Smilovice (Frýdek-Místek District)


is a village in Frýdek-Místek District, Moravian-Silesian Region, Czech Republic, on the Ropičanka River. It has a population of 581, Poles constitute 26.4% of the population. It lies in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia. Former Prime Minister of Poland and former president of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek was born here.
The name is patronymic in origin derived from personal name Smił.
The Christian festival takes place in Smilovice annually in July.

History

The village was first mentioned in 1460 as Smylowicz. Politically it belonged then to the Duchy of Teschen, a fee of the Kingdom of Bohemia, which after 1526 became part of the Habsburg Monarchy.
After 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 and legal district of Cieszyn. According to the censuses conducted in 1880, 1890, 1900 and 1910 the population of the municipality dropped from 684 in 1880 to 651 in 1910 with a majority being native Polish-speakers accompanied by a small Czech-speaking minority and German-speaking. In terms of religion in 1910 the majority were Protestants, followed by Roman Catholics, Jews and 4 people adhering to another faiths. 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 Czechoslovakia. Following the Munich Agreement, in October 1938 together with the Zaolzie region it was annexed by Poland, administratively adjoined to Cieszyn County of Silesian Voivodeship. It was then annexed by Nazi Germany at the beginning of World War II. After the war it was restored to Czechoslovakia.