Brzesko (; , ''Brigel'') is a town in southern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, in

Lesser Poland Voivodeship Lesser Poland Voivodeship ( ) is a voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship in southern Poland. It has an area of , and a population of 3,404,863 (2019). Its capital and largest city is Kraków. The province's name recalls the traditional name of a h ...

. It lies approximately west of

Tarnów Tarnów () is a city in southeastern Poland with 105,922 inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of 269,000 inhabitants. The city is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east– ...

and east of the regional capital

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. Since Polish administrative reorganization (in 1999), Brzesko has been the administrative capital of

Brzesko County __NOTOC__ Brzesko County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, southern Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 19 ...

. Before reorganization it was part of Tarnów Voivodeship (1975–1998). As of December 2021, the town has a population of 16,665. Historically, the town was subject of various ownerships since its 1385 founding. Okocim Brewery, founded by Jan Goetz in 1845, is located in nearby

Okocim Okocim is a village in Brzesko County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland. Less than away from the village is Brzesko town. Okocim lies approximately south-west of Tarnów and east of the regional capital Kraków. Since Polish administrative r ...

(). Brzesko lies on the river, along the important rail route from

Przemyśl Przemyśl () is a city in southeastern Poland with 56,466 inhabitants, as of December 2023. Data for territorial unit 1862000. In 1999, it became part of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Subcarpathian Voivodeship. It was previously the capital of Prz ...

, and along the

European route E40 European route E40 is the longest European route, more than long, connecting Calais in France via Belgium, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan, with Ridder in Kazakhstan near the border with ...

. The town has a 14th-century church of St. Jacob, and the 19th-century palace of the Goetz family (founders of the Okocim Brewery). Other historic buildings were either destroyed in numerous wars, or burned in fires, such as the great fire of 1904. The name Brzesko probably comes from the word ''brzeg'' (shore), as the town is located on the shore of a river.

History

The town was founded in 1385 by

Spytko II of Melsztyn Spytek of Melsztyn ( or ) was a Polish nobleman (szlachcic) of the Leliwa coat of arms. Spytek was owner of Melsztyn estates. He served as Marszalek, Court Marshal since 1373, voivode of Kraków Voivodeship (14th century – 1795), Kraków Voivo ...

, the

castellan A castellan, or constable, was the governor of a castle in medieval Europe. Its surrounding territory was referred to as the castellany. The word stems from . A castellan was almost always male, but could occasionally be female, as when, in 1 ...

Biecz Biecz () () is a town and municipality in southeastern Poland, in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Gorlice County. It is in the Carpathian Mountains, in the Doły Jasielsko-Sanockie, by the Ropa (river), Ropa River. Due to its rich history, it is often ...

, with permission of Queen

Jadwiga of Poland Jadwiga (; 1373 or 137417 July 1399), also known as Hedwig (from German) and in , was the first woman to be crowned as monarch of the Kingdom of Poland. She reigned from 16 October 1384 until her death. Born in Buda, she was the youngest daught ...

. Brzesko still retains the medieval shape of its town center, with a market square and the Gothic church of St. Jacob (1447). In 1440, the town built a hospital for the poor, funded by Gregory of Sanok. Brzesko was administratively located in the Kraków Voivodeship in the

Lesser Poland Province of the Polish Crown Lesser Poland Province (, ) was an administrative division of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland from 1569 until 1795. It was the largest province of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, with Kraków as its capital. The province's name derives fro ...

until 1772, when it was annexed by

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

in the

First Partition of Poland The First Partition of Poland took place in 1772 as the first of three partitions that eventually ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The growth of power in the Russian Empire threatened the Kingdom of Prussia an ...

. Then it became part of Galicia ( Austrian Partition of Poland), to which it belonged until Poland regained independence in 1918. Before that, in 1856, Brzesko got a railway station, along a line from

Lwów Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

. During the German

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

, which started

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

arrived in Brzesko on 5 September 1939. Soon afterwards, the ''

Einsatzgruppe I (, ; also 'task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the impl ...

'' entered the town to commit various atrocities against the populace. Under German occupation, the town became part of the ''kreis'' (county)

in the Kraków District of the

General Government The General Government (, ; ; ), formally the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (), was a German zone of occupation established after the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, Slovak Republic (1939–1945), Slovakia and the Soviet ...

