BEDZIN

city, Katowice wojewdztwo (province), southwestern Poland, just northeast of Katowice city, near the Czarna Przemsza River. Located on the trade route between Wroclaw and Krakw, and one of the oldest towns in the Upper Silesia coal-mining region, it developed as a centre of mining and heavy industry. A castle and surrounding settlement were there as early as the 13th century. In the 17th century the town was noted for its excellent cloth and crafts, and in the 19th century zinc extraction and refining and coal mining gave it a stable economic base. During World War II, the Germans constructed a concentration camp there in which more than 10,000 townspeople were exterminated. The 13th-century castle, which was rebuilt (1952-56) in the Gothic style, houses the Dabrowskie Basin Museum. Pop. (1987 est.) 77,500.