Dębica (; yi, דעמביץ ''Dembitz'') is a town in southeastern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

with 44,692 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is the capital of

Dębica County __NOTOC__ Dębica County ( pl, powiat dębicki, links=no) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Subcarpathian Voivodeship, south-eastern Poland. It was created on 1 January 1999 as a result of the Polish local go ...

. Since 1999 it has been situated in the

Podkarpackie Voivodeship Subcarpathian Voivodeship or Subcarpathia Province (in pl, Województwo podkarpackie ) is a voivodeship, or province, in the southeastern corner of Poland. Its administrative capital and largest city is Rzeszów. Along with the Marshall, it is ...

; it had previously been in the

Tarnów Voivodeship Tarnów Voivodeship () was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland in years 1975–1998, superseded by a much larger Lesser Poland Voivodeship. Its capital city was Tarnów. Located in southeastern part of the country, ...

(1975–1998). Dębica belongs to the historic province 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 ...

, and for centuries it was part of the

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 ...

Area and location

According to the 2006 data, Dębica's area is .

Arable land Arable land (from the la, arabilis, "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for th ...

makes 42% of the area of the town, while forests make 19%. Dębica is the seat of the

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

, and the town covers 4.34% of the county's area. Dębica lies at the border of two geographical regions of Poland - the

Carpathian The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The ...

Piedmont in southern districts of the town, and the

Sandomierz Basin Sandomierz Basin ( pl, Kotlina Sandomierska) is a lowland, located in southeastern Poland, between the Lesser Poland Upland, Lublin Upland and the Western Carpathians. Its name comes from the historical city of Sandomierz, and the basin has a tria ...

in its north, along the

Wisłoka The Wisłoka is a river in south-eastern Poland, a tributary of the Vistula river, with a length of and a basin area of . The highest elevations reach an elevation of , while the lowest point in the valley of the river Wisłoka lies at an ele ...

river.

Economy

Since the mid-1930s Dębica, despite its size, has been a large industrial hub. A number of companies were then created thanks to governmental industry development programs. Most of them still exist today, though they were privatized in the 1990s: * Firma Oponiarska Dębica S.A. (Tire Company Dębica) now owned by Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, previous name - Stomil Dębica * Lerg S.A. - a chemical manufacturer located in the village of Pustków, a village in Dębica County * Tikkurila Polska S.A. (formerly Polifarb Dębica) - a paint manufacturer * Wytwórnia Urządzeń Chłodniczych WUCh (Freezer Appliances Producer WUCh) * Zakłady Mięsne (Meatworks) Since the early 1990s a relatively large number (in proportion to the city's size) of successful companies have been started and run by local residents: * bicycle, motorcycle and electric car manufacturer Arkus and Romet Group * Sportatut - producer of sports nutritionals *

chemical industry The chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, it converts raw materials ( oil, natural gas, air, water, metals, and minerals) into more than 70,000 different products. T ...

manufacturers (paint producers such as Śnieżka Brzeznica and Plastbud Pustków) * marble producer Jabo Marmi and brickyard Igloobud * food companies such as Igloomeat and Animex Poludnie

Transport

The A4 highway runs just to the north of the city. There are two exits from the highway into Dębica. The section of the highway going westwards from Dębica to Tarnów was completed in October 2014. In result, the city has now a direct highway connection with the western Polish border and in consequence with all of Western Europe. A car journey to

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 159 ...

(approximately 120 km) takes around an hour, while

Rzeszów Rzeszów ( , ; la, Resovia; yi, ריישא ''Raisha'')) is the largest city in southeastern Poland. It is located on both sides of the Wisłok River in the heartland of the Sandomierz Basin. Rzeszów has been the capital of the Subcarpathian Vo ...

