[3] The German name is also the exact translation of the original Polish ‘forest castle’ Waldenburg (also referred to the castle Nowy Dwór, translated into German as: Burg Neuhaus), whose ruins stand south of the city; the name came to be used for the entire settlement.

[6] Polish sources indicate the city's predecessor, Lasogród, was an early medieval Slavic settlement[8] whose inhabitants engaged in hunting, honey gathering, and later agriculture.

[9] However, some German sources say no archaeological or written records support notions of an early West Slavic or Lechitic settlement nor the existence of a castle before the late 13th century.

[4][need quotation to verify] He places the city near Nowy Dwór (German: Neuhaus), built by Bolko I the Strict of the Silesian Piasts.

In the early 20th century a glassworks and a large china tableware manufacturing plant, which are still in operation today, were built.

[26] It was conquered by the Soviet Red Army on 8 May 1945 – coincidentally, the day World War II in Europe ended.

After World War II, Waldenburg became again part of Poland under border changes demanded by the Soviet Union at the Potsdam Conference and was renamed to its historic Polish name[27][28] Wałbrzych.

[20] Wałbrzych was one of the few areas where a number of Germans[29] were held back as they were deemed indispensable for the economy, e.g. coal mining.

The remaining German-speakers had little contact with the German spoken and written language and the local German-Silesian dialect became moribound.

[32] The city was relatively unscathed by the Second World War, and as a result of combining the nearby administrative districts with the town and the construction of new housing estates, Wałbrzych expanded geographically.

At the beginning of the 1990s, because of new social and economic conditions, a decision was made to close down the town's coal mines.

In 1995, a Museum of Industry and Technology was set up on the facilities of the oldest coal mine in the area, KWK THOREZ.