View source for Bochnia

{{Infobox settlement
| name = Bochnia
| image_skyline = {{multiple image
| border = infobox
| total_width = 280
| image_style = border:1;
| perrow = 2/2/2
| image1 = Bochnia. Rynek 20. Budynek dawnego klasztoru Dominikanów A 2 M n1.jpg
| image2 = BOCHNIA zabudowa, fot. J. Nowostawska-Gyalókay MIK 2016 (97) (30107830165).jpg
| image3 = Bochnia. Kościół św Mikołaja A 61 widok 2.jpg
| image4 = Kamienice Rynek nr 1, 2, 3 Bochnia.jpg
| image5 = Bochnia train station.04.jpg
| image6 = Bochnia szyb Sutoris A-238.jpg
| caption1 = Museum
| caption2 = Marketplace
| caption3 = Basilica
| caption4 = [[Weigh house]]s
| caption5 = [[Bochnia railway station|Railway station]]
| caption6 = [[Bochnia Salt Mine|Salt Mine]]
}}
| image_shield = Herb Bochni.svg
| image_flag = POL Bochnia flag.svg
| pushpin_map = Poland
| pushpin_label_position = bottom
| coordinates = {{coord|49|59|N|20|26|E|region:PL|display=title,inline}}
| subdivision_type = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
| subdivision_name = {{POL}}
| subdivision_type1 = [[Voivodeships of Poland|Voivodeship]]
| subdivision_name1 = [[Lesser Poland Voivodeship|Lesser Poland]]
| subdivision_type2 = [[Powiat|County]]
| subdivision_name2 = [[Bochnia County|Bochnia]]
| subdivision_type3 = [[Gmina]]
| subdivision_name3 = Bochnia <small>(urban gmina)</small>
| established_title = First mentioned
| established_date = 1198
| established_title2 = Town rights
| established_date2 = 1253
| leader_party = [[Civic Platform|PO]]
| leader_title = Mayor
| leader_name = Magdalena Łacna
| area_total_km2 = 29.87
| area_footnotes = <ref name="area">{{cite web|url=https://bdl.stat.gov.pl/bdl/dane/teryt/jednostka|title=Local Data Bank|website=bdl.stat.gov.pl|access-date=9 October 2022|publisher=Statistics Poland}} Category K1, group G441, subgroup P1410. Data for territorial unit 1201011.</ref>
| population_as_of = 31 December 2021
| population_total = 29317
| population_density_km2 = 981
| population_footnotes = <ref name="population">{{cite web|url=https://bdl.stat.gov.pl/bdl/dane/teryt/jednostka|title=Local Data Bank|website=bdl.stat.gov.pl|access-date=9 October 2022|publisher=Statistics Poland}} Category K3, group G7, subgroup P1336. Data for territorial unit 1201011.</ref><ref name="population_density">{{cite web|url=https://bdl.stat.gov.pl/bdl/dane/teryt/jednostka|title=Local Data Bank|website=bdl.stat.gov.pl|access-date=9 October 2022|publisher=Statistics Poland}} Category K3, group G7, subgroup P2425. Data for territorial unit 1201011.</ref>
| timezone = [[Central European Time|CET]]
| utc_offset = +1
| timezone_DST = [[Central European Summer Time|CEST]]
| utc_offset_DST = +2
| postal_code_type = Postal code
| postal_code = 32-700
| area_code = +48 14
| blank_name = [[Vehicle registration plates of Poland|Car plates]]
| blank_info = KBC
| blank_name_sec2 = [[National roads in Poland|National roads]]
| blank_info_sec2 = [[File:DK4-PL.svg|32px|link=National road 4 (Poland)]] [[File:DK75-PL.svg|32px|link=National road 75 (Poland)]] [[File:DK94-PL.svg|32px|link=National road 94 (Poland)]]
| blank1_name_sec2 = [[Voivodeship road]]s
| blank1_info_sec2 = [[File:DW965-PL.svg|32px|link=Voivodeship road 965 (Poland)]]
| website = http://www.bochnia.pl
}}
'''Bochnia''' {{IPAc-pl|AUD|pl-Bochnia.ogg|'|b|o|h|ń|a}} is a town on the river [[Raba (Vistula)|Raba]] in southern [[Poland]], administrative seat of [[Bochnia County]] in [[Lesser Poland Voivodeship]].{{TERYT}} Bochnia is most noted for its [[Bochnia Salt Mine|salt mine]], the oldest functioning in [[Europe]], built in the 13th century, a [[World Heritage Site]] and a [[List of Historic Monuments (Poland)|Historic Monument of Poland]].<ref>{{Cite Polish law|title=Rozporządzenie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 26 września 2000 r. w sprawie uznania za pomnik historii.|year=2000|volume=83|number=938}}</ref>

