Kańczuga () is a town in

Przeworsk County __NOTOC__ Przeworsk County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Subcarpathian Voivodeship, south-eastern Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed ...

Subcarpathian Voivodeship Subcarpathian Voivodeship is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship, or province, in the southeastern corner of Poland. Its administrative capital and largest city is Rzeszów. Along with the Marshal, it is governed by the Subcarpathian Regional As ...

, in south-eastern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, with a population of 3,187 inhabitants on 2 June 2009. The town was an early centre of the Polish

automobile industry The automotive industry comprises a wide range of companies and organizations involved in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, selling, repairing, and modification of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest industries by ...

. Buses based on Fiat 621R and used in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

had bodywork fitted in Kańczuga. Today, the town is known for the restoration of old

SAAB Saab or SAAB may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Saab AB, a Swedish aircraft, aerospace and defence company, still known as SAAB, and together with subsidiaries as Saab Group ** Datasaab, a former computer company, started as spin off from Saab ...

History

Kańczuga was first mentioned in documents from 1340, when it was part of

Red Ruthenia Red Ruthenia, also called Red Rus or Red Russia, is a term used since the Middle Ages for the south-western principalities of Kievan Rus', namely the Principality of Peremyshl and the Duchy of Belz, Principality of Belz. It is closely related to ...

. At that time, the village belonged to the noble Pilecki family. In the second half of the 14th century, Elżbieta Pilecka, the daughter of Kańczuga's founder Otton of Pilcza, married a nobleman from

Greater Poland Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (; ), is a Polish Polish historical regions, historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief and largest city is Poznań followed by Kalisz, the oldest city in Poland. The bound ...

, Wincenty Granowski, and after his death, she married King

Władysław II Jagiełło Jogaila (; 1 June 1434), later Władysław II Jagiełło (),Other names include (; ) (see also Names and titles of Władysław II Jagiełło) was Grand Duke of Lithuania beginning in 1377 and starting in 1386, becoming King of Poland as well. ...

. In 1440, Kańczuga received town charter. As a

private town Private towns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were privately owned towns within the lands owned by magnates, bishops, knights and princes, among others. Amongst the most well-known former private magnate towns are Białystok, Zamość, R ...

it remained in the hands of the Pilecki family, but in the subsequent centuries, Kańczuga was property of such families, as Odrowaz, Kostka,

Ostrogski The House of Ostrogski (; ; ) was one of the more prominent families in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The family spanned from the 14th century Rut ...

Lubomirski The House of Lubomirski is a Princely Houses of Poland, Polish princely family. The Lubomirski family's coat of arms is the Drużyna coat of arms, which is similar to the Szreniawa coat of arms but without a cross. Origin and the coat ...

and Sanguszko. The town, with its deep tunnels used as merchant goods storages, prospered until the late 15th century, when its population reached 3000. In 1498, Kańczuga was burned to the ground in a Wallachian raid, which ended the period of prosperity. In the 16th and early 17th centuries, the area of Kańczuga was frequently raided by the

Crimean Tatars Crimean Tatars (), or simply Crimeans (), are an Eastern European Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group and nation indigenous to Crimea. Their ethnogenesis lasted thousands of years in Crimea and the northern regions along the coast of the Blac ...

. In a 1624 raid, all local villages were burned, and thousands of residents kidnapped. As a result of the first of

Partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...

(Treaty of St-Petersburg dated 5 July 1772), Kańczuga was attributed to the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

as part of Austrian Galicia, in which it remained until 1918. When a post office was opened in 1870, the town was in the Przeworsk ''Bezirkshauptmannschaft''. Before

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 ...

the Kańczuga population was 3,000 with at least 40% being Jews. 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 town was occupied by Germany until 1944. On August 8, 1942, the Jews living in the town were murdered by the Nazis and their bodies were dumped in a mass grave. Jewish civilians were first rounded up into the synagogue where they were forced to spend several days without food, water, or bathrooms. They were then taken out of the synagogue where the men were made to dig large holes which were used as their communal graves. After the holes were dug, the men, women, and children were shot, with their bodies being tossed into these mass, communal graves. In April 1945, a pogrom took place in Kánczuga that targeted the few returning Holocaust survivors who gathered for a Passover Seder. During the Seder, 12 were killed by ethnic Polish perpetrators.

References

External links

Official town webpageWitryna o mieście i gminie KańczugaKanczuga.org - Virtually re-building Jewish Kańczuga
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Subcarpathian Voivodeship Populated riverside places in Poland Przeworsk County