The history of Rzeszów dates back to theMiddle Ages. It received city rights and privileges from KingCasimir III the Great in 1354. Local trade routes connecting Europe with the Middle East and theOttoman Empire resulted in the city's early prosperity and development. In the 16th century, Rzeszów had a connection withGdańsk and theBaltic Sea.[5] It also experienced growth in commerce and craftsmanship, especially under localrulers and noblemen. Following thePartitions of Poland, Rzeszów was annexed by theAustrian Empire and did not regain its position until itreturned to Poland afterWorld War I.
Rzeszów has found its place in the group of the most elite cities in Poland, with a growing number of investments, rapid progress and a highstandard of living.[6][7] In 2011Forbes awarded Rzeszów with the second place in the ranking of the most attractive semi-large cities for business.[6] Moreover, the city is home to a number of higher education schools and foreign consulates. Rzeszów is also developing as a regionaltourist destination; its Old Town, Main Market Square, churches and synagogues are among the best preserved in the country.
In recent years, the population of Rzeszów has grown from 159,000 (2005) to over 301,000 (2022),[1] mainly owing to an influx ofUkrainianrefugees after theRussian invasion of Ukraine. Further plans for extending the city's borders include incorporating surrounding counties to strengthen its function as ametropolitan center in southeastern Poland.[6] Rzeszów is served by aninternational airport and is a member ofEurocities.
After the reunification of Poland following the fragmentation period, Rzeszów remained in Ruthenian hands until 1340, when KingCasimir III the Great eventually recaptured the area, inviting his knights to govern the re-acquired land. According to some sources, at that time Rzeszów was inhabited by theWalddeutsche, and was called Rishof (duringWorld War II, the Germans renamed itReichshof). The town was grantedMagdeburg rights, it had a parish church, a market place and a cemetery, and its total area was some 1,5 km2. Magdeburg rights entitled Rzeszów's local authorities to punish criminals, build fortifications and tax merchants.
In 1458 Rzeszów was burned by theVlachs and theTatars. In 1502 the Tatars destroyed it again. Earlier, in 1427, Rzeszów had burned to the ground in a big fire, but the town recovered after these events, thanks to its favorable location on the main West – East (Kraków –Lwów) and North – South (Lublin –Slovakia) trade routes. In the 15th century the firstJews settled in Rzeszów.
The 16th century was the time of prosperity for the town, especially when Rzeszów belonged toMikołaj Spytek Ligęza (since the 1580s), who invested in infrastructure, building a castle, a Bernardine church and a monastery. Rzeszów then had some 2,500 inhabitants, with a rapidly growing Jewish community. The town was granted several royal rights, including the privilege to organise several markets a year. At that time, Rzeszów finally grew beyond its medieval borders, marked by fortifications.
Rzeszów Castle with surroundings, by K.H. Wiedemann, 1762
In 1638 Rzeszów passed into the hands of the powerful and wealthyLubomirski family, becoming the center of its vast properties. At first, the town prospered and in 1658, the first college was opened there, which now operates as High School Nr 1. The period of prosperity ended, and furthermore, there were several fires and wars, which destroyed the town.
Rzeszów was first captured by the Swedes duringThe Deluge, then by the troops ofGeorge II Rákóczi leading to theTreaty of Radnot. During theGreat Northern War, the Swedes again captured Rzeszów, in 1702, then several different armies occupied the town, ransacking it and destroying houses.
In the mid-eighteenth century, the town's population was composed of Poles (Roman Catholics) and Yiddish Jews in almost equal numbers (50.1% and 49.8%, respectively).[8]
In 1772, following theFirst Partition of Poland, Rzeszów became part of theAustrian Empire, to which it belonged for 146 years. In the late 18th century, Rzeszów had 3,000 inhabitants. By the mid-19th century, the population grew to around 7,500, with 40% of them Jewish. In 1858, theGalician Railway of Archduke Charles Louis reached Rzeszów, which resulted in further development of the town. In 1888 the first telephone lines were opened, in 1900 – gas street lamps, and in 1911 – a power plant and water system. The population grew to 23,000, with half of the inhabitants being Jews. A number of modern buildings were constructed, most of them inSecession style.
Market Square in 1908
DuringWorld War I, several battles took place near the town. Rzeszów was home to a large garrison of theAustro-Hungarian Army, and in the city ofPrzemyśl, located nearby, there was a major fortress. During theBattle of Galicia in the late summer of 1914, Russian troops moved towards Rzeszów, and on 21 September, they captured it. The first Russian occupation lasted only 16 days, ending after an attack by the Austrians, on 4 October.
