The village lies in the historical region of
Cieszyn Silesia. It was first mentioned in a document of
Bishop of Wrocław issued on 23 May 1223 for
Norbertine Sisters in
Rybnik among villages paying them a
tithe, as
Goles(u)ov(u)o. Politically it belonged then to the
Duchy of Opole and Racibórz and the
Castellany of
Cieszyn, which was in 1290 formed in the process of
feudal fragmentation of Poland into the
Duchy of Teschen, ruled by a local branch of
Silesian Piast dynasty. In 1327 the duchy became a
fee of the
Kingdom of Bohemia, which after 1526 became a part of the
Habsburg monarchy. The village became a seat of a Catholic
parish, according to a secondary source from the 19th century a stone church was already built in 1293. The parish was then mentioned in the register of
Peter's Pence payment from 1447 among the 50 parishes of Teschen
Deanery as
Boleschaw. After the 1540s
Reformation prevailed in the Duchy of Teschen and many local citizens became
Lutherans. After issuing the
Patent of Toleration in 1781 they subsequently organized a local Lutheran parish as one of over ten in the region. After the
Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire a modern
municipal division was introduced in the re-established
Austrian Silesia. The village as a municipality was subscribed to the
political district of
Bielsko and the
legal district of
Skoczów. In the late 19th century Goleszów became an important railway junction. In 1898 a
cement plant was opened there, which led to industrialisation of the village. According to the censuses conducted in 1880, 1890, 1900 and 1910 the population of the village grew from 1164 in 1880 to 2434 in 1910, with majority of the inhabitants being native Polish-speakers (98.5% in 1880 dropping to 90.9% in 1910), followed by a growing German-speaking population (18 or 1.5% in 1880 and 159 or 6.7% in 1910) and Czech-speaking people (5 or 0.4% in 1890 and 54 or 2.2% in 1910). In terms of religion in 1910 the majority where
Protestants (1622 or 66.7%), followed by
Roman Catholics (750 or 30.8%) and
Jews (53 or 2.2%), there were also 9 persons being of another faith. The village was also traditionally inhabited by
Cieszyn Vlachs, speaking
Cieszyn Silesian dialect. After
World War I, fall of
Austria-Hungary,
Polish–Czechoslovak War and the division of
Cieszyn Silesia in 1920, it became a part of
Poland. It was then
annexed by
Nazi Germany at the beginning of
World War II. A subcamp of
Auschwitz concentration camp operated there. After the war it was restored to
Poland. == Geography ==