Węgrów (; ) is a town in 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 12,796 inhabitants (2013), capital of

Węgrów County __NOTOC__ Węgrów County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Masovian Voivodeship, east-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 199 ...

in the

Masovian Voivodeship Masovian Voivodeship or Mazowieckie Province (, ) and any variation thereof, is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship (province) in east-central Poland, containing Poland's capital Warsaw. Masovian Voivodeship has an area of and had a 2019 po ...

History

First mentioned in historical records in 1414, Węgrów received its city charter in 1441. Between 16th and 18th centuries it was an important centre for

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

movements in Poland. It was a private town owned by various Polish nobles, including the Kiszka, Radziwiłł and Krasiński families, administratively located in the

Podlaskie Voivodeship Podlaskie Voivodeship ( ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship in northeastern Poland. The name of the voivodeship refers to the historical region of Podlachia (in Polish, ''Podlasie''), and significant part of its territory corresponds to th ...

in the Lesser Poland Province of the Kingdom of Poland. The local Basilica of the Assumption houses the so-called Twardowski Mirror, 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 ...

mirror from the 16th century associated with the legend of Sir Twardowski. After the Third Partition of Poland it was annexed by

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

in 1795. It was regained by Poles following the Austro–Polish War of 1809, and included within the short-lived

Duchy of Warsaw The Duchy of Warsaw (; ; ), also known as the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and Napoleonic Poland, was a First French Empire, French client state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars. It initially comprised the ethnical ...

. After the duchy's dissolution, in 1815, it passed to so-called

Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...

in the

Russian Partition The Russian Partition (), sometimes called Russian Poland, constituted the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that were annexed by the Russian Empire in the course of late-18th-century Partitions of Poland. The Russian ac ...

of Poland. It was the site of four battles between Polish insurgents and Russian troops during the Polish

November Uprising The November Uprising (1830–31) (), also known as the Polish–Russian War 1830–31 or the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in Russian Partition, the heartland of Partitions of Poland, partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. ...

of 1830–1831. During the

January Uprising The January Uprising was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at putting an end to Russian occupation of part of Poland and regaining independence. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last i ...

, on February 3, 1863, it was the site of the Battle of Węgrów, in which Polish insurgents defeated Russian troops and captured the town. From 1867 to 1912, Węgrów was part of Siedlce Governorate and from 1912 to 1915 of Łomża Governorate. It became part of independent Poland again when the country regained its independence in 1918. From 1919 to 1938, Węgrów was part of

Lublin Voivodeship Lublin Voivodeship ( ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship (province) of Poland, located in the southeastern part of the country, with its capital being the city of Lublin. The region is named after its largest city and regional capital, Lu ...

and from 1938 to 1939 of Warsaw Voivodeship. During the

Polish–Soviet War The Polish–Soviet War (14 February 1919 – 18 March 1921) was fought primarily between the Second Polish Republic and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, following World War I and the Russian Revolution. After the collapse ...

, on August 19, 1920, it was the site of a battle between Poles and the retreating Russian 16th Army. Throughout most of its history, the town had a thriving Jewish community, present at least since the 16th century. It numbered about 6,000 in 1939. The entire community was exterminated during

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 ...

by the occupying forces of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, during which time the Nazis also created the Węgrów Ghetto. The town was liberated from German occupation by the Polish underground

Home Army The Home Army (, ; 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) established in the ...

in August 1944 during the

Operation Tempest file:Akcja_burza_1944.png, 210px, right Operation Tempest or Operation Burza (, sometimes referred to in English as "Operation Storm") was a series of uprisings conducted during World War II against occupying German forces by the Polish Home Arm ...

Demographics

Economy

Węgrów is home to Odlewnia dzwonów Braci Kruszewskich (Kruszewski Brothers Bell Foundry), founded in the 19th century, which has cast more than 2,500 bells that have been installed in Poland and other countries, even as distant as

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

and

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

People from Węgrów

* Krzysztof Filipek (born 1961), politician * Piotr z Goniądza (–1573), religious leader and writer * Stanisław Kosior (1889–1939), Soviet politician * Samuel Rajzman (1902–1979), Holocaust survivor and court witness

References

External links

Official homepage of Węgrów

Jewish Community in Węgrów
on Virtual Shtetl *Górczyk Wojciech Jerzy
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CHURCH AND FORMER REFORMATI ORDER'S MONASTERY IN WĘGRÓW
Węgrów 2020. *Górczyk Wojciech Jerzy
The Former Reformati Order’s Monasteries Route
Węgrów 2020. {{Authority control Cities and towns in Masovian Voivodeship Węgrów County Historic Jewish communities in Poland Holocaust locations in Poland