Under Russian pressure, the Austrians were unable to keep the town, and on 7 November, the Russians again appeared in Rzeszów. In the late fall of 1914, the front line was established between Tarnów andGorlice, and Rzeszów became an important center of theImperial Russian Army, with large magazines of food and ammunition located there. The Russian occupation lasted until May 1915. After the Russians were pushed out of Galicia, Rzeszów remained outside the area of military activity. The Austrian administration returned, but wartime reality and damage to the town had a negative effect on the population, and the quality of life deteriorated.
On 12 October 1918, Rzeszów's mayor, together with the town council, sent a message toWarsaw, announcing loyalty to the independentSecond Polish Republic. On November 1, after clashes with German and Austrian troops, Rzeszów was liberated, and the next day, mayor Roman Krogulski took a pledge of allegiance to the reborn Polish state. During World War I some 200 residents of Rzeszów died, rail infrastructure was destroyed, as well as approximately 60 houses.
In 1920, Rzeszów became capital of a county in theLwów Voivodeship. The town grew, and the creation of theCentral Industrial Region had an enormous impact on Rzeszów. It became a major center of the defense industry, withPZL Rzeszów opening there in 1937. It was also home to a large garrison of the Polish Army, with the10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade stationed there. In 1939, Rzeszów had 40,000 inhabitants, but its dynamic growth was stopped by theInvasion of Poland and outbreak ofWorld War II.
The occupiers established a Nazi prison, in which they imprisoned over 1,100 Poles, especially theintelligentsia, arrested in the region between October 1939 and June 1940, during theIntelligenzaktion.[10] Some people were eventually released, some were deported to prisons inKraków andTarnów, while many were executed at the prison yard.[10] On 2 November 1939, the Germans carried out mass arrests of local priests and Bernardine friars, and afterwards, they also carried out executions of Polish intelligentsia at the local Bernardine monastery.[11]
Persecution of Polish intelligentsia was continued with theAB-Aktion, and on 27 June 1940, 104 Poles from the local prison were exterminated in the forest ofLubzina.[12] In 1941, the Germans established aghetto, whose Jewish inhabitants were later murdered inBełżec extermination camp (for more information seeThe Holocaust below).
During the war, Rzeszów was a main center of thePolish Underground State, with the Rzeszów Inspectorate of theHome Army covering several counties. On 25 May, during Action Kosba, Home Army soldiers killed theGestapo henchmen Friederich Pottenbaum and Hans Flaschke on a Rzeszów street. In the summer of 1944, duringOperation Tempest, units of the Home Army attacked German positions in the town, and on 2 August, Rzeszów was in the hands of the Home Army.
Polish authorities loyal to thePolish government-in-exile tried to negotiate with the Soviets, but without success. TheNKVD immediately opened a prison in the cellars of the Rzeszów Castle, sending there a number of Home Army soldiers. On the night of 7/9 October 1944, a Home Army unit underŁukasz Ciepliński attacked the castle, trying to release 400 inmates kept there. The attack failed, andCiepliński was captured and subsequently executed in 1951.
Before the outbreak of World War II, the Jews of Rzeszów numbered 14,000, more than one-third of the total population.[13] The town was occupied by the German Army on 10 September 1939 and was renamed "Reichshof".[13] Germanpersecution of the Jews began almost immediately. By the end of 1939, there were 10forced labour camps in the Rzeszów region and many Jews becameslave labourers. Jews were forced to live in theGestapo-controlledghetto.[13][14]
Many Jews managed to flee toSoviet-occupied eastern Poland. By June 1940, the number of Jews in Rzeszów had decreased to 11,800, of whom 7,800 were pre-war residents of the city; the rest were from the surrounding villages. As in allJewish ghettos in German-occupied Poland, life in the ghetto was impossible and hundreds died of malnutrition and disease. During the war, some 20,000 Jews were murdered in the ghetto in Rzeszów. This number includes thousands who were sent to Rzeszów only to be deported or murdered soon after arrival.[15][16]
In the summer of 1942, hundreds were murdered in forests near Rzeszów. Hundreds more were sent toBelzec to be immediately gassed. Later in 1942, another round up sent nearly 1,500 children to their deaths and their parents to labor camps. In final "Aktions" in the fall of 1943, most Jewish slave labour was transported inHolocaust trains to the newly reopenedSzebnie concentration camp. A month later, on 5 November 1943, some 2,800 Jews were deported toAuschwitz and murdered.[15][16] Most of those who had been sent to labor camps were eventually murdered there or in an extermination camp.[17][18]
Of Rzeszów's 14,000 Jews, only 100 survived the war, whether in Rzeszów itself, hiding all over Poland, or in various camps. The secretPolish Council to Aid Jews, "Żegota", established by thePolish resistance movement, operated in the region.[19] Cases are also known of local Poles who were captured and either executed or sent to concentration camps forrescuing and aiding Jews.[20] Poles who saved Jews in other places in the region were also temporarily imprisoned in the local castle or sentenced to death by the local German court.[21] After the war, an additional 600 Rzeszów Jews returned from theSoviet Union. Almost all of them subsequently left Rzeszów and Poland.
