Lipsko is a town in eastern

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 northern

Lesser Poland Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name ''Małopolska'' (; ), is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a separate cult ...

Masovian Voivodeship Masovian Voivodeship or Mazowieckie Province (, ) and any variation thereof, is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship (province) in east-central Poland, containing Poland's capital Warsaw. Masovian Voivodeship has an area of and had a 2019 po ...

. It is the capital of

Lipsko County __NOTOC__ Lipsko County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Masovian Voivodeship, east-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. ...

. The population is 5,895 (2004). Lipsko’s coat of arms is the Dębno, which was used by previous owners of the town.

Geography

Lipsko is located on two hills, divided by the Krępianka river.

History

First mention about it comes from April 1589, when the village belonged to the Krępski family. In 1613 it was granted town rights, and quickly developed, due to the location along the “oxen road”, from

Red Ruthenia Red Ruthenia, also called Red Rus or Red Russia, is a term used since the Middle Ages for the south-western principalities of Kievan Rus', namely the Principality of Peremyshl and the Duchy of Belz, Principality of Belz. It is closely related to ...

Greater Poland Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (; ), is a Polish Polish historical regions, historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief and largest city is Poznań followed by Kalisz, the oldest city in Poland. The bound ...

and

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, ...

. In 1614, Holy Trinity Church was built, founded by Lord

Mikołaj Oleśnicki Lord Mikołaj Oleśnicki the elder (d. 1556) was a Polish Calvinist nobleman who established the first Protestant academy in Poland. His wife Zofia Oleśnicka (d. c.1567) was the first notable Polish woman poet. The ex-priest Francesco Stancaro pre ...

. Lipsko was a

private town Private towns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were privately owned towns within the lands owned by magnates, bishops, knights and princes, among others. Amongst the most well-known former private magnate towns are Białystok, Zamość, R ...

, administratively located in the Radom County in the

Sandomierz Voivodeship Sandomierz Voivodeship (, ) was a unit of administration and local government in Poland from the 14th century to the partitions of Poland in 1772–1795. It was part of the Lesser Poland region and the Lesser Poland Province. Originally Sandomier ...

in the Lesser Poland Province of the Kingdom of Poland, In the 16th-18th centuries Lipsko belonged to various noble families - the Wolskis, Gostomskis, Oleśnickis, Denhoffs, Sanguszkos, and Kochanowskis. The Dębno coat of arms of the Oleśnicki family remains the town's coat of arms to this day. The town 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 Third Partition of Poland in 1795. It was regained by Poles following the Austro–Polish War of 1809, and included within the short-lived

Duchy of Warsaw The Duchy of Warsaw (; ; ), also known as the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and Napoleonic Poland, was a First French Empire, French client state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars. It initially comprised the ethnical ...

. After the duchy's dissolution, in 1815, it fell to the

Russian Partition The Russian Partition (), 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 Poland. The Russian ac ...

of Poland. In 1868, as a punishment for participation of residents in the Polish

January Uprising The January Uprising was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at putting an end to Russian occupation of part of Poland and regaining independence. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last i ...

, the Russians took away Lipsko’s town rights, turning it into a village (Lipsko did not become a town again until 1958). After

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 ...

, in 1918, Poland regained independence and control of the town. Following the joint German-Soviet

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 ...

in September 1939, the town was occupied by Germany. The German occupiers committed mass murders and brutalized both the Christian Polish and

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

population. At the beginning of the war, about 1,600 Jews lived in Lipsko, half the population. When the Germans occupied the town, on September 8, 1939, they shot several Jews, including the rabbi, and then burned alive 60 to 80 Jews in the synagogue. Later the Jewish population was forced into a

ghetto A ghetto is a part of a city in which members of a minority group are concentrated, especially as a result of political, social, legal, religious, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished than other ...

and Jews from surrounding villages were brought there too. By October 1942, there were 3,600 Jews in the ghetto. Lipsko was conveniently, for the Germans, located near a railway line. Some Jews were deported to

forced labour 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, or violence, including death or other forms of ...

camps, but in mid October 1942, the rest of the Jewish population were rounded up by German police and Ukrainian auxiliary guards. A few escaped to hide with local Polish friends or join the partisans. Most were transported to the Tarłów ghetto and then on to the

Treblinka extermination camp Treblinka () was the second-deadliest extermination camp to be 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 Mas ...

, where they were murdered on arrival by gassing. The number of Jewish survivors from Lipsko is unknown. On January 1, 1956, Lipsko became the seat of a county in Kielce Voivodeship. From 1975 to 1998, it was administratively part of the Radom Voivodeship.

Sports

The town is home to a sports club Powiślanka Lipsko, founded in 1964.

References

History of Lipsko

External links

Official town webpage

Jewish Community in Lipsko
on Virtual Shtetl {{Authority control Cities and towns in Masovian Voivodeship Lipsko County Holocaust locations in Poland