Send Gift Baskets to Ruda Slaska, Poland

There is significant evidence to suggest that there was a large village in the location of the present-day city center in 1243. The city’s name, which appears to be related to the exploitation of ores, is also an indication.

The area underwent rapid industrialization in the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. However, it remained a cluster of industrial settlements and villages until the 1950s, when it was administratively united. However, it never became an urbanized city; most of its population still lives in rural areas or small municipalities.

In 1939 the Germans invaded Poland to annex it and wage war. There was a lot of fighting, and German saboteurs attacked Ruda, which injured many people. It was under German occupation from 1939 to 1945. The Germans murdered several Polish teachers from present-day Śląsk in concentration camps as part of the “Intelligenzaktion.” The Germans also established and operated a Polish center called the Polenlager forced labor camp for Poles in the present-day district of Kochłowice. The E83 forced labor subcamp of the Stalag VIII-B/344 prisoner-of-war camp in the present-day district of Chebzie. The Polish resistance movement was active in the area. In 1945, they began to resist the German occupation of post-World War II Poland, which happened from 1939-1945. This rebellion lasted until 1989 when communism fell in Poland and was replaced by democracy with a new government that remains to this day.

After the fall of communism in 1989, the area saw significant changes. The economy in this city was primarily based on heavy industry, and now since the economy has shifted and people are more interested in service-based work, the Halemba coal mine is still operating after all these years.

Ruda Śląska has been a member of Poland’s largest legally-recognized urban area for seven years.