Czyżew is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

Wysokie Mazowieckie County __NOTOC__ Wysokie Mazowieckie County () 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 government reforms ...

Podlaskie Voivodeship Podlaskie Voivodeship ( ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship in northeastern Poland. The name of the voivodeship refers to the historical region of Podlachia (in Polish, ''Podlasie''), and significant part of its territory corresponds to th ...

, in north-eastern Poland. It is the seat of the

gmina The gmina (Polish: , plural ''gminy'' ) is the basic unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. , there were 2,479 gminy throughout the country, encompassing over 43,000 villages. 940 gminy include cities and tow ...

(administrative district) called

Gmina Czyżew __NOTOC__ Gmina Czyżew is an urban-rural gmina (administrative district) in Wysokie Mazowieckie County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland. Its seat is the town of Czyżew, which lies approximately south-west of Wysokie Mazowieckie an ...

. It lies approximately south-west of

Wysokie Mazowieckie Wysokie Mazowieckie (; ) is a town in north-eastern Poland, in Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the capital of Wysokie Mazowieckie County. Population is 10,034 . History Wysokie was founded by Polish people, Polish settlers from nearby Mazovia in t ...

and south-west of the regional capital

Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the List of cities and towns in Poland, tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Biał ...

. About 1600 Jews lived in the town prior to World War II, making up 85% of its population. The town was occupied by the Nazis in September 1939, and shortly thereafter put under Soviet occupation as part of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. During this time, many Jewish refugees fled there from areas under Nazi control. The Germans reoccupied Czyżew in June 1941, and most of the town's Jews were murdered by shooting in a nearby forest. One or two hundred professionals deemed relevant to the war effort were housed in a ghetto to do forced labor, and the ghetto's residents were transported to

Zambrów Zambrów is a town in northeastern Poland with 21,166 inhabitants (2020). It is the capital of Zambrów County. Situated in the Podlaskie Voivodeship (since 1999), previously in Łomża Voivodeship (1975–1998). History The name of the town co ...

and were murdered shortly thereafter. Czyżew previously held town rights from 1738 to 1870; it became a town again on 1 January 2011. The town was re-formed from three villages: Czyżew-Osada ("settlement"), Czyżew-Złote Jabłko ("golden apple") and Czyżew-Stacja ("station"). On the same date the district was renamed from Gmina Czyżew-Osada to Gmina Czyżew. As of December 2021, the town has a population of 2,621.

References

Cities and towns in Podlaskie Voivodeship Wysokie Mazowieckie County Holocaust locations in Poland {{WysokieMazowieckie-geo-stub