Wielopole Skrzyńskie ) is a
village
A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...
(town in 1348 - 1933) in
Ropczyce-Sędziszów County
__NOTOC__
Ropczyce-Sędziszów 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 ref ...
,
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. It is the seat of the
gmina
The gmina (Polish: , plural ''gminy'' ) is the basic unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. , there were 2,479 gminy throughout the country, encompassing over 43,000 villages. 940 gminy include cities and tow ...
(administrative district) called
Gmina Wielopole Skrzyńskie
__NOTOC__
Gmina Wielopole Skrzyńskie is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Ropczyce-Sędziszów County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland. Its seat is the village of Wielopole Skrzyńskie, which lies approximately south ...
. It lies in historic
Lesser Poland
Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name ''Małopolska'' (; ), is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a separate cult ...
, approximately south of
Ropczyce
Ropczyce () 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 Ropczyce-Sędziszów ...
and west of the regional capital
Rzeszów
Rzeszów ( , ) 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 is the capital of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship and the county seat, seat of Rzeszów C ...
.
History
The history of Wielopole dates back to the 12th century, when it was a defensive
gord, located on a hill called ''Stroszowa Góra'', among the forests near the border between Lesser Poland and
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 ...
. It was first mentioned in 1124, in a document of
papal legate
300px, A woodcut showing Henry II of England greeting the Pope's legate.
A papal legate or apostolic legate (from the ancient Roman title '' legatus'') is a personal representative of the Pope to foreign nations, to some other part of the Catho ...
Gilles de Paris. In 1266 Ruthenian Prince Swarno, supported by Lithuanians and Tatars, raided
Eastern Lesser Poland, burning Wielopole to the ground. The village received
Magdeburg rights
Magdeburg rights (, , ; 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 cities and villages gr ...
in c. 1348, and at that time it was called ''Fuerstenberg'', due to the fact that most of its inhabitants were the
Walddeutsche
(lit. "Forest Germans" or – "Deaf Germans"; – "deaf Germans") was the name for a group of German-speaking people, originally used in the 16th century for two language islands around Łańcut and Krosno, in southeastern Poland. Both of th ...
. The town was located on a merchant route from
Sandomierz
Sandomierz (pronounced: ; , ) is a historic town in south-eastern Poland with 23,863 inhabitants (), situated on the Vistula River near its confluence with the San, in the Sandomierz Basin. It has been part of Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (Holy ...
, through
Ropczyce
Ropczyce () 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 Ropczyce-Sędziszów ...
, towards the
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...
, and until the late 14th century, it was property of the
Bishopric of Lebus
The Diocese of Lebus (; ; ) is a former diocese of the Catholic Church. It was erected in 1125 and suppressed in 1598. The Bishop of Lebus was also, ''ex officio'', the ruler of a lordship that was coextensive with the territory of the diocese. Th ...
.
In 1325, Wielopole already had a parish church of St. Mary. The town remained in private hands; after the Bishopric of Lebus, its owners were the Kamieniecki family, the Frysztacki family (1492 - 1518), and the Maciejowski family. In the late 15th century, 111 families resided in Wielopole, with a few artisans. In the first half of the 16th century, town’s owner Kacper Maciejowski began to invest in Wielopole, building a
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
castle. The town however did not emerge as an important trade center. It belonged to
Sandomierz Voivodeship
Sandomierz Voivodeship (, ) 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 Poland region and the Lesser Poland Province. Originally Sandomier ...
, and its situation deteriorated after the
Swedish invasion of Poland
The Deluge 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 of Andrusovo in 1667, comprising the Pol ...
, when both Swedish and Transilvanian armies of
George II Rakoczi
George may refer to:
Names
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
People
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE
* George, stage name of Giorg ...
burned and ransacked it. In the 18th century, Wielopole declined further, and following the
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 ...
, it found itself in Austrian
Galicia.
By the early 19th century, half of Wielopole’s residents were Jewish. In 1806, an epidemic of
cholera
Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...
killed 92, and in 1833, Wielopole burned in a fire. During the
Galician slaughter
The Galician Peasant Uprising of 1846, also known as the Galician Rabacja, Galician Slaughter, or the Szela uprising (; or ''Rabacja galicyjska''), was a two-month uprising of impoverished Austrian Galician peasants that led to the suppressio ...
, a gang of peasants entered the castle, murdering several noblemen gathered there. In the mid-19th century, Wielopole belonged to Borgiasz de Zaręba Skrzyński, after whom the adjective ''Skrzyńskie'' was added to the name. It remained a small, provincial town, without rail transport, as
Galician Railway of Archduke Charles Louis
The Imperial and Royal privileged Galician Railway of Archduke Charles Louis (, ) was a privately owned railway company in the Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia operating during the time of the partitions of Poland in the second half of the 1 ...
goes some 15 kilometers to the north.
On September 24, 1914, Wielopole was captured by the
Russian Imperial Army
The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...
. The Russians retreated after two weeks, to return in October 1915. In May 1915, during the
Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive, Wielopole was seized by the Austrians.
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
resulted in widespread destruction and poverty of local population. Wielopole did not recover in the
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...
, and in 1933, its town charter was taken away. Since then, it has been a village. An unusual color film taken by a man who immigrated to America but visited Wielopole, his hometown, in 1938 can be found here.
The Jewish population of Wielopole Skrzynskie numbered around 500 at the time of the German occupation in 1939. They were deported to slave labor camps, shot on site in Wielopole, and in August 1942 most were deported to the
Belzec extermination camp
Belzec (English: or , Polish: , approximately ) was a Nazi German extermination camp in occupied Poland. It was built by the SS for the purpose of implementing the secretive Operation Reinhard, the plan to murder all Polish Jews, a major p ...
where they were murdered on arrival. Very few of Wielopole's Jews survived the war and
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 ...
. In August 1944, the village was partially destroyed.
Among points of interest there are: Baroque parish church (1683), with a bell tower, early 19th century roadside chapel in the market square, 19th century wooden houses, ruins of defensive wall, and cemeteries.
On 11 May 1955, in a wooden shack fire during cinema projection, 58 people (including 36 children) perished,
[http://ropczyce24.pl/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=522 ropczyce24.pl] the worst one-day death toll in Polish post-war history. This tragedy was commemorated by a monument, which stands in Wielopole’s market square.
Notable people
*
Tadeusz Kantor
Tadeusz Kantor (6 April 1915 – 8 December 1990) was a Polish painter, assemblage and Happenings artist, set designer and theatre director. Kantor is renowned for his revolutionary theatrical performances in Poland and abroad. Laureate of ...
, a Polish painter, assemblage artist, set designer and theatre director, was born here
* , popular stand-up comedian was born here
See also
*
Walddeutsche
(lit. "Forest Germans" or – "Deaf Germans"; – "deaf Germans") was the name for a group of German-speaking people, originally used in the 16th century for two language islands around Łańcut and Krosno, in southeastern Poland. Both of th ...
References
External links
* http://ropczyce24.pl/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=522
{{Authority control
Villages in Ropczyce-Sędziszów County
Holocaust locations in Poland