, the capital of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship located to the East of Dębica, can be easily reached in less than 30 minutes. Dębica is also located by the 94 country road, which was formerly part of the European route E40. This two-lane road has been renovated in recent years. However, with the completion of the A4 highway, it lost its former significance. Dębica is also connected with the cities of

Mielec Mielec ( yi, מעליץ-Melitz) is the largest city and seat of Mielec County. Mielec is located in south-eastern Poland ( Lesser Poland), in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship (Województwo Podkarpackie). The population of Mielec in December 2021 wa ...

and

Tarnobrzeg Tarnobrzeg is a city in south-eastern Poland (historic Lesser Poland), on the east bank of the river Vistula, with 49,419 inhabitants, as of 31 December 2009. Situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship (Polish: ''Województwo podkarpackie'') since ...

thanks to the local road number 985. Dębica lies by an important railway line stretching between the western and eastern Polish borders. It is currently undergoing an upgrade (to be completed by 2016) for the maximum train speeds of 160 km/h. As of now due to the construction work, a 111 km train journey to Kraków takes approximately 1.5 hours. Between 1988 and 1990 Dębica had been connected with

Straszęcin Straszęcin is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Żyraków, within Dębica County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland. It lies approximately south-west of Żyraków, west of Dębica, and west of the regional capi ...

by trolleybus line.

Education

Dębica has been home to two branches of higher education institutions: * Wyższa Szkoła Informatyki i Zarządzania in

, branch in Dębica * University of Economics in Kraków, branch in Dębica

History

Middle Ages

One of the oldest documented references to this area dates back to the year 1293. It records a settlement by the name of ''Dambicha'', belonging to the noble Gryfita family. In 1305, the village was raided by the

Tatars The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

, who burned a wooden church. The church was rebuilt in 1318, and by 1325, Dębica was the seat of a

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or reside ...

, located on the outskirts of the mighty

Sandomierz Forest Sandomierz Forest ( pl, Puszcza Sandomierska) is one of the biggest forests in southern Poland; covering large parts of the Sandomierz Basin. Its name comes from the historical city of Sandomierz, and in the Middle Ages its eastern edge created a n ...

. The Dębica Deanery consisted of fourteen parishes, among them

Przecław Przecław is a small town in Mielec County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Przecław. It lies in Lesser Poland, approximately south of Mielec and north-w ...

Sędziszów Małopolski Sędziszów Małopolski is a town in Ropczyce-Sędziszów County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, Poland, with a population of 12,226 (1 January 2019). Sędziszów is located in eastern Lesser Poland, near the historic boundary between Lesser Poland a ...

, and

Strzyżów Strzyżów is a town in Strzyżów County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, Poland, along the Wisłok river valley. Strzyżów is one of the towns within the Strzyżowsko-Dynowskie Foothill, located south-east of Kraków and 30 km from Rzesz� ...

. In 1358

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the ...

Casimir III the Great Casimir III the Great ( pl, Kazimierz III Wielki; 30 April 1310 – 5 November 1370) reigned as the King of Poland from 1333 to 1370. He also later became King of Ruthenia in 1340, and fought to retain the title in the Galicia-Volhynia Wars. He w ...

gave a local nobleman Świętosław Gryfita permission to found a town, and Dębica received

town rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...

, together with a privilege to organize weekly markets on Wednesdays. The town, however, was not actually founded until June 10, 1372, when Mikołaj of Lipiny was named its first

wójt Wójt is a Polish senior civil administrative officer and the highest representative of the government of a '' rural gmina'', i.e., of a commune ('' gmina'') comprising only villages. (Heads of towns and cities are called "burgomaster" (Polish: ''b ...

. Dębica was conveniently located along the main merchant route from

Lwów Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...

, but the newly established town was unable to compete with older urban centers of the area,

Pilzno Pilzno is a town in Poland, in Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in Dębica County. It has 4,943 inhabitants as of 2018. It is located at the junction of important roads – West-East European E40 Highway, and National Road 73 (''Droga Krajowa nr. 73 ...

and

Ropczyce Ropczyce ( yi, ראָפּשיץ) is a town in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship in south-eastern Poland, situated in the valley of the Wielopolka River (a tributary of the Wisłoka River). The town has a population of 15,098 (). and is the seat of ...

