Łaszczów (; uk, Лащів) is a town in

Tomaszów Lubelski County Tomaszów may refer to the following places in Poland: * Tomaszów Bolesławiecki, village in Lower Silesian Voivodeship * Tomaszów, Lublin Voivodeship, village in Puławy County * Tomaszów Lubelski County, county in Lublin Voivodeship ** Tomas ...

Lublin Voivodeship The Lublin Voivodeship, also known as the Lublin Province ( Polish: ''województwo lubelskie'' ), is a voivodeship (province) of Poland, located in southeastern part of the country. It was created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Lublin, C ...

, in eastern Poland. It was re-established as a town on 1 January 2010, having previously had town status between 1549 and 1870. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Łaszczów. It lies approximately east of

Tomaszów Lubelski Tomaszów Lubelski is a town in south-eastern Poland with 19,365 inhabitants (2017). Situated in the Lublin Voivodeship, near Roztocze National Park, it is the capital of Tomaszów Lubelski County. History The town was founded at the end of t ...

and south-east of the regional capital Lublin. The town has a population of 2,341. The history of Łaszczów dates back to 1549, when King

Zygmunt August Sigismund II Augustus ( pl, Zygmunt II August, lt, Žygimantas Augustas; 1 August 1520 – 7 July 1572) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548. He was the first rule ...

allowed Podkomorzy of

Belz Belz ( uk, Белз; pl, Bełz; yi, בעלז ') is a small city in Lviv Oblast of Western Ukraine, near the border with Poland, located between the Solokiya river (a tributary of the Bug River) and the Richytsia stream. Belz hosts the adminis ...

and Castellan of Horodlo Aleksander Laszcz to change his own village of Domaniz into a town of Prawda (named after Prawdzic coat of arms). The royal bill was signed on December 22, 1549, at

Piotrków Trybunalski Piotrków Trybunalski (; also known by alternative names), often simplified to Piotrków, is a city in central Poland with 71,252 inhabitants (2021). It is the second-largest city situated in the Łódź Voivodeship. Previously, it was the capita ...

. The town of Prawda was founded next to the village. By the 1570s, its name was changed into Łaszczów (after the Laszcz family). Łaszczów had

Magdeburg rights Magdeburg rights (german: Magdeburger Recht; also called Magdeburg Law) were a set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973) and based on the Flemish Law, which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within ...

, and during the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and ...

, became important center of the

Polish Brethren The Polish Brethren (Polish: ''Bracia Polscy'') were members of the Minor Reformed Church of Poland, a Nontrinitarian Protestant church that existed in Poland from 1565 to 1658. By those on the outside, they were called " Arians" or " Socinians" ( ...

. It had a prayer house and a printing shop, which operated until 1603. Łaszczów was a regional trade and business center, but its prosperity ended after Swedish invasion of Poland (1655–1660). In 1702, the town was burned by Swedes, during the

Great Northern War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swed ...

, and in 1745, Jozef Laszcz, owner of Łaszczów, initiated construction of a church and Jesuit collegium. In 1754 Łaszczów burned in a great fire, after which its owners ordered residents to build brick houses. Following the Partitions of Poland, Łaszczów became part of Russian-controlled Congress Poland. By 1902, its population grew to 2600, with Jews in the majority. In 1914, heavy Russian – Austrian fighting took place in the area, and in 1915, Austrians built narrow gauge railroad from Uhnow to Wlodzimierz Wolynski, via Łaszczów. During the

Invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

by the Germans in World War II, Łaszczów saw Polish – German fighting. On December 25, 1942, the Germans murdered 75 residents of the town. The 1,500–2,500 Jews from the town were transported to the Belzec extermination camp on May 17, 1942. In June 1944, Łaszczów was burned by a band of the

Ukrainian Insurgent Army The Ukrainian Insurgent Army ( uk, Українська повстанська армія, УПА, translit=Ukrayins'ka povstans'ka armiia, abbreviated UPA) was a Ukrainian nationalist paramilitary and later partisan formation. During World ...

References

;Notes {{DEFAULTSORT:Laszczow Cities and towns in Lublin Voivodeship Tomaszów Lubelski County Kholm Governorate Lublin Voivodeship (1919–1939) Holocaust locations in Poland