Place in Silesian Voivodeship, Poland
Szczekociny
(
[?t???k??t??in?]
) (
Yiddish
:
?????????
,
romanized
:
Shtshekotshin
) is a town on the
Pilica
river, in
Silesian Voivodeship
, in southern
Poland
, with 3,612 inhabitants (2019).
Even though Szczekociny administratively belongs to the Silesian Voivodeship, it is part of the historic region of
Lesser Poland
. It was granted town rights in 1398.
History
[
edit
]
Szczekociny was the location of a
motte-and-bailey castle
from the 13th-14th century, which is now an archaeological site.
[2]
The First mention of Szczekociny comes from 1307. At that time, the village belonged to the
Odrow?? noble family
. It was administratively located in
Lelow County
in the
Krakow Voivodeship
in the
Lesser Poland Province
of the Kingdom of Poland. In the late 14th century Szczekociny became the seat of the Odrow?? family, emerging as a local trade and craft center. It was granted
town rights
in 1398. In the 16th century, the town, together with other locations in Lesser Poland, enjoyed a period of prosperity known as the
Polish Golden Age
. In the mid-17th century, however, it was completely destroyed by the Swedes, during the
Swedish invasion
, and did not recover until the 18th century, when it belonged to the Dembi?ski noble family, whose efforts resulted in the reconstruction of most buildings. The owners remodelled the local parish church and built a palace, which still exists, and which in 1787 hosted King
Stanislaus Augustus
. The
Battle of Szczekociny
was fought near the town on June 6, 1794, during the
Ko?ciuszko Uprising
.
After the
Third Partition of Poland
in 1795, Szczekociny was annexed by the
Kingdom of Prussia
, then it passed to the short-lived
Duchy of Warsaw
in 1807 and ultimately became part of
Russian-controlled
Congress Poland
after Napoleon's defeat and the duchy's dissolution in 1815. In the 19th century Szczekociny changed hands several times, belonging to the families of Czacki, Lubie?ski and Halpert. During the
January Uprising
, on January 23, 1864, a Polish insurgent unit attacked Russian troops stationed in the town.
[3]
As punishment for the uprising, in 1870 the Russian authorities demoted Szczekociny to the status of a village, and at that time, first
Jews
began to settle there.
Following
World War I
, in 1918, Poland regained independence and control of Szczekociny. In the
Second Polish Republic
, it was part of
Kielce Voivodeship
, and on January 1, 1923, town rights were restored.
[4]
In the 1920s Szczekociny had over 6,000 inhabitants, the most in its history.
Following the joint German-Soviet
invasion of Poland
, which started
World War II
in September 1939, the town was
occupied by Germany
until 1945. The war resulted in the deaths of 2,000 residents, including 90 percent of its Jewish residents, and the destruction of over 75% of the town. During the war Szczekociny was a major center of
anti-German resistance
. In the summer of 1944, as part of
Operation Tempest
, local
Home Army
units tried to capture Szczekociny, destroying bridges over the Pilica and the ?ebrowka rivers.
Since 1999, it has belonged to the Silesian Voivodeship, despite the fact that it had never been part of
Silesia
.
On 3 March 2012 a
train crash
took place near Szczekociny, when two passenger trains collided head-on. 16 passengers were killed. The incident provoked condolences from the leaders of a number of European countries.
Points of interest
[
edit
]
- Dembi?ski Palace (1770s), surrounded by a park,
- St. Bartholomew Parish Church (ca. 1680), remodelled in the 1780s by Urszula Dembi?ska
In 1937, two years before the outbreak of the
Second World War
, there were 3,018
Jews
in Szczekociny, which made up slightly more than 50% of the entire number of inhabitants. Pictures of the remains of the Jewish part can be viewed at Szczekociny ? YouTube.
[5]
In 1942 according to the
Nazi German
plans for the
Final Solution
, 1,500 Jewish residents of Szczekociny were deported to the
Treblinka extermination camp
. Others were shot in Szczekociny or Sedziszow, where they were taken before their final deportation.