. In 1446, King

Władysław III of Poland Władysław III (31 October 1424 – 10 November 1444), also known as Ladislaus of Varna, was King of Poland and the Supreme Duke (''Supremus Dux'') of Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1434 as well as King of Hungary and Croatia from 1440 until h ...

allowed annual fairs to be organized on

Ash Wednesday Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and falls on the first day of Lent (the six weeks of penitence before Easter). It is observed by Catholics in the ...

s, which resulted in the quick development of the town. For many years however, Dębica was a small town, located in the Pilzno County,

, province of

. Lacking a defensive wall that would defend it, it was vulnerable to invasions of the Tatars, Swedes, and

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Ural ...

, who burnt or ransacked the town every few years. As a result of these events, there are few historical monuments in Dębica. One of these is the Saint Jadwiga church, originally from the 14th century, but completely rebuilt in the late 19th century. Kościół św

In 1474, Dębica, together with other towns of southern

, was ransacked by the

Black Army of Hungary The Black Army ( hu, Fekete sereg, pronounced , Latin: Legio Nigra), also called the Black Legion/Regiment – possibly after their black armor panoply – is a common name given to the military forces serving under the reign of King Matthias Co ...

. In 1502, a Crimean Tatar raid caused widespread destruction, and as a result of it, the town was burned and depopulated.

Early modern era

To prevent the complete disappearance of Dębica, its owners exempted residents from all taxes for 14 years, also allowing them to collect free timber and firewood in local forests. In 1504, Dębica was exempted from royal taxes by King

Alexander Jagiellon Alexander Jagiellon ( pl, Aleksander Jagiellończyk, lt, Aleksandras Jogailaitis; 5 August 1461 – 19 August 1506) of the House of Jagiellon was the Grand Duke of Lithuania and later also King of Poland. He was the fourth son of Casimir IV Ja ...

. Due to all these privileges, Dębica emerged in the 16th century as a local center of skilled craftsmen. Still, it was much smaller than Pilzno and Ropczyce, also because it remained a private town, whose owners argued with each other. In 1554, most of Dębica burned down, together with the wooden parish church of St. Margaret. In the late 16th century, the population of the town was app. 700. Like almost all Lesser Poland's towns and cities, Dębica was completely destroyed in the

Swedish invasion of Poland The Deluge ( pl, potop szwedzki, lt, švedų tvanas) was a series of mid-17th-century military campaigns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In a wider sense it applies to the period between the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648 and the Truce ...

, when Swedes and Transylvanians of George II Rakoczi burned and ransacked the town (1655 - 1660). After the invasion, the population of Dębica was reduced to app. 200, with only 30 houses. As a result, the owners of the town allowed the first Jews to settle in Dębica. The first settlers arrived in 1676–1690. They expanded the town's population, and had a positive influence on the town's economy. In the late 17th century, the so-called ''New Dębica'' was established, around the now non-existing St. Barbara church, app. one kilometre () west of ''Old Dębica''. Both Dębicas had different mayors, who were governed by one

. In the course of time, the towns merged, and the market square of ''New Dębica'' now serves as the center of the town. Dębica was completely destroyed during the

Great Northern War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swed ...

, and the destruction was so severe that the town slowly turned into a farming village. In the late 18th century, it belonged to the

Radziwiłł family The House of Radziwiłł (; lt, Radvila; be, Радзівіл, Radzivił; german: link=no, Radziwill) is a powerful magnate family originating from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later also prominent in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. ...

Late modern era

A battle between Poles and Russians took place here during the

Bar Confederation The Bar Confederation ( pl, Konfederacja barska; 1768–1772) was an association of Polish nobles ( szlachta) formed at the fortress of Bar in Podolia (now part of Ukraine) in 1768 to defend the internal and external independence of the Polis ...

, and in 1772, as a result of the First Partition of Poland, Dębica was annexed by the

Habsburg Empire The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...

, as part of newly established

Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...

, where it remained until November 1918. Austrian authorities decided that it should no longer be regarded as a town, but rather a village and renamed it ''Dembitz''. This decision marked the decline of the town. I LO w Dębicy

Bad times came to an end in the second half of the 19th century, when the Austrian government decided to build a main West-East

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

line (see

Galician Railway of Archduke Charles Louis The Imperial and Royal privileged Galician Railway of Archduke Charles Louis (german: k.k.priv. Galizische Carl Ludwig-Bahn, pl, c.k. uprzyw. Kolej Galicyjska im. Karola Ludwika) was a privately owned railway company in the Austro-Hungarian prov ...