, a separate administrative region of the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

. 44 people were killed and about 200 were injured as they were waiting for the evacuation trains from

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

. Several Poles from Brzesko were murdered by the Russians in the large

Katyn massacre The Katyn massacre was a series of mass killings under Communist regimes, mass executions of nearly 22,000 Polish people, Polish military officer, military and police officers, border guards, and intelligentsia prisoners of war carried out by t ...

carried out in April–May 1940. A closed Jewish ghetto existed between spring 1941 and September 1942. It spread across 3 areas: Berka Joselewicza Street, then all the buildings north of the Market Square up to the Rynek Sienny (known today as Sobieskiego Street and Chopina Street), and finally Głowackiego Street up to Trzcianka and the Kazimierza Wielkiego Square. Several

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

were imprisoned by the Germans in the local prison and then deported to

concentration camps A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploit ...

for rescuing Jews. The

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

arrived in Brzesko on 19 January 1945, and then the town was restored to Poland.

Historical cemeteries

The town has several cemeteries of historical significance. There are three military cemeteries dating from

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and a kirkut dating back to at least 1847. The three military cemeteries were all commissioned by the

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

Ministry of War between 1914-1915 and designed by the architect Robert Motka. Cemetery no. 277, in Brzesko-Okocim, is the smallest of the three, with 9 Austro-Hungarian soldiers buried there. No. 276 is the largest, with graves of 441 Austro-Hungarian, 9 German, and 63 Russian soldiers. It borders the kirkut known as "New Jewish Cemetery" (''Nowy cmentarz żydowski''), which also contains within its historical area military cemetery no. 275, where 21 Jewish Austro-Hungarian soldiers are buried. The "New Jewish Cemetery" was originally thought to have been built and replaced the "Old Jewish Cemetery" in 1846, when the latter became full. However, more recent research carried out by the Museum of

Bochnia Bochnia is a town on the river Raba in southern Poland, administrative seat of Bochnia County in Lesser Poland Voivodeship. The town lies approximately halfway between Tarnów (east) and the regional capital Kraków (west). Bochnia is most noted ...

found gravestones dating back to 1823 or 1824. It presently contains about a thousand tombstones, with the last burial having taken place in 1950. It is the burial place of at least two

Tzadik Tzadik ( ''ṣaddīq'' , "righteous ne; also ''zadik'' or ''sadiq''; pl. ''tzadikim'' ''ṣadīqīm'') is a title in Judaism given to people considered righteous, such as biblical figures and later spiritual masters. The root of the word ...

s ("righteous" in

Hasidic Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...

tradition) and has been a destination of pilgrimages in the past. During

the German occupation authorities used the kirkut as an execution site. Around 200 Jews were killed by the Nazis at the cemetery on 18 April 1942 and additional persons from the area who had been murdered were buried there as well. During and after the war the condition of the cemetery deteriorated but renovation efforts were begun in 1960s. These, thanks to the funding from abroad, as well as the work of the Brzesko city council and the Museum of Bochnia, have continued into the twenty-first century.

Sports

Brzesko is home to Okocimski Klub Sportowy Brzesko (''Okocim Brzesko Sports Club''), which from its beginnings in 1933 has been associated with the Okocim Brewery.

Points of interest

In addition to its historical cemeteries points of cultural interest in Brzesko include the Goetz palace, built at the end of the 19th century by the Goetz family, and the adjoining

English garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (, , , , ), is a style of "landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal ...

, a statue of

Saint Florian Florian (; AD 250 – 304) was a Christian holy man and the patron saint of chimney sweeps; soapmakers, and firefighters. His feast day is 4 May. Florian is also the patron saint of Poland, the city of Linz, Austria, and Upper Austria, jointl ...

, the city's patron originally erected in 1731 and restored after a city fire in 1904, a monument to the unknown soldier of World War I and the historic city hall (''Ratusz'') located in the city center.

People

* Sabina Jakubowska (b. 1974), novelist and midwife * Leszek Lubicz-Nycz (1899-1939), fencer * Jolanta Ogar-Hill (b. 1982), sailor *

Mala Zimetbaum Malka Zimetbaum, also known as "Mala" Zimetbaum or "Mala the Belgian" (26 January 1918 – 15 September 1944), was a History of the Jews in Belgium, Belgian woman of Polish Jews, Polish Jewish descent, known for her escape from the Auschwitz-Birke ...

(1918-1944), Resistance fighter in World War II

References

External links

Official town website

Jewish Community in Brzesko
on Virtual Shtetl {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2017 1385 establishments in Europe Populated places established in the 1380s Cities and towns in Lesser Poland Voivodeship Brzesko County Holocaust locations in Poland 14th-century establishments in Poland