[6]
A group of Jews from Szczekociny, including two families with children, was hidden by Polish farmer Jan Molenda in the nearby village of
Sprowa
, however the Germans discovered the hideout, murdered captured Jews on the spot and arrested Molenda, who luckily managed to escape and hide from the Germans until the end of the occupation (see
Rescue of Jews by Poles during the Holocaust
).
[7]
Some 10% of the Jewish residents survived the genocide, such as Izik Mendel Bornstein, who survived amongst others Auschwitz.
[8]
Bornstein's son Yossi (founder and CEO of
Shizim Group
) has been at the forefront of renegotiating the relationship with a renovation of the current cemetery and synagogue, under the now full support of the local mayor. Another witness and survivor is Wolf Zylbersztajn (1919-2011).
[9]
Wolf Zylbersztajn's story is retold by his son Daniel Zylbersztajn.
[10]
[11]
[12]
Auschwitz survivor Leon Zelman (1928-2007) also writes in the first chapters of his book "Ein Leben nach dem Uberleben" about his childhood and youth in Szczekocziny.
[13]
Sports
[
edit
]
The local
football
club is Sparta Szczekociny.
[14]
It competes in the lower leagues.
The Polish
Cyclo-cross
Championships were held in Szczekociny in 2010 and 2020.
Notable people
[
edit
]
Twin towns ? sister cities
[
edit
]
See
twin towns of Gmina Szczekociny
.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Population. Size and structure and vital statistics in Poland by territorial division in 2019. As of 30th June"
.
stat.gov.pl
. Statistics Poland. 2019-10-15.
Archived
from the original on 2021-07-15
. Retrieved
2020-03-21
.
- ^
Michał Bugaj.
"Po?no?redniowieczne grodzisko sto?kowate z ko?ca XIII i XIV w."
Zabytek.pl
(in Polish).
Archived
from the original on 25 July 2021
. Retrieved
25 July
2021
.
- ^
Zieli?ski, Stanisław (1913).
Bitwy i potyczki 1863-1864. Na podstawie materyałow drukowanych i r?kopi?miennych Muzeum Narodowego w Rapperswilu
(in Polish). Rapperswil: Fundusz Wydawniczy
Muzeum Narodowego w Rapperswilu
. p. 186.
- ^
Rozporz?dzenie Rady Ministrow z dnia 16 pa?dziernika 1922 r. o utworzeniu miasta Szczekociny w powiecie włoszczowskim.
, Dz. U. z 1922 r. Nr 95, poz. 876
- ^
"??'???'?? Szczekociny ? YouTube"
.
Archived
from the original on 2016-03-29
. Retrieved
2016-03-14
.
- ^
Megargee, Geoffrey (2012).
Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos
. Bloomington, Indiana: University of Indiana Press. p. Volume II 327?328.
ISBN
978-0-253-35599-7
.
- ^
Rejestr faktow represji na obywatelach polskich za pomoc ludno?ci ?ydowskiej w okresie II wojny ?wiatowej
(in Polish). Warszawa:
IPN
. 2014. p. 403.
- ^
????? ????? ????? ?????? (Morality and justice), Hebrew
; from the
Internet Archive
- ^
Zylberstein / Silberstein, Jewish Shoa Survivor born in Sczekociny
- ^
"
"Szczekociny, a small Polish town facing a difficult past," by Daniel Zylbersztajn"
.
Archived
from the original on 2012-07-07
. Retrieved
2007-09-07
.
- ^
"Possibilities and impossibilities of being a neighbor"
.
Archived
from the original on 2012-04-13
. Retrieved
2012-07-02
.
- ^
Zylbersztajn, Daniel (21 March 2020).
"I was there. A rare photo from the hell of the Shoah"
.
Archived
from the original on 27 January 2021
. Retrieved
10 March
2021
.
- ^
Zelman, Leon (1995).
Ein Leben nach dem Uberleben
. Verlag Kremyr & Scheriau. pp. 9?39.
ISBN
3-218-00600-7
.
- ^
"MLKS Sparta Szczekociny - strona klubu"
(in Polish).
Archived
from the original on 25 July 2021
. Retrieved
25 July
2021
.
External links
[
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]