), connecting two major urban centres of Galicja -

and

. A

railroad station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing ...

was built in Dębica, and at the end of the 19th century, another, northbound line was constructed, joining Dębica and the town of

Sandomierz Sandomierz (pronounced: ; la, Sandomiria) is a historic town in south-eastern Poland with 23,863 inhabitants (as of 2017), situated on the Vistula River in the Sandomierz Basin. It has been part of Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (Holy Cross Provi ...

, which was located on the Austrian-Russian boundary. The town became a rail junction, which was a huge boost for its citizens. In 1900 a

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

was opened, and in 1908 students from this school founded one of the oldest sports clubs in Poland,

Wisłoka Dębica Wisłoka Dębica () is one of the oldest existing sports clubs in Poland, founded in 1908 by a group of Dębica's high school students. The name comes from the River Wisłoka, which flows by the town of Dębica (south-east Poland, 110 kilometer ...

(whose name comes from the River Wisłoka, which flows by the town). Just before

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, Dębica was again incorporated as a town. The war was a disaster for the town, as it was almost completely destroyed. During several campaigns, Dębica was occupied by Russian, Austrian, Hungarian and German troops, which fought in this area for many months in 1914 - 1915. The Entente Powers wanted to get through the

Range towards

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

, Bohemia and Hungary, while the

Central Powers The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in ...

managed to stop them at the beginning of 1915. These events had a great impact on the town and hampered its development for many years. In 1918, after Poland regained independence, Dębica was included in the Kraków Voivodeship, in the

of Ropczyce. The economic situation of the town did not change - there was no industry, very few jobs available and surrounding villages were strongly overpopulated. This started to change in 1936, when

Polish government The Government of Poland takes the form of a Unitary state, unitary Parliamentary republic, parliamentary Representative democracy, representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Poland, President is the head of state and the Prime ...

announced the creation of the

Central Industrial Area The Central Industrial District ( pl, Centralny Okręg Przemysłowy, abbreviated COP), is an industrial region in Poland. It was one of the biggest economic projects of the Second Polish Republic. The 5-year-long project was initiated by a famous P ...

. It was a huge

public works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, ...

project, aimed at fighting unemployment in this overpopulated part of Poland, as well as creating

heavy industry Heavy industry is an industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and heavy products; large and heavy equipment and facilities (such as heavy equipment, large machine tools, huge buildings and large-scale infrastructure); ...

, concentrated on the production of arms. Dębica started to develop very fast; so fast, that in 1937 the county's capital was moved here from Ropczyce. Among several factories built in the town at that time, the most important was ''Stomil'' (now called ''Tire Company Dębica'', and belonging to the Goodyear). Other factories were: ''Wytwórnia Urządzeń Chłodniczych WUCh'' and ''Zakłady Tworzyw Sztucznych "Pustków"'', built from scratch, together with a workers' settlement, in

Pustków Osiedle Pustków Osiedle is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Dębica, within Dębica County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland (historic Lesser Poland). It lies approximately north-east of Dębica and west of the regio ...

, northeast of Dębica. Some time in 1938 or 1939 work on another rail connection from Dębica to

Jasło Jasło is a county town in south-eastern Poland with 36,641 inhabitants, as of 31 December 2012. It is situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship (since 1999), and it was previously part of Krosno Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is located in Lesser ...

, via Pilzno was started.

the Second World War 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 ...

stopped this construction, and after the war it was not continued.

World War II

The

occupation Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment *Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces *Military occupation, th ...

of Dębica by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

started on September 8, 1939. The '' Einsatzgruppe I'' entered the town in September 1939 to commit various crimes against Poles. The Germans created a

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

for the town's

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

population, eventually killing most of them either on the spot or in the Auschwitz concentration camp. In the forested hills south of the town, strong Polish underground forces operated, with numerous units of the

Home Army The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II, resistance movement in Occupation of Poland (1939–1945), German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed i ...