As of December 2021, Bochnia has a population of 29,317<ref name=population/> and an area of {{convert|29.87|km2|abbr=out}}.<ref name=area/>

==History==
{{More citations needed|section|date=October 2022}}
Bochnia is one of the oldest cities of [[Lesser Poland]].  The first known source mentioning the city is a letter of 1198, in which [[Aymar the Monk]], [[Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem]], confirmed a donation by the local magnate Mikora Gryfit to the [[monastery]] of the [[Order of the Holy Sepulchre (Catholic)|Order of the Holy Sepulchre]] in [[Miechów]].  The discovery of major deposits of [[halite|rock salt]] at the site of the present mine in 1248 led to the grant of city privileges ([[Magdeburg rights]]) on 27 February 1253 by [[Bolesław V the Chaste]]. In the original founding document, the German name of the town (Salzberg) is mentioned as well, since many Bochnia's residents were German-speaking settlers from [[Lower Silesia]].
[[File:Bochnia kopalnia rzezby 2.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Rock salt sculptures at the [[Bochnia Salt Mine]]]]

Due to its salt mine and favourable location, Bochnia, which belonged to the [[Kraków Voivodeship (14th century – 1795)|Kraków Voivodeship]], was one of main cities of [[Lesser Poland]]. In the 14th century, during the reign of King [[Casimir the Great]], a town hall was built, a [[defensive wall]] with four gates, a hospital and shelter for miners, and the construction of St. Nicolas Basilica began. In appreciation of Casimir's influence on the development of Bochnia, monument to him was erected in town's market square in the late 19th century. In the 15th century, a school was opened, and in 1623, Bernardine Abbey was founded in Bochnia. At that time, many pilgrims from Lesser Poland, [[Silesia]], [[Spiš]] and [[Orava (region)|Orava]] visited the town, to see a miraculous painting of St. Mary, kept at a local Dominican church.

In 1561 Bochnia burned down in a fire and its salt deposits were depleted, leading to the town's decline. During the [[Deluge (history)|Deluge]], in 1655 Bochnia was captured by the [[Swedish Empire|Swedes]], in 1657 by the Transylvanians, and in 1662, by the [[Cossacks]]. By the 1660s, there were only 54 houses still standing. In 1702, the town was destroyed in the [[Great Northern War]]. Fires caused further damage in 1709 and 1751. In 1772, Bochnia was annexed by the [[Habsburg monarchy]] (Austria) in the [[First Partition of Poland]], and remained part of [[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria|Galicia]] (the [[Austrian Partition]] of Poland) until 1918. It became the seat of the {{lang|de|Bochnier [[Kreis (Habsburg monarchy)|Kreis]]}}, one of the roughly 18 (the exact number varied) primary subdivisions of Galicia until 1860. The Austrians liquidated both abbeys, and tore down the town hall together with the defensive wall. In 1867, {{ill|Bochnia County (Galicia)|lt=Bochnia County|de|Bezirk Bochnia|pl|Powiat bocheński (Galicja)}} was created and the town began a slow recovery spurred by construction of the [[Galician Railway of Archduke Charles Louis]]. In 1886, first public library was opened, in the late 19th century, the waterworks, and in 1913, a movie theater.

Poland regained independence in 1918, and in the [[Second Polish Republic]], Bochnia belonged to [[Kraków Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Kraków Voivodeship]] and was the capital of a county. In 1918, the [[15th Wolves Infantry Regiment (Poland)|Polish 15th Wolves Infantry Regiment]] was formed in Bochnia.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wiącek|first=Wojciech|year=1929|title=Zarys historji wojennej 15-go pułku piechoty|language=pl|location=Warszawa|page=3}}</ref> The town housed a small garrison of the [[Polish Army]], with 3rd Silesian Uhlans Regiment stationed there from 1924.

===World War II===
[[File:The Bochnia massacre German-occupied Poland 1939.jpg|thumb|right|Execution of 56 Polish hostages in Bochnia during German [[occupation of Poland]], December 18, 1939]]
During the German [[invasion of Poland]], which started [[World War II]], on September 6–7, 1939, Bochnia was defended by several Polish units. The ''[[Einsatzgruppen|Einsatzgruppe I]]'' entered the town shortly after to commit various crimes against the population.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wardzyńska|first=Maria|year=2009|title=Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=[[Institute of National Remembrance|IPN]]|page=58}}</ref> One of the first mass executions in occupied Poland took place in the town: the Germans shot 52 [[Polish people|Poles]] as a reprisal for killing two German police officers. In 1939 the Germans operated a Dulag transit camp for some 1,000 Polish prisoners of war in the town.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Megargee|first1=Geoffrey P.|last2=Overmans|first2=Rüdiger|last3=Vogt|first3=Wolfgang|year=2022|title=The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV|publisher=[[Indiana University Press]], [[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]]|page=521|isbn=978-0-253-06089-1}}</ref>

