| Gęsiniec | |
| Settlement Type: | Village |
| Total Type: | |
| Lang: | en |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Type1: | Voivodeship |
| Subdivision Name1: | Lower Silesian |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Strzelin |
| Subdivision Type3: | Gmina |
| Subdivision Name3: | Strzelin |
| Coordinates: | 50.7658°N 17.0711°W |
| Pushpin Map: | Poland |
Gęsiniec is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Strzelin, within Strzelin County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland.[1] From 1867 to 1945, it was in Germany.
It lies approximately 2km (01miles) south of Strzelin, and 41km (25miles) southwest of the regional capital Wrocław (formerly called Breslau).
Gęsiniec was settled in 1750 by Hussites, whose religious faith was based on the writings of Jan Hus (ca. 1369–1415), a Czech religious reformer and priestwho was burnt at the stake as a heretic. Its former name, Husinec, refers to Hus. Historically, the town's residents had ethnic Czech roots. It is located in Silesia, a region once ruled by the Kingdom of Bohemia, and after 1526, by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Silesia was conquered by Prussia in the First Silesian War in 1742, codified by the Treaty of Hubertusburg in 1763, and the town became known as Hussinetz. From 1813 to 1919, it was administered by the Prussian Province of Lower Silesia in the political subdivision Regierungsbezirk Breslau.
In 1937, shortly after Adolf Hitler's rise to power, its name was changed to Friedrichstein. The village and its region were joined to Poland following the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, and its name was changed once again to Gęsiniec. The town's German-speaking population was expelled in totality.
A monument commemorating residents of Gęsiniec who died in the First World War stands in what was the central part of the village.