(''AK''). It was too dangerous for AK officers to stay in Dębica, thus the headquarters of a local underground district (known as ''Deser'') were located at a nearby village of Gumniska, located in the hilly area south of the town. Resistance fighters were very active here, often attacking the main Kraków-Lwów rail line, used by German troops. In early 1944, units of the local Armia Krajowa district unsuccessfully tried to blow up a train with

Hans Frank Hans Michael Frank (23 May 1900 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician and lawyer who served as head of the General Government in Nazi-occupied Poland during the Second World War. Frank was an early member of the German Workers' Party ...

, which was passing through the village station at Czarna Tarnowska, some west of Dębica. As a reprisal, on February 2, 1944, the Germans murdered 50 Poles by the rail track in Dębica (also see

Otto Schimek Otto Schimek (May 5, 1925 – November 14, 1944) was an Austrians, Austrian soldier in the Nazi Germany, German Wehrmacht during World War II who served as a member of a Execution by firing squad, firing squad. He was himself executed, alle ...

On the outskirts of Dębica in the village of Pustków near

Blizna :''See also Blizna, Podlaskie Voivodeship. For the Polish film of this name see The Scar (1976 film).'' Blizna is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Ostrów, within Ropczyce-Sędziszów County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south ...

and several neighboring ones, the Germans established a massive military base in the fall of 1941 for weapons testing and the training of new Ukrainian collaborationist military formations including the '' SS

Galizien Division The 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician) (german: 14. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS alizische Nr. 1}; uk, 14а Гренадерська Дивізія СС (1а галицька)), known as the 14th SS-Volunteer Division ...

''. It is estimated that over the duration of the ''SS Heidelager'' training base operation, some 15,000 slave-labour prisoners perished there, including 7,500 Jews, 5,000 Soviet POWs, and 2,500 Poles, on top of an estimated 1,000 Soviet soldiers who died in the area during the Nazi-Soviet war. Their remains are buried in the cemetery along the road to Pustków Drips. Originally, the cemetery was located inside the ring IV (Dąbrówki). Later, the graves of soldiers were exhumed and moved. A Russian colonel killed in the fighting is buried in one of the tombs. Implicated in war crimes was SS-man Alois Kurz (ID 382378) who, from 1940 to 21 April 1941, served in the SS Regiment ''Westland,'' then was assigned to a construction battalion for the SS training ground and labor camp serving the ''SS Truppenubungsplatz Heidelager'' (de) in Pustków. Also implicated in war crimes was Wilhelm Schitli, commander of the "Jewish camp" at the SS training area ''HL-Heidelager'' from October 1942 to September 1943. Polish priest Jan Nagórzański, who joined the Polish resistance and rescued Jews during the occupation, was arrested by the Germans, but was soon liberated by the Home Army in 1944. In 1945, he was beaten by Russian troops, and then fell ill with

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...

and died in Dębica. In 1945 the town was restored to Poland, although with a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

-installed communist regime, which remained in power until the

Fall of Communism The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Nat ...

in the 1980s.

Post-war

After the war, in new,

Communist Poland The Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million near ...

, Dębica again became the seat of a county, but the town was moved from the Kraków to the Rzeszów Voivodeship. In 1946, executions of anti-communist activists took place there ( 1946 Public execution in Dębica). Polish priest Jan Wójcik, who aided Polish partisans and Jews during the German occupation, died in Dębica in 1954, shortly after he was released from prison by the communists, who imprisoned him in 1949. War destruction again stopped the town's development, but recovery this time was fast and based on pre-war factories. In 1975, after administrative reform, counties in Poland ceased to exist and were replaced by numerous and small Voivodeships. Dębica again was moved - this time from Rzeszów to the newly created

. In the late 1970s, Dębica gained importance as a centre of food and agricultural production. This was due to the creation of ''Kombinat Rolno-Spozywczy Igloopol'', which, under an influential Communist dignitary Edward Brzostowski, developed very fast. ''Igloopol'' built a huge factory and a completely new district, with numerous condominiums, located on the northern side of the rail line. The company achieved its peak in the late 1980s. After the collapse of the Communist regime, the company was divided into several smaller firms, controlled by former Communist activists.

