 The town was repopulated by Polish settlers from war-devastated Central Poland and expellees from former eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union, mostly from areas of Lwów, Tarnopol, and Volhynia (current western Ukraine).Unlike nearby Nysa, World War II spared Paczków, and most of its monuments have been preserved.Called "The Polish Carcassonne" (or, before the town was reintegrated with Poland, "the Silesian Carcassonne"), as early as in the 15th century, it was surrounded by double ring of defensive walls.