HISTORY

The town of Andrychów is situated in the Wadowice poviat, in the borderline between Beskid Mały [The Small Beskid Mountains] and Pogórze Śląskie [The Silesian Foothills], on the river Wieprzówka. The road, as well as the railway line connecting the cities of Kraków and Bielsko-Biała, runs through the town. Distance from Wadowice – about 12 km.

The town is the seat of the commune, comprising 8 villages: Inwałd, Zagórnik, Sułkowice Łęg, Sułkowice Bolęcina, Brzezinka, Targanice, Rzyki and Roczyny. The area of the commune – 100 km2, inhabited by about 44.000 residents. Post Office: 34-120 Andrychów, ul. Rynek 15, official website: www.andrychow.eu

The first mention of Andrychów dates back to 1344, in ’świętopietrze” [Peter's Pence, the practice of lay members of the Roman Catholic Church providing financial support to the Holy See] records. The town is certainly older and its founding is attributed to exiles from the Moravia region. Previously it was part of the Oświęcim and Zator Duchy, gradually incorporated by the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, during the rule of the Jagiellonian dynasty.
At the beginning of 16th century, the town belonged to the Schillings, supporters of the Reformation. According to the rule: „cuius regio, eius religio” [whose region, his religion], the majority of inhabitants of Andrychów converted to Calvinism, and Catholic parish was liquidated.
During the Swedish invasion of Poland in 1655-1657 the town was plundered and destroyed so much that a few years later it had only 73 houses and 300 inhabitants together with the adjacent village of Sułkowice. Andrychów suffered also during the so called III Northern War (the battle between supporters of Augustus II of Saxony against Swedish king, Charles XII).
In 1750 Andrychów gained the privilege to organise markets, thanks to which it started to become a commercial centre of the neighbourhood. This led to receiving in 1767 a municipal charter (upon request of Stanisław Ankwicz), granted by the king of Poland, Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski. Soon afterwards, in 1772 the town was annexed and became a part of Austrian portion during the First Partition of Poland. Towards the end of 17th century the weaving flourished in the town, its tradition there is much older though.. In 1792 there were 200 weaving workshops basing their production on local material – flax. The system of weaving in Andrychów was based on numerous small workshops, yet in the first decades of the 19th century; it started to develop the outwork system, based mainly on cotton imported from Egypt. Weavers did not work on their own account but performed services for the outwork employer, often for very small pay. With switching to cotton, the local bleaching workshops started to decline, replaced gradually by new dyeworks dying cotton products into different colours. The first main outwork employer was Józef Kośvitzky, a former Austrian clerk, later a long-term mayor of Andrychów.
At the beginning of the 20th century the first factory based on mechanical and not manual weaving came into existence. It was founded in 1908 by the Czeczowiczka brothers – Jews and entrepreneurs from Vienna – on invitation of the local authorities of Andrychów, who offered them the land to build the factory for a token fee. Two years later 500 people were already employed in the factory, and in 1914 this amount increased to 850. The interwar years were marked by development of the town. In 1926 the electrification was introduced, and during the years 1934-1939 roads were repaired, sewerage system was extended, a swimming pool and sports stadium were constructed. The biggest enterprise was still the factory of the Czeczowiczka brothers who in its peak period (years 1923-1924) employed about 3000 workers.
The Second World War reached Andrychów on September the 4th, 1939. The town was incorporated directly into the Third Reich. The period of war was marked by extermination of Jewish population, which was initially closed in the ghetto and then transported to extermination camps. The majority of inhabitants were taken to forced labour camps deep into Germany. After the war, until 1975 Andrychów was incorporated into Kraków Province and then, after an administrative reform – into Bielsko-Biała Province, and since 1999 has become a part of Małopolskie Province.

ECONOMY

For centuries weaving was a traditional occupation of inhabitants of Andrychów, initially based on flax planted in this region, and later on imported cotton. In 19th century several big outwork firms manufacturing cotton products, and selling cotton, came into existence. The biggest of them belonged to Józef Kośvitzkie, Joachim Grünspan and the Izraeli family. The biggest plant in the interwar period was Pierwsza Galicyjska Tkalnia Mechaniczna braci Czeczowiczka [First Galician Mechanical Weaving Mill of Czeczowiczka Brothers]. Andrychów is a seat of a few companies that are known in Poland and abroad. These are among others, ANDROPOL S.A., a member of „Fasty-Andropol” Textile Group - a producer of clothing, table clothing, sheeting and upholstery fabrics, WOSANA S.A. - a producer of juices, juice drinks and spring waters, Andrychowska Fabryka Maszyn S.A. [Machine Factory in Andrychów] - a producer of numerically controlled machine-tools, Ogniochron S.A. – a producer of fire-fighting equipment, SM Logistic - a transport and logistic firm. Great traditions of weaving craft and textile industry attract clothing and knitwear producers. There are a dozen small firms that operate dynamically, though from scratch, in different types of business: automotive, machine components, electrotechnical industry, machinery spare parts, etc; Diesel Engine Factory ANDORIA S.A. producing compression-ignition medium power engines and generating sets which was highly regarded in Poland and abroad, operated until recently. Today, as a result of transformations, the company has been divided and integrated into ANDORIA-MOT Capital Group, employing about 1000 people. Efforts to include investment areas into Special Economic Zone „Krakowski Park Technologiczny” [Cracow Technological Park] shall be soon rewarded with success. This will bring the investors new tax reliefs in the form of state aid programmes for entrepreneurs investing in Special Economic Zone.

WORTH TO KNOW

At the end of the 18th century, during the development of weaving industry, a short saying [rhymed in Polish], was created: „Nasz Andrychów, chociaż lichy, przyodziewa świat w drelichy” [Our Andrychów, though poor, clothes the world in drill].

In 1935 in Andrychów an Olympic-size swimming pool was constructed. It functioned not only as a swimming pool, but also as a bathing beach; the sand was reportedly brought from the Baltic Coast. Town fathers of the time decided to invest in tourism in order to revive local economy.

In the town's cemetery there are a lot of historic gravestones. The oldest among them, the gravestone of Dr Irmann, an Austrian-Hungarian physician, dates back to 1883. Restoration of historic gravestones in the cemetery has been made possible thanks to collections organized by Towarzystwo Miłośników Andrychowa [The Andrychów Lovers’ Association].