Sports

There are two major sports clubs in Dębica. Klub Sportowy (Sports Club)

, founded in 1908, is one of the oldest sports organizations in the country. Wisłoka is famous for its wrestlers, who have won numerous medals in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

, World and European Championships. Other fields in which Wisłoka's athletes achieved significant achievements are: soccer, boxing, cycling and karate. The club was sponsored by Tire Company Dębica and it had its heyday in the 1970s. Another team,

Igloopol Dębica LKS Igloopol Dębica () is a Polish sports club from Dębica, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, Poland. History LKS Igloopol was formed by the Agro-Industrial Combine "Igloopol" in 1978 in Dębica. The club rose through the league pyramid very quickl ...

, was founded in 1978 and is the brainchild of a prominent activist of Polish communist party, Edward Brzostowski. Igloopol enjoyed strong support from the local government. Brzostowski was for some time Minister of Agriculture and director of

Polish Football Association The Polish Football Association ( pl, Polski Związek Piłki Nożnej; PZPN) is the governing body of association football in Poland. It organizes the Polish football leagues (without the Ekstraklasa), the Polish Cup and the Polish national fo ...

, so his favorite team prospered in soccer as well as in boxing, achieving significant successes. Igloopol's best years, the late 1980s, are closely associated with the peak of its sponsor. Lately, both teams played in regional lower divisions, hoping to win promotion. Both clubs contest the Dębica derby, one of the fiercest derbies in south-eastern Poland.

Notable residents

Paweł Bochniewicz Paweł Bochniewicz (born 30 January 1996) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Eredivisie club Heerenveen and the Poland national team. Club career Bochniewicz started his career in his hometown club, Wisłok ...

(born 1996), Polish professional footballer *

Mateusz Borek Mateusz is a Polish given name, equivalent to Hebrew names Matityahu and Matthew, meaning "gift of Yahweh". List Notable people with the name include: B–H *Mateusz Bąk (born 1983), Polish football goalkeeper *Mateusz Banasiuk (born 1985), Polis ...

(born 1973), sports commentator * Krzysztof Cios (born 1950), computer scientist * Seweryn Gancarczyk (born 1981),

football defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

* Artur Jędrzejczyk (born 1987), Polish professional footballer *

Józef Lipień Józef Lipień (born 6 February 1949 in Jaczków) is a Polish wrestler (Greco-Roman The Greco-Roman civilization (; also Greco-Roman culture; spelled Graeco-Roman in the Commonwealth), as understood by modern scholars and wr ...

(born 1949), wrestler *

Kazimierz Lipień Kazimierz Lipień (6 February 1949 – 13 November 2005) was a featherweight Greco-Roman wrestler from Poland. He competed at the 1972, 1976 and 1980 Olympics and placed third, first and sixth, respectively. Between 1971 and 1979 he collected 12 ...

(1949–2005), wrestler *

Tadeusz Łomnicki Tadeusz Łomnicki (; 18 July 1927 – 22 February 1992) was a Polish actor, one of the most notable stage and film artists of his time in Poland. He is remembered mostly for his roles in comedies and dramas, as well as for the role of Kordian in J ...

(1927–1992), one of the most popular Polish actors *

Teresa Orlowski Teresa Orlowski (born 29 July 1953) is a former German-Polish performer in and a current producer of adult films in Germany. She was one of the biggest European porn stars of the 80s. Early life She was born as Teresa Orłowska in Wrocław, Pol ...

(born 1953), Polish film star and producer *

Krzysztof Penderecki Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best known works include '' Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', '' Polish Requiem'', ...

(1933–2020), composer and conductor * Waldemar Piatek (born 1979),

football goalkeeper Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

Leszek Pisz Leszek Pisz () (born 18 December 1966 in Dębica) is a former Polish footballer who plays as a midfielder. History Pisz arrived in Legia Warszawa in 1986 from Igloopol Dębica. At first, he was a substitute, but later he became a star of the ...

(born 1966), footballer * Krzysztof Pyskaty (born 1974), Polish footballer *

Radek Rak Radek is a masculine Christian name of Slavic origin. It is often nickname of Radovan, Ctirad and Radoslav. It is used as a surname and given name. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Radek Baborák, Czech conductor and French h ...

