kingdom of Prussia clashed with Habsburg Empire for Silesia and Frederick The Great, the king of Prussia, seized Silesia under the agreement of 1742. The town was pillaged again during the Seven Years' War. Shortly afterwards, the last Promnitz gave the land to his nephew, Frederic Erdmann.
  The next landowners of Erdmann's line, the Anhalts, had governed up to the half of the 19th century, when the rights changed again to the person of Hans Heinrich X from the powerful Hochberg family who held extensive lands around present-day Wałbrzych. The Hochbergs had reached a great prominence and wealth in the 19th century.
  From 1816 to 1922, the town was the seat of Kreis Pleß.
  At the beginning of the 20th century, over 80 percent of population spoke Polish. When World War I erupted, the Hochbergs lent the estate to the German state for the military purpose. The German chief of staff held his headquarters in the castle of Pszczyna, that was often visited by Kaiser Wilhelm II himself.
  After the war ended, in the emerging conflict between the newly established Second Polish Republic and the Weimer Republic (Germany) struggled for control over the region. Prince Hans Heinrich XV (Polish: Jan Henryk XV) favored an independence movement for a Silesian Republic or at least Upper Silesia. The latter was supported by Związek Górnośląski (1919–1924) which was financed by him. With the outbreak of the Silesian Uprising, the Hochbergs sided firmly with the German cause and afforded the land to German paramilitary organizations, even for a prison for the Poles. Hans Heinrich XV himself supplied units at his own expense, commanded by his son, Hans Heinrich XVII in a bitter fight for Góra Świętej Anny. Earlier that year (1921) a plebiscite was held to determine the future of the region. In Pszczyna county 53 thousand voted for Poland and only 18 thousand for Germany. In contrast, voting solely in Pszczyna town gave victory to Germany. In the view of voting results and in consequence of the Third Silesian Uprising, the land of Pszczyna was granted to the Second Polish Republic. On May 29, 1922, the newly established Polish army in the west officially claimed the city for Poland. The first mayor of city became politician and diplomat Jan Figna.
caption: Market Square – Rynek
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