Vintage litho Gruss aus Bielitz-Biala Postcard

Enlargement (vectorised and anti-aliased) of a ca 1897 lithograph postcard (restored and enhanced by us) of Bielitz-Biala (Bielsko), Poland. Featured on the litho are: Sparkassegebäude (Savings Bank Building), Synagoge (synagogue), Volksschule (school, college), Israel Tempel (Jewish temple), Feuerwehr Depot (fire brigade station) Bielsko [ˈbjɛlskɔ] ( listen) (German: Bielitz, Czech: Bílsko) was until 1950 an independent town situated in Cieszyn Silesia, Poland. In 1951 it was joined with Biała Krakowska to form the new town of Bielsko-Biała. Bielsko constitutes the western part of that town. Bielsko was founded by the Cieszyn Piast dukes in the 13th-14th century, on the Biała River. It was first mentioned in a written document in 1312. Originally settled by Germans, it became the largest German-language centre (Deutsche Sprachinsel Bielitz) in the Duchy of Teschen, and remained so until the end of World War II. In 1572 it gained autonomy as the Duchy (State) of Bielsko. During the 18th century a rapid development of textile industry occurred, and at the beginning of the 19th century more than 500 weavers worked in the town.[1] After the 1920 division of Cieszyn Silesia between Poland and Czechoslovakia it became, despite the protests of local Germans, a part of Poland. According to the Austrian census of 1910 the town had 18,568 inhabitants. The census asked people for their native language: 15,144 (84.3%) were German-speaking, 2,568 (14.3%) were Polish-speaking and 136 (0.7%) were Czech-speaking. Jews were not allowed to declare Yiddish, and most of them thus declared the German language as their native. The most populous religious groups were Roman Catholics with 10,378 (55.9%), followed by Protestants with 4,955 (26.7%) and the Jews with 3,024 (16.3%).[2] The vast majority of the Jews were exterminated by Nazis during World War II, and the German population was expelled after the war. (source: Wikipedia)