Koźle


Koźle is a district of Kędzierzyn-Koźle, Poland and is at the junction of the Kłodnica and Oder rivers, km southeast of Opole. The district has a Roman Catholic church, a medieval chateau, remains of a 19th-century fortress and a high school. Koźle's industries include a shipyard and an inland port.

History

First mentioned in the 12th century Gesta principum Polonorum, from 1281 to 1355 Koźle was the seat of an independent Piast duchy. In 1532 it was absorbed to Bohemia, it was besieged several times during the Thirty Years War, and it became a Prussian possession by the 1742 Treaty of Breslau. Frederick II converted it into a fortress which held against Austrian sieges in 1758, 1759, 1760 and 1762. In 1807 it almost withstood a siege by the Von Deroy brigade of the Bavarian Army, which was allied with Napoleon. The Poles captured the part of the town east of the Oder during the 1921 Third Silesian Uprising. The Cosel district had a subcamp of Auschwitz III which operated from April 1, 1944 to January 26, 1945. As part of Silesia, it was among territories obtained by Poland after World War II.

Notable residents