Kabaty is a residential neighborhood in
Ursynów
Ursynów () is the southernmost district of Warsaw. With a surface area of , it is the third largest district in Warsaw, comprising 8.6% of the city. The district has a population of over 150,000, and is one of the fastest-growing neighbourhoods ...
, the southernmost district of
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
. Sparsely populated until the late 1980s, Kabaty witnessed rapid growth in the 1990s and especially the 2000s. It is located near the
Kabaty Woods
The Stefan Starzyński Kabaty Woods Nature Reserve ( pl, Rezerwat przyrody Las Kabacki im. Stefana Starzyńskiego) is a woodland park located in southern Warsaw, between two major arteries, Puławska and Łukasz Drewny Streets. Administratively ...
, a popular weekend destination for Warsaw citizens.
History
Kabaty has been inhabited for at least 600 years. A village of that name was first mentioned in 1386 as belonging to
Andrzej Ciołek,
standard-bearer
A standard-bearer, also known as a flag-bearer is a person (soldier or civilian) who bears an emblem known as a standard or military colours, i.e. either a type of flag or an inflexible but mobile image, which is used (and often honoured) as a ...
of
Płock
Płock (pronounced ) is a city in central Poland, on the Vistula river, in the Masovian Voivodeship. According to the data provided by GUS on 31 December 2021, there were 116,962 inhabitants in the city. Its full ceremonial name, according to the ...
. Prince
Janusz I of Masovia granted it
Chełm Law (a local variant of
Magdeburg Law
Magdeburg rights (german: Magdeburger Recht; also called Magdeburg Law) were a set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973) and based on the Flemish Law, which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within c ...
) and a certain degree of internal autonomy. Until the 16th century the village remained part of the
Ciołek family domain. In the 1580 census it was reported as covering some s.
In the early 17th century the village was transferred to the Piekarski family. In 1656 it was completely destroyed by Swedish armies during
The Deluge
The Genesis flood narrative (chapters 6–9 of the Book of Genesis) is the Hebrew version of the universal flood myth. It tells of God's decision to return the universe to its pre- creation state of watery chaos and remake it through the microc ...
. In 1721 the village of Kabaty, located on the
Wisła River, was purchased by
Elżbieta Sieniawska
Elżbieta Helena Sieniawska, ''née'' Lubomirska (Końskowola, 1669 – 21 March 1729, Oleszyce), was a Polish Szlachta, noblewoman, Grand Hetmaness of the Crown (''hetmanowa wielka koronna''), and a renowned Patronage, patron of the arts.
An inf ...
, widow of
Hetman
( uk, гетьман, translit=het'man) is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders.
Used by the Czechs in Bohemia since the 15th century. It was the title of the second-highest military co ...
Adam Mikołaj Sieniawski
Adam Mikołaj Sieniawski (1666–1726) was a Polish nobleman, aristocrat and military leader.
He was the son of Hetman Mikołaj Hieronim Sieniawski and Cecylia Maria Radziwiłł, daughter of Court and Grand Marshal Prince Aleksander Ludwik R ...
and owner of
Wilanów Palace
Wilanów Palace ( pl, Pałac w Wilanowie, ) is a former royal palace located in the Wilanów district of Warsaw, Poland. Wilanów Palace survived Poland's partitions and both World Wars, and so serves as a reminder of the culture of the Polish ...
. The village was rebuilt after a plague.
Elżbieta Sieniawska, who also bought the surrounding
Kabaty Woods
The Stefan Starzyński Kabaty Woods Nature Reserve ( pl, Rezerwat przyrody Las Kabacki im. Stefana Starzyńskiego) is a woodland park located in southern Warsaw, between two major arteries, Puławska and Łukasz Drewny Streets. Administratively ...
, ordered protection for its animals and trees. Even the wood needed to build her new manor in 1726 was transported from
Nieporęt
Nieporęt is a village in Legionowo County, Masovian Voivodeship in east-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Nieporęt. It lies approximately east of Legionowo and north of Warsaw
Warsaw ( ...
rather than from the surrounding forest. In 1775 the village had 16 houses and a ''
szlachta
The ''szlachta'' (Polish: endonym, Lithuanian: šlėkta) were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth who, as a class, had the dominating position in the ...
'' manor. By 1827 it had grown to 17 houses and 177 inhabitants, mostly serfs.
In 1864, after the
January 1863 Uprising
The January Uprising ( pl, powstanie styczniowe; lt, 1863 metų sukilimas; ua, Січневе повстання; russian: Польское восстание; ) was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at ...
, the village was administratively attached to
Wilanów
Wilanów () is a district of the city of Warsaw, Poland. It is home to historic Wilanów Palace, the "Polish Versailles," and second home to various Polish kings.
History
The first mentions of a settlement in the area can be traced to the 13th ...
