Trzcianne (; ) is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

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

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 Trzcianne __NOTOC__ Gmina Trzcianne is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Mońki County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland. Its seat is the village of Trzcianne, which lies approximately south-west of Mońki and north-west of the re ...

. It lies approximately south-west of

Mońki Mońki is a town in northeastern Poland and, as of 1999, is situated in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. From 1975 to 1998 it was part of the Białystok Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is the capital of Mońki County. History In the 16th century, Mo� ...

and north-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 ...

. It is close to

Biebrza National Park Biebrza National Park () is a national park in Podlaskie Voivodeship, northeastern Poland, along the Biebrza River. The largest of Poland's 23 national parks, the Biebrza National Park was created on 9 September 1993. Its total area is , of whi ...

History

First records of Trzcianne come from the 13th century. The name probably comes from reeds () surrounding the river that flowed through the village. The lands of Trzcianne first belonged to the Baltic

Yotvingians Yotvingians, also called Sudovians, Jatvians, or Jatvingians, were a Western Baltic people who were closely tied to the Old Prussians. The linguist Petras Būtėnas asserts that they were closest to the Lithuanians. The Yotvingians contributed ...

. Then Trzcianne became part of the

Wizna Land Wizna Land (Polish: ''ziemia wiska''), named after the town of Wizna, was an administrative unit (ziemia) of the Duchy of Mazovia, Kingdom of Poland and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. With its capital in Wizna, it belonged to Masovian Voivo ...

, created in the 14th century, of the

Duchy of Masovia The Duchy of Masovia was a District duchy, district principality and a fiefdom of the Kingdom of Poland (1025–1385), Kingdom of Poland, existing during the Middle Ages. The state was centered in Mazovia in the northeastern Kingdom of Poland, a ...

, within which it was located on the border of

Goniądz Goniądz (; ) is a town in northeastern Poland, located at the Biebrza river, (pop. 1,915) in Mońki County in Podlaskie Voivodeship. History The town was founded sometime in the 14th century when dense forests covered the area. The first mentio ...

and

Tykocin Tykocin (; ) is a small town in north-eastern Poland, with 2,010 inhabitants (2012), located on the Narew river, in Białystok County in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is one of the oldest towns in the region, with its historic center designated a ...

counties. Then, Trczianne belonged to the

Bielsk Land Bielsk Land, (, named after the town of Bielsk Podlaski) was an administrative unit (ziemia) of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Kingdom of Poland and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Created in 1413, it originally belonged to the Lithuanian Tra ...

that was part of

Podlachia Podlachia, also known by its Polish name Podlasie (; ; ), is a historical region in north-eastern Poland. Its largest city is Białystok, whereas the historical capital is Drohiczyn. Similarly to several other historical regions of Poland, e.g ...

, part of the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

. According to the records of

Alexander Jagiellon Alexander Jagiellon (; ; 5 August 1461 – 19 August 1506) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1492 and King of Poland from 1501 until his death in 1506. He was the fourth son of Casimir IV and a member of the Jagiellonian dynasty. Alexander was el ...

Grand Duke of Lithuania This is a list of Lithuanian monarchs who ruled Lithuania from its inception until the fall of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1795. The Lithuanian monarch bore the title of Grand duke, Grand Duke, with the exception of Mindaugas, who was crown ...

, the first

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

church in Trzcianne was built before 1496 and it survived years. The current, fourth church in Trzcianne was built in 1846 and

consecrated Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

in 1860. The first Jews arrived in Trzcianne in the 18th century. By the 20th century, Jews were a majority of Trzcianne's population, making it a

shtetl or ( ; , ; Grammatical number#Overview, pl. ''shtetelekh'') is a Yiddish term for small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Jewish populations which Eastern European Jewry, existed in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust. The t ...

. In the 1909 census, 98% of Trzcianne's population was Jewish. There is still an old Jewish cemetery in the village, but it is not tended by anyone. According to the

1921 Polish census The Polish census of 1921 or First General Census in Poland () was the first census in the Second Polish Republic, performed on September 30, 1921, by the Main Bureau of Statistics ( Główny Urząd Statystyczny). It was followed by the Polish ce ...

, the village had a total population of 1,434 people. Of these, 1,401 were

Jews 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 ...

. The remaining 33 inhabitants were

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 ...

. There were 177 residential buildings in the village.

World War II

Following the 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 village was first occupied by the Soviet Union. When the Germans occupied the area in June 1941, they set fire to the whole village. Then, they gathered together more than 1,000 local Jews in the neighboring village of Zubole. The Jews were kept in the gravel pit and then in a barn for almost a week before the series mass executions took place. 400 to 700 Jews were murdered. The rest of the Jews were released. In autumn of 1941, 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 ...

was created in Trzcianne. It lasted until November 2, 1942, when the Jews from the ghetto were sent to the Bogusze transit camp. A few weeks later, with Jews from surrounding town and villages, they were sent to

Treblinka Treblinka () was the second-deadliest extermination camp to be built and operated by Nazi Germany in Occupation of Poland (1939–1945), occupied Poland during World War II. It was in a forest north-east of Warsaw, south of the Treblinka, ...

and

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

death camps. Right before World War II, there were about 2,500 Jews living in the village, only 25 Trzcianne Jews survived the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

. Both during and after

, many inhabitants of Trzcianne were deported to

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

by the

Soviets The Soviet people () were the citizens and nationals of the Soviet Union. This demonym was presented in the ideology of the country as the "new historical unity of peoples of different nationalities" (). Nationality policy in the Soviet Union ...

Tourist attractions

*Church dating to 1846 *Jewish cemetery

References

Sources

* * *

External links

Trzcianne Gmina official siteTrzcianne Parish

{{Authority control Populated riverside places in Poland Villages in Mońki County Historic Jewish communities in Poland Holocaust locations in Poland