Mikołów [miˈkɔwuf] (German: Nikolai, Silesian: Mikołōw) is a town in Silesia, in southern Poland, near the city of Katowice.

This was a document sent by duke Casimir I of Opole (the son of Mieszko II the Fat) to the bishop of Wrocław, Wawrzyniec.

As a result of the fragmentation of the medieval Kingdom of Poland, Mikołów was part of the Duchy of Opole and Racibórz, still ruled by the Piast dynasty until 1532.

In 1645 and 1687 few fires burnt tenements near the market place and in connection with that Mikołów achieved the right to expose four fairs a year.

On 20 May 1794 a huge fire disaster burnt whole houses around the market square, including the town hall and all historical documents stored inside.

[3][4] Poles smuggled large amounts of gunpowder through the town to the Russian Partition of Poland during the January Uprising in 1863.

[3] After World War I, in 1918, Poland regained independence, and shortly after the Polish Silesian Uprisings were fought and a plebiscite was held, in which the slight majority of the town opted with 55.2% in favor of remaining within Germany, while the overwhelming majority in the present-day districts (then surrounding villages) of Borowa Wieś, Kamionka, Mokre, Śmiłowice, Bujaków and Paniowy opted to reintegrate with Poland, with the result ranging from 72.2% voting for Poland in Bujaków to 94.4% in Kamionka.

Within interwar Poland, the town was electrified, new schools were opened, a new post office, fire brigade and stadium were built, and a Polish library was founded.

During the subsequent German occupation, the Polish population was subjected to mass arrests, murder, deportations to concentration camps, expulsions and forced conscriptions to the Wehrmacht.

[11] Among the victims of massacres carried out on 5, 7 and 17 September 1939 were Polish workers, miners, craftsmen, a farmer, a court employee, a policeman, a merchant, and a local official.

In the years after the war, as the surviving pre-war Polish population, was joined by Poles from East and Central Poland.

Just before the liberation by Soviets in January 1945, prisoners from Auschwitz had marched through Mikołów to Germany to work in labour camps.