Pyskowice

Pyskowice
Pyskowice
	Town square with historic tenements
	Coat of arms
	Pyskowice
	Coordinates: 50°23′N 18°37′E / 50.383°N 18.617°E
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Silesian
County	Gliwice
Gmina	Pyskowice (urban gmina)
First mentioned	1256
Government
• Mayor	Wacław Kęska
Area
• City	31.89 km2 (12.31 sq mi)
Population (2008)
• City	19,104
• Density	600/km2 (1,600/sq mi)
• Urban	2,746,000
• Metro	5,294,000
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	44-120
Car plates	SGL
Climate	Cfb
Website	http://www.pyskowice.pl/

Pyskowice ([pɨskɔˈvʲit͡sɛ] ^ⓘ; Template:Lang-de, Template:Lang-szl) is a town in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. Borders on the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union - metropolis with the population of 2 millions. Located in the Silesian Highlands.

It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship since its formation in 1999, previously it was in Katowice Voivodeship. Pyskowice is one of the towns of the 2,7 million conurbation - Katowice urban area and within a greater Silesian metropolitan area populated by about 5,294,000 people.^[1] The population of the town is 19,104 (2008).^[2]

During the Second World War Pyskowice, then known as Peiskretcham, was one of the many sites where Canadian and British prisoners of war, nominally attached to Stalag VIIIB/344 Lamsdorf (Lambinowice) had to work for their German captors. There were more than 600 such working parties belonging to Stlag VIIIB/344 in this region. In January 1945, as the Soviet armies resumed their offensive and advanced into Germany, the prisoners based in Pyskowice were marched westward in the so-called Long March or Death March. Some died from the bitter cold and exhaustion.Eventually the survivors were liberated by American troops in April or May 1945.