Szczuczyn is a town in

Grajewo County __NOTOC__ Grajewo County ( pl, powiat grajewski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Podlaskie Voivodeship, north-eastern Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local governmen ...

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 ...

. As of 2004, it has a population of 3,602.

History

The town is located in the north-eastern outskirts of

Mazovia Mazovia or Masovia ( pl, Mazowsze) is a historical region in mid-north-eastern Poland. It spans the North European Plain, roughly between Łódź and Białystok, with Warsaw being the unofficial capital and largest city. Throughout the centurie ...

, which has been part of Poland since the establishment of the state in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. In 1437, the Szczuka noble family of the Grabie coat of arms purchased the land, on which they founded the village, which was initially named ''Szczuki-Litwa''. Thanks to the efforts of Stanisław Antoni Szczuka, Szczuczyn was granted

town rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

around 1690 by Polish King John III Sobieski.''Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich'', Tom XI, p. 863 Szczuka brought the

Piarists The Piarists (), officially named the Order of Poor Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools ( la, Ordo Clericorum Regularium pauperum Matris Dei Scholarum Piarum), abbreviated SchP, is a religious order of clerics regular of the ...

to the town and a Baroque Piarist church and monastery complex was built, which remains the greatest landmark of the town. Szczuka also built a Piarist college, for which the Polish King established a scholarship fund. Szczuczyn was a

private town A private town is a town owned by a private person or a family. History of Private Towns in Poland In the history of Poland, private towns (''miasta prywatne'') were towns within the lands owned by magnates, bishops, knights, princes, etc. ...

, administratively located in the

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 the

Greater Poland Province of the Polish Crown , subdivision = Province , nation = Poland , year_start = , event_end = Third Partition of Poland , year_end = , image_map = Prowincje I RP.svg , image_map_capt ...

. Stanisław Antoni Szczuka, who died in

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 officia ...

in 1710, was buried in the local Piarist church. In the 18th century the town passed to the powerful

Potocki family The House of Potocki (; plural: Potoccy, male: Potocki, feminine: Potocka) was a prominent Polish noble family in the Kingdom of Poland and magnates of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Potocki family is one of the wealthiest and ...

. Factors that largely contributed to the development of the town were the presence of the school and the location on a trade route connecting Białystok and

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was name ...

. Among the teachers of the Piarist college were , who then founded the oldest Polish school for deaf people in

, and Polish philosopher Bronisław Trentowski. In the

Third Partition of Poland The Third Partition of Poland (1795) was the last in a series of the Partitions of Poland–Lithuania and the land of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth among Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy, and the Russian Empire which effectively ended Polis ...

, in 1795, it was annexed by

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

, in 1807 it became part of the newly established, although short-lived, Polish

Duchy of Warsaw The Duchy of Warsaw ( pl, Księstwo Warszawskie, french: Duché de Varsovie, german: Herzogtum Warschau), also known as the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and Napoleonic Poland, was a French client state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807, during ...

, and in 1815 it passed 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. Afterwards it saw a significant influx of

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

from

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

as a result of Russian discriminatory regulations and persecution (see ''

Pale of Settlement The Pale of Settlement (russian: Черта́ осе́длости, '; yi, דער תּחום-המושבֿ, '; he, תְּחוּם הַמּוֹשָב, ') was a western region of the Russian Empire with varying borders that existed from 1791 to 19 ...

''). Szczuczyn was one of the sites of Russian executions of Polish insurgents during the January Uprising. On May 15, 1864, one of the last battles of the January Uprising was fought there. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the town was occupied by

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, and after the war it became part of Poland when the country regained independence in 1918.

World War II

Some 56% of the town's 4,502 inhabitants were Jews prior to

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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

.Kopstein, Jeffrey S., and Jason Wittenberg. "Deadly communities: Local political milieus and the persecution of Jews in occupied Poland." Comparative Political Studies 44.3 (2011): 259-283.
/ref> 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 ...

, which started World War II, it was captured and briefly

occupied ' (Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 October ...

by German forces. On September 12-13, 1939, '' Einsatzgruppe V'' entered the town to commit various crimes against the population. Germans sent 350 men, mostly Jewish, to

forced labor Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

, of whom only 30 returned after five months. The town was then turned over to the

Soviets Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union. Nationality policy in ...

, who arrested the wealthy residents of the town, including many Jews. Some twenty Jewish families were expelled to

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

on 21 June 1941 and approximately 2,000 Jews remained in the town.Yad Vashem Ghetto Encyclopedia: Szczuczyn
Yad Vashem In 1941 the local Polish underground resistance movement was weakened when the Soviets arrested its commander.Daniel Boćkowski, ''Na zawsze razem. Białostocczyzna i Łomżyńskie w polityce radzieckiej w czasie II wojny światowej (IX 1939 – VIII 1944)'', Wydawnictwo Neriton, Instytut Historii PAN, Warszawa, 2005, p. 204 (in Polish) In June 1941, some 300 Jews were killed in a massacre carried out by the Polish inhabitants of Szczuczyn after the town was bypassed by the invading German soldiers in the beginning of

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...

. The June massacre was stopped by German soldiers. A subsequent massacre by Poles in July killed some 100 Jews, and following the German

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

takeover in August 1941 some 600 Jews were killed by the Germans, the remaining Jews placed in a

ghetto A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...

, and subsequently sent to

Treblinka extermination camp Treblinka () was an extermination camp, built and operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. It was in a forest north-east of Warsaw, south of the village of Treblinka in what is now the Masovian Voivodeship. The camp ...

.Yad Vashem Ghetto Encyclopedia: Szczuczyn
Yad VashemThe Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust: Seredina-Buda-Z
Shmuel Spector & Geoffrey Wigoder, page 1276

Sports

The local football club is . It competes in the lower leagues. Szczuczyn church and monastery - panoramio

Notable residents

Stanisław Antoni Szczuka is buried there. *

Fania Bergstein Fania Bergstein ( he, פניה ברגשטיין; April 11, 1908 – September 18, 1950) was an Israeli poet, lyricist and author who wrote and published for children and adults. Bergstein made a major contribution to the development of Modern Heb ...

(1908–1950), Hebrew-language poet * (born 1966), Polish opera singer * Maciej Makuszewski (born 1989), Polish footballer *

Myer Prinstein Myer (or Meyer) Prinstein (born Mejer Prinsztejn, December 22, 1878 – March 10, 1925) was a Polish American track and field athlete and member of the Irish American Athletic Club. He held the world record for the long jump and won gold meda ...

(1878–1925), Jewish American track and field athlete, three-time Olympic gold medal winner * Chaim-Dovid Romerowski (1898-1942), Rabbi in the city of Szczuczyn *

Bohdan Winiarski Bohdan Stefan Winiarski (27 April 1884 – 4 December 1969) was a Polish politician and jurist who served as President of the International Court of Justice from 1961 to 1964. Life and career Winiarski studied law nationally at the Jagiellonia ...

(1884–1969), Polish jurist, professor and former President of the International Court of Justice

References

External links

Official town webpageJewish community of Szczuczyn
Written by Itzhak Wertman z”l * Cities and towns in Podlaskie Voivodeship Grajewo County Masovian Voivodeship (1526–1795) Łomża Governorate Białystok Voivodeship (1919–1939) Belastok Region Holocaust locations in Poland {{Grajewo-geo-stub