Sulejówek is a town in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, about 18 km east of

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

city centre and part of its metropolitan area. It is located in

Masovian Voivodeship The Masovian Voivodeship, also known as the Mazovia Province ( pl, województwo mazowieckie ) is a voivodeship (province) in east-central Poland, with its capital located in the city of Warsaw, which also serves as the capital of the country. Th ...

, in

Mińsk County __NOTOC__ Mińsk County ( pl, powiat miński) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Masovian Voivodeship, east-central Poland. It was (re)created on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government re ...

. Its population numbers 19323 (2011). The town is well known in Poland as the place where

Józef Piłsudski Józef Klemens Piłsudski (; 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Naczelnik państwa, Chief of State (1918–1922) and Marshal of Poland, First Marshal of Second Polish Republic, Poland (from 1920). He was ...

lived in the years between 1923 and 1926. The former manor houses a museum dedicated to him and is listed as a Historic Monument of Poland.

History

The oldest known mention of the settlement comes from 1526. Sulejówek was a private village of

Polish nobility The ''szlachta'' (Polish: endonym, Lithuanian: šlėkta) were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth who, as a class, had the dominating position in ...

, administratively located in the Warsaw County in the

in the Greater Poland Province of the Kingdom of Poland. In 1815, Sulejówek fell to the

Russian Partition The Russian Partition ( pl, zabór rosyjski), sometimes called Russian Poland, constituted the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that were annexed by the Russian Empire in the course of late-18th-century Partitions of Po ...

of Poland. Polish insurgents operated in the area during the

January Uprising The January Uprising ( pl, powstanie styczniowe; lt, 1863 metų sukilimas; ua, Січневе повстання; russian: Польское восстание; ) was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at ...

of 1863–1864. On August 8, 1863, the settlement of Miłosna (present-day district of Sulejówek) was attacked by

Cossacks The Cossacks , es, cosaco , et, Kasakad, cazacii , fi, Kasakat, cazacii , french: cosaques , hu, kozákok, cazacii , it, cosacchi , orv, коза́ки, pl, Kozacy , pt, cossacos , ro, cazaci , russian: казаки́ or ...

, but the surprised local Polish insurgent unit managed to escape. In revenge, the Cossacks attacked and robbed the local post office, wounded and captured the postmen, taking them to Warsaw. Another clash between the insurgents and the Russians took place in Miłosna on January 25, 1864. Following

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, in 1918, Poland regained independence and control of Sulejówek. In August 1920, during the Battle of Warsaw, the first line of Polish defense against the Russian invaders passed through Sulejówek, however, there was no direct fighting in this sector (see:

Polish–Soviet War The Polish–Soviet War (Polish–Bolshevik War, Polish–Soviet War, Polish–Russian War 1919–1921) * russian: Советско-польская война (''Sovetsko-polskaya voyna'', Soviet-Polish War), Польский фронт (' ...

). In 1919, Polish composer and statesman

Ignacy Jan Paderewski Ignacy Jan Paderewski (; – 29 June 1941) was a Polish pianist and composer who became a spokesman for Polish independence. In 1919, he was the new nation's Prime Minister and foreign minister during which he signed the Treaty of Versaill ...

and his wife Helena Paderewska bought a villa ("Białynia") in Sulejówek and established an Educational Institute, which was financially supported by

Marshal of Poland Marshal of Poland ( pl, Marszałek Polski) is the highest rank in the Polish Army. It has been granted to only six officers. At present, Marshal is equivalent to a Field Marshal or General of the Army (OF-10) in other NATO armies. History To ...

. Piłsudski himself lived in another house ("Milusin") in Sulejówek in 1923–1926. It currently houses a museum dedicated to him, and is listed as a Historic Monument of Poland. Jędrzej Moraczewski, second

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

of interwar Poland, also lived in Sulejówek, in the "Siedziba" Manor House. During the German

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 af ...

which started

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, on September 15, 1939, the Germans committed two massacres of

Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in ...

in Sulejówek and the present-day district of Długa Szlachecka, killing over 50 and 42 people respectively (see ''

Nazi crimes against the Polish nation Crimes against the Polish nation committed by Nazi Germany and Axis collaborationist forces during the invasion of Poland, along with auxiliary battalions during the subsequent occupation of Poland in World War II, consisted of the murder ...

''). Six Polish officers from Sulejówek were murdered by the Russians in the large

Katyn massacre The Katyn massacre, "Katyń crime"; russian: link=yes, Катынская резня ''Katynskaya reznya'', "Katyn massacre", or russian: link=no, Катынский расстрел, ''Katynsky rasstrel'', "Katyn execution" was a series of m ...

in April–May 1940.

Sports

The local

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

club is Victoria Sulejówek. It competes in the lower leagues.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Sulejówek is twinned with: * Viimsi Parish, Estonia

References

External links

Official town webpageSatellite photo from Google MapsMap from mapa.szukacz.pl

Jewish Community in Sulejówek
on Virtual Shtetl Cities and towns in Masovian Voivodeship Mińsk County Nazi war crimes in Poland {{Mińsk-geo-stub