Wadowice (Polish: [vadɔˈvit͡sɛ] ⓘ; German: Frauenstadt – Wadowitz) is a town in southern Poland, 50 kilometres (31 miles) southwest of Kraków with 17,455 inhabitants (2022), situated on the Skawa river, confluence of Vistula, in the eastern part of Silesian Foothills (Pogórze Śląskie).

[1] Wadowice is known for being the birthplace of Karol Wojtyła, later Pope John Paul II and Godwin von Brumowski, Austria-Hungary’s best flying ace with 35 credited and an additional 8 possible wins in the air.

At the same time the land was subject to Bohemian overlordship, which lasted until the following year, when the Duchy was bought by the Kings of Poland and incorporated as a Silesian County.

[citation needed] In the effect of the First Partition of Poland, Wadowice was annexed by Austria, incorporated into the newly established Kingdom of Galicia, under direct Austrian rule, and renamed Frauenstadt.

Finally, in the last 25 years of the 19th century partial liberalisation of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy led to creation of various Polish cultural and scientific societies.

Initially the Polish intelligentsia was targeted by harsh German racial and cultural policies and hundreds of people from the area, most notably priests, teachers and artists, were murdered in mass executions (see Intelligenzaktion).

[citation needed] After the German occupation, the town returned to Poland, although with a Soviet-installed communist regime, which stayed in power until the Fall of Communism in the 1980s.

After the war, in 1945 Wadowice retained its powiat town status and until 1975 served as a notable centre of commerce and transport in the Kraków Voivodeship.

However, the ecological and historical heritage of the area as well as its status as the birthplace of Pope John Paul II led to fast growth of tourism.

[citation needed] Wadowice is today mainly a centre for tourism and sightseeing, but also a place for small industries such as the production of machines and construction materials.