. By 1905 it had 38 houses and 319 inhabitants. After Poland regained independence in 1918, the village became a popular summer vacation place for nearby Warsaw. The forest was parcelled, and a small resort was built there with 8 houses and 61 permanent inhabitants (in addition to 59 houses and 397 inhabitants in the village itself).
In 1937 the
Polish General Staff
Polish General Staff, formally known as the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces (Polish: ''Sztab Generalny Wojska Polskiego'') is the highest professional body within the Polish Armed Forces. Organizationally, it is an integral part of the Min ...
's
Cipher Bureau moved to a specially constructed facility in the
Kabaty Woods
The Stefan Starzyński Kabaty Woods Nature Reserve ( pl, Rezerwat przyrody Las Kabacki im. Stefana Starzyńskiego) is a woodland park located in southern Warsaw, between two major arteries, Puławska and Łukasz Drewny Streets. Administratively ...
.
Władysław Kozaczuk Władysław Kozaczuk (23 December 1923 – 26 September 2003) was a Polish Army colonel and a military and intelligence historian.
Life
Born in the village of Babiki near Sokółka, Kozaczuk joined the army in 1944, during World War II, at Bia ...
, ''Enigma: How the German Machine Cipher was Broken, and How it was Read by the Allies in World War Two'', edited and translated by Christopher Kasparek
Christopher Kasparek (born 1945) is a Scottish-born writer of Polish descent who has translated works by numerous authors, including Ignacy Krasicki, Bolesław Prus, Florian Znaniecki, Władysław Tatarkiewicz, Marian Rejewski, and Władysław K ...
, Frederick, Maryland, University Publications of America, 1984, p. 43.
The following year, Warsaw's president (mayor)
Stefan Starzyński
Stefan Bronisław Starzyński (19 August 1893 – between 21 and 23 December 1939) was a Poles, Polish politician, statesman, economist, military officer and Mayor of Warsaw before and during Siege of Warsaw (1939), the Siege of 1939.
Earl ...
purchased the Kabaty Woods for the city and turned them into a park and forest reserve. The Woods are now named after Starzyński.
During
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 opposin ...
, they were a scene of partisan warfare against Poland's German occupiers. The heaviest fighting around Kabaty took place during the 1944
Warsaw Uprising
The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occ ...
, when
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) esta ...
units from southern Poland sought to break through to Warsaw via the Woods.
After the war, the village and the fields adjacent to the Woods were nationalized and treated as a space for Warsaw's further expansion. It was not until 1951, however, that it became part of Warsaw, included in the newly created district of
Ursynów
Ursynów () is the southernmost district of Warsaw. With a surface area of , it is the third largest district in Warsaw, comprising 8.6% of the city. The district has a population of over 150,000, and is one of the fastest-growing neighbourhoods ...
. In the 1990s the area was built up with apartment blocks and single-family houses, and agricultural activity was discontinued. The area is now one of the fastest-growing parts of Warsaw. Due to its proximity to the Woods — a popular weekend destination for Varsovians — it is considered especially desirable among the middle class.
Kabaty has two
Warsaw Metro
The Warsaw Metro ( pl, Metro Warszawskie) is a rapid transit underground system serving the Polish capital Warsaw. It currently consists of two lines, the north-south Line M1 which links central Warsaw with its densely populated northern and sout ...
facilities: the Kabaty train yard, and the
Kabaty station itself, the southern terminus of line no. 1, beneath the intersection of
Wąwozowa Street and KEN Avenue.
See also
*
Cipher Bureau (''Biuro Szyfrów'')
*
Kabaty Woods
The Stefan Starzyński Kabaty Woods Nature Reserve ( pl, Rezerwat przyrody Las Kabacki im. Stefana Starzyńskiego) is a woodland park located in southern Warsaw, between two major arteries, Puławska and Łukasz Drewny Streets. Administratively ...
(''Las Kabacki'')
*
Kabaty metro station
Metro Kabaty is the southern terminus of Line M1 of the Warsaw Metro, located in the Kabaty neighbourhood of the Ursynów district in the south of Warsaw, at the end of Aleja Komisji Edukacji Narodowej, the main artery of Ursynów. Tracks continu ...
(''Stacja metra Kabaty'')
Notes
References
* A revised and augmented translation of Kozaczuk's ''W kręgu enigmy'',
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
, Książka i Wiedza, 1979, supplemented with appendices by
Marian Rejewski
Marian Adam Rejewski (; 16 August 1905 – 13 February 1980) was a Polish mathematician and cryptologist who in late 1932 reconstructed the sight-unseen German military Enigma cipher machine, aided by limited documents obtained by French mili ...
{{Ursynów
Neighbourhoods of Warsaw
Cipher Bureau (Poland)
Ursynów