Nowa Ruda, Lower Silesian Voivodeship
History
Under Polish and Bohemian rule
A medieval village situated in the rich Kłodzko Valley, Nowa Ruda developed in the mid-13th century as part of the Kingdom of Bohemia. German-speaking immigrants settled there as part of the Ostsiedlung. The oldest known mention of the settlement comes from 1337 from a document issued in nearby Kłodzko, when it was part of the Polish Piast-ruled Duchy of Ziębice/Münsterberg under the suzerainty of the Bohemian (Czech) Crown of the Holy Roman Empire. It passed directly to Bohemia in the next decades. Officially, the settlement was granted a city charter in 1363 and received the name of Newenrode. In the Late Middle Ages, weaving, clothmaking and shoemaking developed in the town. In the years 1427-1429 the town was invaded by the Hussites. The city was rechartered under a local variant of the Magdeburg Law in 1434 and then again in 1596. From 1459 it was part of the Bohemian-ruled County of Kladsko. The city was invaded and devastated again during the Thirty Years' War in 1622.
Under Prussia and Germany
In 1742 it passed to Prussia. In the second half of the 19th century the town developed due to coal mining and the textile industry. In 1884 it suffered a great fire. During World War I, the Germans operated three forced labour camps for Allied prisoners of war at local coal mines. After World War I, it suffered an economic crisis. The town was no longer a district seat after 1932, when it was reincorporated into the Landkreis Glatz (Kłodzko district).
During World War II, the Germans established three labour units for French, Belgian and Soviet prisoners of war, as well as two forced labour camps. Also during the war, the largest mining disaster in the town's history took place; 187 miners were killed.
