In a document written in Latin by Henry I the Bearded from , the city is mentioned under the name Olaua in the fragment Olauam et Odriczam. Latin language contain much less lettres and sounds that Polish, that's why many distorted versions of Polish, Slavic words, toponyms across Europe in various documents. The town was mentioned in a Latin document from , where the town was recorded as "civitati Olavia versus Nyzam". In it was destroyed during the first Mongol invasion of Poland , in by the Hussites , and again in during the Thirty Years' War.
In , when the Habsburgs gained the Bohemian crown, Silesia came under Austrian suzerainty. In with the Reformation High German language came in use and with it the first usage of the version of the town's name Ohlau is reported. In spite of Habsburg political influence, in the 17th century, the town was still part of the territory dominated by the Polish language.
Together with most of Silesia, the town became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in Ethnic Polish traditions and population remained strong in the area. Poles smuggled large amounts of gunpowder through the town to the Russian Partition of Poland during the January Uprising in After the war, a sizeable group of Polish Armenians displaced from Soviet-annexed eastern Poland settled in the town, and the first post-war mayor was Polish-Armenian Jakub Axentowicz.
The coat of arms presents a white rooster on a red-shield background, looking to the left. There are two traditional hypotheses for the origin of the coat of arms:. The town's industries include the production of electronics namely Electrolux Poland and Nardi Appliances , furniture and car parts.
It competes in the lower leagues. For other uses, see Ohlau disambiguation. Place in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland. Coat of arms. Etymology [ edit ]. History [ edit ]. Flag and coat of arms [ edit ]. Economy [ edit ].
