Praszka

Praszka () is a town in Olesno County, Opole Voivodeship, in southern Poland, with 7,655 inhabitants (2019).

==History== thumb|left|19th-century volunteer fire department in Praszka The oldest known mention of the settlement dates back to 1260. It was granted town rights in 1392 by Polish King Władysław II Jagiełło and new privileges in 1542 and 1620. It was annexed by Prussia in the Second Partition of Poland in 1793. In 1807 regained by the Poles as part of the short-lived Duchy of Warsaw, in 1815 it became part of Congress Poland, later forcibly integrated with Imperial Russia. During the January Uprising weapons for Polish insurgents were smuggled through the town and on April 11, 1863, a Polish unit commanded by Józef Oxiński fought the Battle of Praszka against the Russians nearby. As part of Russian reprisals after the uprising, Praszka was stripped of its town rights in 1870. During World War I the town was occupied by Germany. It became again part of Poland after the county regained its independence in 1918, and town rights were restored in 1919. According to the 1921 census, the town had a population of 4,478, 65.8% Polish and 34.0% Jewish.