Ryczywół is a village (a town in 1409–1869) in
Masovian Voivodeship
The Masovian Voivodeship, also known as the Mazovia Province ( pl, województwo mazowieckie ) is a voivodeship (province) in east-central Poland, with its capital located in the city of Warsaw, which also serves as the capital of the country. Th ...
,
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 ...
, located in the northern edge of the historic region of
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 village is located along National Road Nr. 79, which goes from
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 ...
to
Bytom. Ryczywół lies near the confluence of the Radomka and
Vistula
The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland.
The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...
rivers at the border of ''Puszcza Stromecka'' wilderness.
The name of the village probably comes from two Polish words - ''ryczy'' (''bellow'') and ''wół'' (''ox''), and comes from herds of cattle, which used to be moved through Ryczywół on the way from
Red Ruthenia
Red Ruthenia or Red Rus' ( la, Ruthenia Rubra; '; uk, Червона Русь, Chervona Rus'; pl, Ruś Czerwona, Ruś Halicka; russian: Червонная Русь, Chervonnaya Rus'; ro, Rutenia Roșie), is a term used since the Middle Ages fo ...
towards the west.
Jan Długosz
Jan Długosz (; 1 December 1415 – 19 May 1480), also known in Latin as Johannes Longinus, was a Polish priest, chronicler, diplomat, soldier, and secretary to Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnicki of Kraków. He is considered Poland's first histo ...
wrote that in the 13th century Ryczywół already had St. Catherine parish church. In the 14th century, the village belonged to Polish kings, and a royal court was located here. In 1407 it was the seat of a
starosta, located in
Sandomierz Voivodeship
Sandomierz Voivodeship ( pl, Województwo Sandomierskie, la, Palatinatus Sandomirensis) 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 Polan ...
, and two years later Ryczywół was granted town rights by King
Władysław Jagiełło Władysław is a Polish given male name, cognate with Vladislav. The feminine form is Władysława, archaic forms are Włodzisław (male) and Włodzisława (female), and Wladislaw is a variation. These names may refer to:
Famous people Mononym
* ...
. The town, which in the 15th and 16th centuries belonged to several private owners, was famous in the region for a bridge on the
Radomka
The Radomka is a river in central Poland and a left tributary of the Vistula. It has a length of 98 km and a basin area of over 2000 km2 (all in Poland). The river has its source in forests 4 km south from Przysucha, at the height o ...
river. Merchants had to pay a toll to cross it. In 1655 during the
Swedish invasion of Poland, Ryczywół was destroyed by the Swedes and never regained its importance. In the 18th centuries, Jews started to settle there, and in 1813 whole town was moved some 2,5 kilometers from its original location. This was due to frequent floods of the Radomka and the Vistula. In 1869 the government of the Russian-controlled
Congress Poland stripped Ryczywół of its town charter. On September 15, 1939, a battle between the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
and Polish units of
Łódź Army
Łódź Army ( pl, Armia Łódź) was one of the Polish armies that took part in the Invasion of Poland of 1939. It was officially created on 23 March 1939 with the task of filling the gap between Poznań Army in the north and Kraków Army in the ...
took place here. Ryczywół was completely destroyed in 1944, during Soviet - German fighting at Warka- Magnuszew bridgehead (see
Vistula–Oder Offensive). In 1968-1979, the
Kozienice Power Station
The Kozienice Power Station is a coal-fired thermal power station in Świerże Górne near Kozienice, Poland. It is Poland's second largest power station with an installed capacity of 4,016 MW.
The power station has one high flue gas stack, ...
was built nearby.
Holocaust in Ryczywół
At the beginning of World War II, most of the village was burned down by the invading German army, forcing the inhabitants to scatter throughout neighboring villages. In June 1940 there was an outbreak of typhus. The Jewish community of Ryczywół consisted of 160 people. In early 1942 a small ghetto was set up there within the ghettoization process of the entire Radom-Land ordered by
Kreishauptmann Friedrich Egen. In August of that year, 160 Jews were sent to
Kozienice
Kozienice (; yi, קאזשניץ ''Kozhnits''; german: Koschnitz) is a town in eastern Poland with 21,500 inhabitants (1995). Located four miles from the Vistula, it is the capital of Kozienice County.
Even though Kozienice is part of Lesser Pol ...
ghetto and in September, to
Treblinka
Treblinka () was an extermination camp, 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 Masovian Voivodeship. The cam ...
extermination camp, while 69 Jews went to
Sobibor
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 August 4, 1942.
Notes and references
* "Ryczywół" in ''
Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich'', Vol. X (Rukszenice – Sochaczew) from 1889 - including mention of town privilege
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryczywol, Masovian Voivodeship
Villages in Kozienice County
Holocaust locations in Poland