Bad Landeck an der Biele

Continuing on the prior post about places named Biele.....

Bad Landeck an der Biele is the German name of a town in Poland that was part of the Bohemian Empire and later part of Germany.  The “Bad” (German for bath) refers to the natural springs located in the area.  While “an der Biele” means “on the Biele”, with Biele being the German name for the river running through the town.

In 1742, most of Silesia, including Bad Landeck, was seized by King Frederick the Great of Prussia in the War of the Austrian Succession, eventually becoming the Prussian Province of Silesia in 1815.  After King Frederick and other members began visiting the baths in the area, Bad Landeck became a popular health resort and remained so up until World War II.

After World War II the region was placed under Polish administration and ethnically cleansed per the post-war Potsdam Agreement. The native German populace was expelled and replaced with Poles.

The name of was then changed to Lądek-Zdrój  and the river was renamed Biala Ladecka

Wikipedia articles on Bad Landeck / Lądek-Zdrój  can be found in English and German.

Below are some vintage postcards of Bad Landeck and der Biele.

Places Named Biele

There are a number of places in eastern Europe named Biele or with Biele in the name.  In the Slovak language biele translates to white.  In Polish, biel is white and biele is whites.  

There are five small villages in Poland with the name Biele:

Biele, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship

                                             

Biele [ˈbjɛlɛ] is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Bądkowo, within Aleksandrów County,Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland

Biele, Masovian Voivodeship

Biele [ˈbjɛlɛ] is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Sochocin, within Płońsk County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It lies approximately 3 kilometres (2 mi) south-west of Sochocin, 6 km (4 mi) north-east of Płońsk, and 63 km (39 mi) north-west of Warsaw.

Biele, Podlaskie Voivodeship

Biele [ˈbjɛlɛ] is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Juchnowiec Kościelny, within Białystok County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland. It lies approximately 5 kilometres (3 mi) south of Juchnowiec Kościelny and 15 km (9 mi) south of the regional capital Białystok.

Biele, Gmina Sompolno

Biele [ˈbjɛlɛ] is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Sompolno, within Konin County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland.

Biele, Gmina Ślesin

Biele [ˈbjɛlɛ] is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Ślesin, within Konin County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland.

Villages named Biele in Poland are noted by the yellow stars

There is also a range of mountains on the Czech - Slovakia border:

White Carpathians

The White Carpathians (Czech: Bílé Karpaty; Slovak: Biele Karpaty; German: Weiße Karpaten;Hungarian: Fehér-Kárpátok) are a mountain range on the border of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, part of the Carpathians.

They are part of the Slovak-Moravian Carpathians, stretching from the Váh river and the Little Carpathians in the south along the border between the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the Morava and the Javorníky range in the north.

Bielefeld is a large city in the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhineland - Westphalia) in Germany.  The “feld” in German is “field” in English, but there is no translation of “biele”.  The archivist of Bielefeld did not know either.  He stated that Bielefeld’s name went back to the Middle Ages and there are no records of its origin.

There are also smaller cities in Germany, including Biel and Bielen.