(born 1987), writer,

Nike Award The Nike Literary Award ( pl, Nagroda Literacka „Nike") is a literary prize awarded each year for the best book of a single living author writing in Polish and published the previous year. It is widely considered the most important award f ...

laureate *

Ryszard Siwiec Ryszard Siwiec (; 7 March 1909 – 12 September 1968) was a Polish accountant and former Home Army resistance member who was the first person to commit suicide by self-immolation in protest against the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. Alth ...

(1909—1968),

resistance member who committed suicide by

self-immolation The term self-immolation broadly refers to acts of altruistic suicide, otherwise the giving up of one's body in an act of sacrifice. However, it most often refers specifically to autocremation, the act of sacrificing oneself by setting oneself o ...

in protest against the Soviet-led invasion of

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

Władysław Strumski 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 *W ...

(1922–1990), writer *

Paweł Wolak Paweł Wolak (; born 26 September 1981) is a Polish former professional boxer who held the regional WBC–USNBC light middleweight title. Professional record Boxing Trainer: Aroz Terrific Gist, Strength and Conditioning Coach: Farrel Brenner ...

(born 1981), professional boxer, nicknamed "The Raging Bull" *

Jerzy Żuławski Jerzy Żuławski (; 14 July 1874 – 9 August 1915) was a Polish literary figure, philosopher, translator, alpinist and patriot whose best-known work is the science-fiction epic, ''Trylogia Księżycowa'' (''The Lunar Trilogy''), written be ...

(1874–1915), writer, philosopher and translator

Twin towns - sister cities

Dębica is

twinned Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to: * In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so; * Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning * Twinning inst ...

with: *

Carei Carei (; , ; /, yi, , ) is a city in Satu Mare County, northwestern Romania, near the border with Hungary. The city administers one village, Ianculești ( hu, Szentjánosmajor). History The first mention of the city under the name of "Karul ...

, Romania *

Kapuvár Kapuvár (; german: Kobrunn) is a small but ancient town of some 11,000 inhabitants in Győr-Moson-Sopron county, Hungary. The town is known for its thermal water which some believe has hydrotherapeutic properties. It is served by highway 85, an ...

, Hungary *

Muro Muro, a word meaning wall in the Spanish, Portuguese Italian, Esperanto and Ido languages, may refer to: Places France * Muro, Haute-Corse, a commune in the ''département'' of Haute-Corse Italy * Muro Leccese, a municipality of the Province ...

, Spain *

Obzor Obzor ( bg, Обзор ) is a small town and seaside resort on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria. It is part of Nesebar Municipality, Burgas Province. On February 28th, 2021, the citizens of Obzor and six nearby villages voted in a referendum to sepa ...

, Bulgaria *

Svishtov Svishtov ( bg, Свищов ) is a town in northern Bulgaria, located in Veliko Tarnovo Province on the right bank of the Danube river opposite the Romanian town of Zimnicea. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Svishtov Municipali ...

, Bulgaria Former twin towns: *

Puurs Puurs () is a former municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. It is located in the Flemish Region. The municipality comprised the towns of Breendonk, Liezele, , Ruisbroek (old spelling: ''Ruysbroeck'') and Puurs proper. There ...

, Belgium On 13 November 2020, the Belgian municipality of

Puurs-Sint-Amands Puurs-Sint-Amands () is a municipality in the Belgian province of Antwerp that arose on 1 January 2019 from the merging of the municipalities of Puurs and Sint-Amands. The merged municipality has an area of 48.99 km2 and has a population of ...

suspended its 20-year-long partnership with the Dębica because of the town's adoption of the Charter of The Rights of The Family, which allegedly discriminates against

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term i ...

people.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Debica 1358 establishments in Europe Populated places established in the 1350s Cities and towns in Podkarpackie Voivodeship Dębica County Lesser Poland Sandomierz Voivodeship Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Kraków Voivodeship (1919–1939) Holocaust locations in Poland Nazi war crimes in Poland 14th-century establishments in Poland