History

There was a black, black wood...
... and it covered the disputable 590,25 hectare of land cut off from Poland as a result of Silesian – Polish border regulation in 1835 and given to the Prussian Treasury.

That dark, dark wood ... was sold in 1838 to Joachim Kempner, a Warsaw merchant. He peculiarly appreciated the purchase value cutting the wood and selling timber with profit. Only the name Schwarzwald, that is Black Wood (Pol. Czarny Las), remained.

Worthless for Kempner, the land was bought by Carl Ludwig from Woźniki in 1853 founding a colony there which in 1861 was given after his wife Helena the name Helenental (Eng.: Helena’s Valley ) having received Opole Regency permit.
The settlement grew systematically. In a tax register of the Opole Regency for 1865, there is an entry “Black Wood estate with 13 Russian farmers”, and the Lubliniec poviat data say that in 1913 the area of 558 ha was inhabited by 70 people.

In that black, black wood...
... on maps from 1902 in the place of the present Palace there already was a building. Probably the same one as now exists and that was rebuilt and modernised especially at the times of Kazimierz Niegolewski from Kamień, who took it up after 1911. The Palace was given architectural shape by Roger Sławski, an architect who was among others the author of development projects of the Leipzig Town Hall.
In times of plebiscite in 1918 – 1922, many searches in Polish activists took place – like at Paweł Skop’s the owner of a brickyard house or at Kazimierz Niegolewski’s. The Palace was then used to hide arms for sabotage actions by the insurgents and as a hiding place for the searched for on the area of Prussia for their anti-national activity.
For his political initiative Niegolewski was given the post of Lubliniec starost however paid with bankruptcy for it and finally in 1922 had to leave it.






It was in Black Wood where Wojciech Korfanty, the dictator of the 3rd Silesia Uprising signed an appeal to call Polish-speaking society of the Upper Silesia to armed uprising which was to extort the division of this area between Germany and Poland from the Allied Committee. The events were a keynote of a historical program “Searches” shot in Black Wood by Polish Television S. A. in 2005.
In 1922 the estate passed in Józef Jeziorański’s from Katowice hands but just after a year it was sold to Maciej Rogowski from Warsaw who presented his relative Roman Rogowski with it.

From Rogowski, the estate was bought in 1938 by “Ślązak” Settlement Company from Katowice. It did the parcelling out in such a way that from 500 ha with the Palace which were owned by the former owners only 29.65 ha was left to be sold. At that time in the name of Wojaszek family the purchase was made by Wojciech Kaczorowski.
In 1942 the estate was taken over by The Third Reich National Treasury and the Wojaszeks recovered it after the war. However the ownership was not settled till 1963 and 10 years later “Przełom” RSP Lubsza became the new owner.
At the next sale the area of the plot was reduced again to 3.66 ha and the purchaser was ERA The Disabled Cooperative in Chorzów.
Ownership problems after the World War II, the estate parcelling out, no care of technical state of the facility as well as modernization without a restorer’s instructions caused nothing was left in the magnificence of the Palace. Only the walls in their architectural line of the Niegolewski’s time survived.
The buildings housed “Dworek” Rehabilitation and Holiday Centre for 11 years. Collecting money for the investment and reconstruction, development and modernization projects which were to bring the Palace former magnificence took time.
Finally in 1999 ERA Cooperative started the facility modernization for hotel purposes of the high standards.
The main building of the Palace was restored with great care and the interiors which were to be created from the very beginning, were designed by an art historian in order to restore the historical climate. All rooms in that part of the Black Wood Palace Hotel are furnished with antiques and a modern technical infrastructure guarantees all aspects of comfort to the guests.
A new hotel and restaurant building was erected and connected with the historical part by a passage. Another new building houses a suite. Further investments to develop the Hotel accommodation and recreation possibilities of the place have been planned.
That black, black wood...

... has been owned within the Cooperative restructuring process by ERA Ltd. In Chorzów. The Company launched a four-star hotel, restaurant and conference facility which is situated in a picturesque park with ponds and which is an excellent place for relax and work for its Guests.