Ostrów Mazowiecka

Ostrów Mazowiecka [ˈɔstruf mazɔˈvʲɛt͡ska] (listen) is a town in northeastern Poland with 23,486 inhabitants (2004). Situated in the Masovian Voivodeship (since 1999), previously in Ostrołęka Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is the capital of Ostrów Mazowiecka County.

Ostrów Mazowiecka
Town hall
Flag
Coat of arms
Ostrów Mazowiecka
Ostrów Mazowiecka
Coordinates: 52°48′N 21°54′E
Country Poland
VoivodeshipMasovian
CountyOstrów Mazowiecka County
GminaOstrów Mazowiecka (urban gmina)
Established14th century
Town rights1434
Government
 • MayorJerzy Bauer
Area
 • Total22.09 km2 (8.53 sq mi)
Elevation
110 m (360 ft)
Population
 (2013[1])
 • Total22,796
 • Density1,000/km2 (2,700/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code
07-300, 07-302
Area code(s)+48 029
Car platesWOR
Websitehttp://www.ostrowmaz.pl

History
Document of granting town rights from 1434

Ostrów was granted town rights in 1434 by Duke Bolesław IV of Warsaw.[2] Its name comes from the Old Polish word ostrowa.[2] In 1461 a parish school was founded in the town.[2] In 1514, Duchess Anna Radziwiłł, who is commemorated in the town with a monument, established four annual fairs and a weekly market, boosting the development of Ostrów.[2] In the 16th century Polish King Sigismund II Augustus built a residence in Ostrów.[2] Ostrów was a Polish royal town, administratively located in the Masovian Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province of the Polish Crown.

The town's inhabitants took part in the Kościuszko Uprising of 1794,[2] however, the following year it was annexed by Prussia in the Third Partition of Poland. In 1807 it was included in the short-lived Polish Duchy of Warsaw, and in 1815 it became part of so-called Congress Poland within the Russian Partition of Poland. Many inhabitants took part in several battles of the Polish January Uprising of 1863–1864 against Russia, and an insurgent hospital was located in Ostrów.[2] Ostrów was subjected to anti-Polish repressions, was one of the sites of Russian executions of Polish insurgents, and there are memorials at the execution sites.[2] Despite such circumstances, in the following decades, various Polish organizations were founded in Ostrów.[2] In the 19th century, the town saw a significant influx of Jewish settlers as a result of Russian discriminatory policies, and according to the 1897 census, 5,660 inhabitants out of 10,471 were Jews.[3] During World War I, it was occupied by Germany, in 1918 it became part of restored independent Poland, and in 1920 a battle was fought on the town's outskirts during the Polish–Soviet War.[2]

Graves of Home Army soldiers

During the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland, which started World War II, Ostrów Mazowiecka was captured by Germany on September 8, 1939,[2] and in mid-September the Einsatzgruppe V entered the town to commit various atrocities against the population.[4] Already on 19 September the Germans arrested nine Poles, including chairmen of local veterans' organizations Włodzimierz Gadomski and Jan Radbalski.[5] On 9 November 1939, one of the German soldiers set fire to the buildings on 3-ego Maja Street. The German authorities accused the Jews of starting the fire. On 11 November (though according to other sources, on 10 November) 500–800 Jews were killed.[6] The Polish underground resistance movement was organized already in autumn of 1939.[2] On May 25, 1943, the Polish resistance successfully assassinated the chief of the local German administration, in retaliation for which the Germans massacred about 140 Poles.[2] The German occupation ended in 1944.

International relations
See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Poland

Twin towns – Sister cities

Ostrów Mazowiecka is twinned with:

Notable people

References
  1. Demographic Yearbook of Poland 2014 Archived 2016-07-09 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Andrzej Mierzwiński. "Spacerkiem przez dzieje". Urząd Miasta Ostrów Mazowiecka (in Polish). Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-05-05. Retrieved 2016-05-06.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. Maria Wardzyńska, Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion, IPN, Warszawa, 2009, p. 54 (in Polish)
  5. Wardzyńska, p. 112
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-06-02. Retrieved 2016-05-06.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.