At the outbreak of [[World War II]], an estimated 3,500 [[Jews]] lived in Bochnia, comprising about 20% of the total population.<ref name="Bochnia Ghetto">{{cite web|url=http://www.deathcamps.org/occupation/bochnia%20ghetto.html|title=Bochnia Ghetto|access-date=2013-03-10}}</ref> During the [[German occupation of Poland]], Bochnia was the site of a [[Nazi Jewish ghetto]] (the Bochnia Ghetto) to which Jews from surrounding areas were forced to move by the Nazis.  The entire Jewish community was murdered in the [[Holocaust]] apart from 200 forced laborers employed at a plant headed by Gerhard Kurzbach, a [[Wehrmacht]] soldier, who ordered them to work overtime and thereby saved them from deportation.<ref>{{cite news |author=Ofer Aderet |date=November 30, 2012 |title=Yad Vashem Archives Rediscover Heroic Rescue |newspaper=[[Haaretz]] |url=https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-the-unsung-nazi-who-saved-jews-1.5266702}}</ref>  It is estimated that approximately 15,000 Jews were deported from Bochnia, with at least a further 1,800 killed in the town and its surroundings.<ref name="Bochnia Ghetto"/>  About 90 Jews from Bochnia survived the war, either in hiding, in camps or in the Soviet Union. Most of them emigrated to the [[United States]], [[Brazil]], [[Belgium]], and [[Israel]].

In April 1943, Polish wartime hero [[Witold Pilecki]] hid there after his escape from the [[Auschwitz concentration camp]]. In 1944, the 12th Home Army Infantry Regiment was established in Bochnia. In 1944, during and following the [[Warsaw Uprising]], the Germans carried out deportations of Varsovians from the [[Dulag 121 camp in Pruszków|Dulag 121 camp]] in [[Pruszków]], where they were initially imprisoned, to Bochnia.<ref name=dul>{{cite web|url=http://dulag121.pl/encyklopediaa/transporty-z-obozu-dulag-121/|title=Transporty z obozu Dulag 121|website=Muzeum Dulag 121|accessdate=8 May 2021|language=pl}}</ref> Those Poles were mainly old people, ill people and women with children.<ref name=dul/>

The Jewish family of Tiders expelled from Zaborowo in 1940 were murdered in Brześć with children except for their oldest son, 24-year-old Mendel Tider, who paved the road to Tamowo on German orders at the time of the killings. He escaped to Bochnia where he met Józef Langdorf from his neighbourhood. Together, they escaped back to Zaborowo and found refuge at the farm of the Mika family of six. Both survived, treated like relatives and fed for free until liberation. In 2000 the three members of the Mika family were bestowed [[Polish Righteous Among the Nations|the titles of the Righteous]] thanks to Mrs Langdorf from Israel. Stefan Mika was 73, and living in Kraków; the other two, father and mother, were already dead for several decades.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sprawiedliwi.org.pl/en/family/510,the-mika-family/article=766,more-about-the-mika-family |title=The Mika Family |work=Recognized as the Righteous Among the Nations in 2000 |publisher=Polscy Sprawiedliwi - Przywracanie Pamięci, [[POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews]] |date=November 2010 |author=Magdalena Zawadzka |access-date=27 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160302002958/http://www.sprawiedliwi.org.pl/en/family/510,the-mika-family/article=766,more-about-the-mika-family |archive-date=2 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Recent period===
Although Poland was liberated from Germany, it fell to the Soviet sphere of influence, and the Soviets installed a communist regime, which remained in power until 1989. The [[Anti-communist resistance in Poland (1944–1946)|Polish anti-communist resistance movement]] was active in Bochnia. In the following decades, Bochnia grew larger, with several villages incorporated into the town, mostly in the 1970s. In 1984, a by-pass of the European route E40 was completed, redirecting the traffic from congested center of the town. From 1975 to 1998 it was administratively part of the [[Tarnów Voivodeship]].

==Landmarks==
[[File:Ołtarze św. Kingi i św. Barbary w bocheńskiej kopalni.jpg|thumb|An underground church in the [[Bochnia Salt Mine]], a [[UNESCO World Heritage Site]].]]

===Salt mine===
The [[Bochnia Salt Mine]] (Polish: ''kopalnia soli w Bochni'') is one of the oldest salt mines in the world and the oldest one in [[Poland]] and Europe. The mine was established between the 12th and 13th centuries after salt was discovered in Bochnia. The mines measure {{convert|4.5|km|1|abbr=off}} in length and {{convert|468|m|0|abbr=off}} in depth at 16 different levels. Deserted chambers, shafts and passages form a so-called underground town, which is now open to sightseers. The largest of the preserved chambers has been converted into a sanatorium.

