Bychawa () is a town in

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 ...

, in

Lublin Voivodeship The Lublin Voivodeship, also known as the Lublin Province ( Polish: ''województwo lubelskie'' ), is a voivodeship (province) of Poland, located in southeastern part of the country. It was created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Lublin, C ...

, in

Lublin County Lublin County ( pl, Powiat Lubelski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lublin Voivodeship, eastern Poland. It was established on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1 ...

, about 25 km south of Lublin. The town lies in

Lublin Upland Lublin Upland () is a geographical region in southeastern Poland, located in Lublin Voivodeship, between the rivers Vistula and Bug, around the city of Lublin. Its area is about 7,200 km² and its highest elevation 314 m above sea level. It ...

and belongs to historic

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

. The town was first mentioned in historical documents from the 14th century and first received its city charter in 1537. The charter was lost in 1869, causing the town to revert to village status, but the charter was regained in 1958. In 1956–1975 Bychawa was the seat of Bychawa County. The town has the area of , and as of December 2021 it has 4,757 inhabitants.

History

The gord, located at the site of current Bychawa, existed as early as the 9th and 10th centuries. In 1537 King Sigismund I the Old granted Bychawa Magdeburg town rights and established two annual fairs. 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. ...

located in the

in the

Lesser Poland Province of the Polish Crown , subdivision = Province , nation = Poland , year_start = , event_end = Third Partition of Poland , year_end = , image_map = ProwincjaMalopolska.png , image_map ...

. The town developed successfully, trade and crafts flourished, including the production of weapons, a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

church was built. In the second half of the 16th century Bychawa was a Reformation center,

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

synods were held there. In 1637, King

Władysław IV Vasa Władysław IV Vasa; lt, Vladislovas Vaza; sv, Vladislav IV av Polen; rus, Владислав IV Ваза, r=Vladislav IV Vaza; la, Ladislaus IV Vasa or Ladislaus IV of Poland (9 June 1595 – 20 May 1648) was King of Poland, Grand Duke of ...

confirmed and extended the town's privileges. The development was hampered by wars in the mid-17th century. In 1649, Cossacks and later the Swedes invaded and destroyed the town. As a result of the Partitions of Poland in 1795 Bychawa 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 1809 it was regained by Poles and included in the short-lived Polish

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 ...

and since 1815, it was part of the Russian-controlled Congress Poland. Following the January Uprising, the Russians stripped it of its town rights in 1863. Bychawa remained a village until 1958. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

it was occupied by the Austrians from 1915 to 1918. In 1900 Bychawa had 2,800 inhabitants, including 2,294 Jews who constituted 81% of the total population of the town, as a result of Russian discriminatory regulations. In the second half of the 1930s, due to the worsening economic situation and intensifying anti-Semitic atmosphere, the situation of Jews in Bychawa was systematically declined, which led to the increase in emigration rate. On the eve of the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Jewry made up only a half of the entire population in Bychawa. The Germans created a ghetto in Bychawa in December 1940 during World War II and around 2,600 Jews lived in the ghetto in 1942. Jews from Bychawa were transported to the ghetto in Bełżyce and then to the

Sobibor extermination camp Sobibor (, Polish: ) was an extermination camp built and operated by Nazi Germany as part of Operation Reinhard. It was located in the forest near the village of Żłobek Duży in the General Government region of German-occupied Poland. As an ...

on 11 October 1942. Apart from regular mass exterminations in Bełżec, the Nazis also carried out individual executions around the town. Bychawa shtetl.jpg, Jewish home in Bychawa Bychawa shtetl-1.jpg, Houses in Jewish section Bychawa shtetl-2.jpg, Street corner in Jewish section Members of a local chapter of the Betar youth movement in Bychawa - 1933.jpg, Jewish youth group, 1933 Members of the He - Chaluts Zionist movement from the pioneering training program in Bychawa, working as woodcutters. August 23 - 1934.jpg, Jewish youth group working as woodcutters, 1934 In July 1944, as part of 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 ...

, the Polish

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) est ...

liberated Bychawa 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 an ...

, a few days later the Soviets entered the town. In 1958, town rights were restored. In 1962 a Culture House was built. In 1966, a housing cooperative was founded.

Sights

Bychawa, cmentarz par., grób Adama Duniewskiego, 1884.JPG, Catholic cemetery with Duniewski's mausoleum A 341 z 26.11.2004 Kapliczka przydrożna (poł. XVIII) Bychawa ul. Zamkowa.jpg, 18th-century wayside shrine in Bychawa Bychawa - dzwonnica drewniana.JPG, Wooden belfry Bychawa synagoga 05.jpg, Bychawa synagogue in disrepair, 2007 Bychawa synagoga 26.jpg, Fresco in the interior of the ruined synagogue Bychawa3.JPG, Palace ruins The town's landmark is the late

Saint John the Baptist church, built in the early 17th century. Other monuments include the old Catholic cemetery with Duniewski's mausoleum, the ruins of the palace, and a synagogue.

References

External links

Official town webpageJews of Bychawa
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Lublin Voivodeship Lublin County 1537 establishments in Europe Lublin Governorate Lublin Voivodeship (1919–1939) Holocaust locations in Poland