Zagórz (; ) is a town in

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

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 ...

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 ...

, on the river

Osława The Osława (Czech: ''Oslava'', , Ukrainian: ''Ослава'') is a river in South-Eastern Poland. Its name comes from the ancient West Slavic languages, west Slavic dialect word ''osła'', meaning "stone". It begins in the Bieszczady Mountains, ...

in the Bukowsko Upland mountains, located south-east of

Sanok Sanok (in full the Royal Free City of Sanok — , , ''Sanok'', , ''Sianok'' or ''Sianik'', , , ''Sūnik'' or ''Sonik'') is a town in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship of southeastern Poland with 38,397 inhabitants, as of June 2016. Located on the San ...

on the way to Ustrzyki Dolne, distance. The nearest towns in northeastern

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, 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 west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

are Palota and

Medzilaborce Medzilaborce (, ''Midzhilabirtsyi''; , ''Mizhlabirtsi''; ) is a List of towns in Slovakia, town in northeastern Slovakia close to the border with Poland, located near the towns of Sanok and Bukowsko (in southeastern Małopolska). Its population is ...

. Zagórz has a population of 4,988 (02.06.2009). Zagórz is the most southeasterly railroad junction of the PKP, with lines going into three directions - eastwards (to Krościenko and Ukrainian border), southwards (to Nowy Łupków and Slovak border) and westwards (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 ...

and the rest of the country).

History

The village of Zagórz was established in the 14th century, when

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 ...

was annexed by the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland (; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a monarchy in Central Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval period from 1025 until 1385. Background The West Slavs, West Slavic tribe of Polans (western), Polans who lived in what i ...

. In early 16th-century documents, its name was spelled Sagorsze and Sogorsch. Zagorz belonged to the noble Tarnawski family, but in 1490, the village was sold to Piotr Kmita Sobienski. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Zagórz frequently changed owners. In 1710,

Voivode Voivode ( ), also spelled voivod, voievod or voevod and also known as vaivode ( ), voivoda, vojvoda, vaivada or wojewoda, is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe in use since the Early Mid ...

Volhynia Volhynia or Volynia ( ; see #Names and etymology, below) is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between southeastern Poland, southwestern Belarus, and northwestern Ukraine. The borders of the region are not clearly defined, but in ...

, Count Jan Adam Stadnicki built in Zagórz a fortified Carmelite monastery, which also served as a hospital for war veterans. The complex served as a hideout for rebels of the

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

, and in 1789, when Zagórz already belonged to Austrian Galicia (see

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 ...

), the abbey was closed by

Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II (13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from 18 August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 29 November 1780 until his death. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I, ...

. In 1830, the complex burned in a fire. In 1880, the population of Zagórz was 1,639, including Poles, "Rusyny" (Ukrainians), Jews and Germans. By that time, Zagorz already had a rail station, located in the district of Nowy Zagorz. The establishment of a rail junction contributed to the development of the village, whose population grew to 2,400 (in the year 1914). During the Polish–Ukrainian War (1918-1919), local rail workers built the

armoured train An armoured train (Commonwealth English) or armored train (American English) is a railway train protected with heavy metal plating and which often includes railway wagons armed with artillery, machine guns, and autocannons. Some have also h ...

Gromobój, which protected the area from Ukrainian raids. 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 ...

, Zagorz belonged to Lwow Voivodeship. On September 12, 1939, the first

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

units entered the village.. During the war, a

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 ...

unit operated in the area of the village. German occupation ended on September 13, 1944, when the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

entered Zagorz. During World War II ''

dzielnica In the Polish system of local administration, a dzielnica (Polish plural ''dzielnice'') is an administrative subdivision or quarter of a city or town. A dzielnica may have its own elected council ('' rada dzielnicy'', or ''dzielnica council'') ...

'' Zasław of the town Zagórz was the location of Zasław concentration camp set up by Nazi Germany for the

concentration In chemistry, concentration is the abundance of a constituent divided by the total volume of a mixture. Several types of mathematical description can be distinguished: '' mass concentration'', '' molar concentration'', '' number concentration'', ...

and exploitation of

Polish Jews The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jews, Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the long pe ...

soon to be exterminated in Belzec. Zagorz kolo Sanoka ante 1936 (42165685) (cropped).jpg, Zagórz, before 1936 Wielopole nad Oslawa widok z grobu Nieczui ante 1936 (44123310) (cropped).jpg, Wielopole, before 1936 Zagorze (woj. lwowskie) - ruiny klasztoru 1939 (71311924) (cropped).jpg, River Osława and ruins of the monastery, 1939 Ruiny klasztoru karmelitow bosych w Zagorzu. ca 1905 (19037117) (cropped).jpg, Ruins of the monastery, ca 1905

References

Bibliography

* Prof. Adam Fastnacht. ''Slownik Historyczno-Geograficzny Ziemi Sanockiej w Średniowieczu'' (''Historic-Geographic Dictionary of the Sanok District in the Middle Ages''), Kraków, 2002, .

External links

Zagórz – Official webpage
Cities and towns in Subcarpathian Voivodeship Sanok County Holocaust locations in Poland {{Sanok-geo-stub