===Other landmarks===
* St. Nicholas Basilica - built in the 1st half of the 15th century, and then reconstructed after the fires that occurred in the years 1447, ca. 1485 and 1655. Late Gothic with Baroque and Rococo interior
* Stanisław Fischer Museum - former Dominican monastery, Baroque
* Art Nouveau railway station
* Statues of [[Leopold Okulicki]] and [[Casimir III of Poland]]
* The older parts of the cemetery at Oracka Street
* Jewish cemetery

<gallery mode="packed">
File:Bochnia - pomnik króla Kazimierza III na rynku.jpg|Main square with the [[Casimir the Great]] monument
File:Bochnia ul. Kazimierza Wielkiego 31 33. Budynek UR A 378.jpg|[[Powiat]] Office
File:Bazylika św. Mikołaja w Bochni wraz z dzwonnicą.jpg|St. Nicholas' Basilica
File:Bochnia dawny klasztor dominikanow 2.jpg|Stanisław Fischer Museum
File:Bochnia szyb Sutoris A-238 n.jpg|Bochnia Salt Mine
File:Bochnia - budynek sądu rejonowego.jpg|Local courthouse
</gallery>

==Transport==
===Road transport===
The [[National road 4 (Poland)|A4 motorway]], which is also a part of the [[European route E40]], passes north to the town. Other roads include: [[National road 75 (Poland)|national road 75]], [[National road 94 (Poland)|national road 94]] and [[Voivodeship road 965 (Poland)|voivodeship road 965]].

===Rail transport===
The railway line 91 (Kraków-Medyka) passes through the town.

==Education==
Bochnia Academy of Economics (''Wyższa Szkoła Ekonomiczna w Bochni'') is a privately owned collegiate-level institution of [[higher education]] in the city, founded in 2000. It grants bachelor's degrees (licencjat) in two fields of knowledge: economics, finance and accounting.<ref name="WSE">[http://bochnia.stsw.edu.pl/strefa-studenta  Strefa Studenta]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304094712/http://studia.biz.pl/341/wyzsza-szkola-ekonomiczna-w-bochni/p/o-uczelni/12338/ |date=2016-03-04 }} ''Wyższa Szkoła Ekonomiczna w Bochni'' (homepage). Retrieved September 3, 2012.</ref>

==Sports==
The local [[Association football|football]] club is {{interlanguage link|Bocheński KS|pl}}. It competes in the lower leagues.

==International relations==
{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in Poland}}

===Twin towns - sister cities===
Bochnia is [[Sister city|twinned]] with:<ref>{{cite web |title=Miasta partnerskie|url=http://bochnia.eu/miasto/miasta-partnerskie/|website=bochnia.eu|publisher=Bochnia|language=pl|access-date=2021-10-01}}</ref>
* {{flagicon|GER}} [[Bad Salzdetfurth]], Germany
* {{flagicon|SVK}} [[Kežmarok]], Slovakia
* {{flagicon|USA}} [[Roselle, Illinois|Roselle]], United States

==Notable residents==
* [[Stanislaus of Szczepanów]] (1030–1079), Poland's first native [[List of saints|saint]]
* [[Ralph Modjeski]] (Rudolf Modrzejewski) (1861–1940), engineer, born 1861 to actress [[Helena Modjeska]], builder of 30 major bridges in the USA
* [[Roman Vetulani]] (1849–1908), Polish scholar
* [[Ludwik Stasiak]] (1858–1924), Polish [[polish painters|painter]], [[polish writers|writer]] and publicist
* [[Elżbieta Ciechanowska]] (1875–1948), Polish women's rights and labor activist, musician and poet
* [[Salo Landau]] (1903–1944), Dutch national chess champion

==See also==
* [[Bochnia Salt Mine]]
* [[Wieliczka Salt Mine]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Bochnia}}
{{Wikivoyage|Bochnia}}
* {{Cite Americana|wstitle=Bochnia|year=1920|short=x}}
* [http://bochnia.eu/ Official website] {{in lang|pl}}
* [http://sztetl.org.pl/en/towns/b/462-bochnia Jewish Community in Bochnia] on [[Virtual Shtetl]]
* {{JewishGen-LocalityPage|494208|Bochnia, Poland}}

{{Bochnia County}}
{{Gmina Bochnia}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Cities and towns in Lesser Poland Voivodeship]]
[[Category:Bochnia County]]
[[Category:Holocaust locations in Poland]]
[[Category:Sites of Nazi war crimes during the Invasion of Poland]]
[[Category:Bochnia| ]]