Węgrów is a town in eastern

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 ...

with 12,561 inhabitants (31 December 2003). Situated 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 ...

(since 1999), it is the capital of Węgrów County.

History

First mentioned in historical records in 1414, Węgrów received its city charter in 1441. Between 16th and 18th centuries it was an important centre for

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 in ...

movements in Poland. It 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. ...

owned by various Polish nobles, including the Kiszka, Radziwiłł and Krasiński families, administratively located in the

Podlaskie Voivodeship Podlaskie Voivodeship or Podlasie Province ( pl, Województwo podlaskie, ) is a voivodeship (province) in northeastern Poland. The name of the province and its territory correspond to the historic region of Podlachia. The capital and largest c ...

in the Lesser Poland Province of the Kingdom of Poland. The local Basilica of the Assumption houses the so-called Twardowski Mirror, a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

mirror from the 16th century associated with the legend of

Sir Twardowski Sir Twardowski (Polish: ''Pan Twardowski'', ), also known as Master Twardowski (Polish: ''Mistrz Twardowski''), in Polish folklore and literature, is a sorcerer who made a deal with the Devil. Pan Twardowski sold his soul in exchange for specia ...

. After the Third Partition of Poland it was annexed by

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

in 1795. It was regained by Poles following the

Austro–Polish War The Austro-Polish War or Polish-Austrian War was a part of the War of the Fifth Coalition in 1809 (a coalition of the Austrian Empire and the United Kingdom against Napoleon's French Empire and Bavaria). In this war, Polish forces of the N ...

of 1809, and included within the short-lived

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 ...

. After the duchy's dissolution, in 1815, it passed to so-called

Congress Poland Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. I ...

in the Russian Partition of Poland. 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 ...

, on February 3, 1863, it was the site of the Battle of Węgrów, in which Polish insurgents defeated Russian troops and captured the town. It became part of Poland again when the country regained its independence in 1918. During the

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 (' ...

, on August 19, 1920, it was the site of a battle between Poles and the retreating Russian 16th Army. Throughout most of its history, the town had a thriving Jewish community, present at least since the 16th century. It numbered about 6,000 in 1939. The entire community was exterminated during

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europ ...

by the occupying forces of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. The town was liberated from

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 ...

by the Polish underground

Home Army The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) es ...

in August 1944 during the

Operation Tempest file:Akcja_burza_1944.png, 210px, right Operation Tempest ( pl, akcja „Burza”, sometimes referred to in English as "Operation Storm") was a series of uprisings conducted during World War II against occupying German forces by the Polish Home ...

People

Krzysztof Filipek Krzysztof Filipek (born 1 August 1961) is a Polish politician. Background and career Filipek was born in Węgrów. He was elected to the Sejm on 25 September 2005, getting 16,515 votes in 18 Siedlce district as a candidate from the Self-Defen ...

* Piotr z Goniądza * Stanisław Kosior *

Pan Twardowski Sir Twardowski (Polish: ''Pan Twardowski'', ), also known as Master Twardowski (Polish: ''Mistrz Twardowski''), in Polish folklore and literature, is a sorcerer who made a deal with the Devil. Pan Twardowski sold his soul in exchange for specia ...

* Danuta Wałęsa, former First Lady of Poland (1990-1995)

References

External links

Official homepage of Węgrów

Jewish Community in Węgrów
on Virtual Shtetl *Górczyk Wojciech Jerzy
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CHURCH AND FORMER REFORMATI ORDER'S MONASTERY IN WĘGRÓW
Węgrów 2020. *Górczyk Wojciech Jerzy
The Former Reformati Order’s Monasteries Route
Węgrów 2020.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wegrow Cities and towns in Masovian Voivodeship Węgrów County Warsaw Voivodeship (1919–1939) Shtetls Holocaust locations in Poland

History

People

References

Further reading

External links