Waksmund

Waksmund
Village
Waksmund from Gorce
Waksmund
Coordinates: 49°29′N 20°5′E / 49.483°N 20.083°E / 49.483; 20.083
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Lesser Poland
County	Nowy Targ
Gmina	Gmina Nowy Targ
Highest elevation	670 m (2,200 ft)
Lowest elevation	545 m (1,788 ft)
Population	2,439

Waksmund [ˈvaksmunt] is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Nowy Targ, within Nowy Targ County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It lies approximately 3 kilometres (2 mi) east of Nowy Targ and 80 km (50 mi) south of the regional capital Kraków.

The village has a population of 2,439.

The current village was settled by German immigrants under Magdeburg Law in the years 1334-1338. Previously, a village under the name Wilcze Pole or Wolf's Field existed. During the Battle of Grunwald in 1410 the village became famous for sending five armed men to fight on the side of King Władysław II Jagiełło for which the village received land in the nearby Tatra Mountains - Hala Waksmundzka (Meadow of Waksmund) and Dolina Waksmundzka (Valley of Waksmund) near Morskie Oko. During the Second World War, on June 29th, 1943 the village was the site of one of the worst massacres carried out by the Nazi occupiers in the Podhale region, after the break-up of the Tatra Confederation revealed that many members of the resistance organization were from this village.

Waksmund lies at an elevation of 565 metres primarily on the south bank of the river Dunajec in a hollow between two fossil sandar from the ice age. On the north bank of the Dunajec the land rises abruptly into the Gorce Mountains, on the south bank it slopes much gentler further south until it reaches the foothills of the Tatra Mountains some 6 to 8 kilometres further to the south near Białka Tatrzańska. The westernmost outlier of the Pieniny range, Gisowa Skała, lies a few kilometres to the southeast of the village near to Gronków. Within twenty kilometres of Waksmund, three national parks can be found: Gorczański, Tatrzański and Pieniński National Park.