Subcarpathian Voivodeship Office (Podkarpacki Urząd Wojewódzki) in Rzeszów
After rumors of the murder of a Christian girl in the city surfaced, on 1 June 1945,[22] or after the mutilated body of 9-year-old Bronisława Mendoń was found in the basement of a tenement building largely inhabited by Holocaust survivors on 11 June 1945,[23][24] thePolish Communist Citizens' Militia arrested all of Rzeszów's remaining Jews,[22] or the Jewish inhabitants of the area and some Jews transiting through the railway station,[23][24] and led them through the city amidst an angry crowd, while at the same time looting the homes of the arrested Jews. All of the arrested people were released the same day, but the main suspect, who was linked to the crime through a sheet of paper from Mendoń's notebook and bloodstains in his flat,[25] was arrested on June 14 and held until September.[23] As a result, more than 200 Jews fled Rzeszów, so that a restoration of Jewish life in the city after 1945 failed to materialize.[22]
On 7 July 1945, Rzeszów became capital of the newly createdRzeszów Voivodeship, which consisted of western counties of prewar Lwów Voivodeship, and several counties of prewarKraków Voivodeship. This decision had a major impact on the city, as it quickly grew. New offices of the regional government were built, and in 1951, several neighbouring villages were included within the city limits of Rzeszów, and the area of the city grew to 39 km2.
In 2017–2021, Rzeszów's city limits were greatly expanded by including the villages ofBzianka,[27]Miłocin[28] andPogwizdów Nowy.[29] The area of Rzeszów increased to over 120 square kilometres and more than 188,000 inhabitants.
In 2022 following the FebruaryRussian invasion of Ukraine, Rzeszów became a "main artery" and hub for resupply of military material being transshipped toUkraine from a number of countries of the Western alliance, including Sweden, Turkey, Germany, the U.S., and the Czech Republic.[30]
In June 2022, Rzeszów formed a partnership agreement withChernihiv, Ukraine to become sister cities.[31][32]
In 1991Pope John Paul II visited Rzeszów. During the celebrations in which nearly 1,000,000 people participated, the pope beatified BishopJózef Sebastian Pelczar, former bishop ofPrzemyśl. On 25 March 1992 Pope John Paul II established the new Diocese of Rzeszów.[33] The city of Rzeszów became the administrative center of the new Diocese and the Church of the Sacred Heart became the new city cathedral.[33]
Rzeszów lies in thenorth temperate zone and has acontinental climate with four distinct seasons. It is characterised by a significant variation between hot summers and cold, snowy winters. Average temperatures in summer range from 18 to 19.6 °C (64 to 67 °F) and in winter from −2.1 to 0 °C (28 to 32 °F). The average annual temperature is 8.9 °C (48 °F).
In summer temperatures often exceed 25 °C (77 °F), and sometimes even 30 °C (86 °F). In winter the temperature drops to −5 °C (23 °F) at night and about 0 °C (32 °F) at day. During very cold nights the temperature drops to −15 °C (5 °F).[40][41] With Rzeszów being near theCarpathian Mountains, there is sometimes ahalny[42] – aföhn wind, when the temperature can rise rapidly.
Climate data for Rzeszów (Jasionka) 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1952–present
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found onPhabricator and onMediaWiki.org.
Socialist realist buildings of the Rzeszów Court of Appeals (former regional headquarters of thePolish United Workers' Party) and of the Music Institute
Modernist building of the Subcarpathian Philharmonic
Monument to The Revolutionary Action, erected in 1974
Olszynki Park - 220.67 meters (724.0 ft) high skyscraper
According toGUS data, as of 30 June 2020, Rzeszów had 196 821 inhabitants. In contrast to other cities close to the size of Rzeszów inPoland, the population is growing.
Rzeszów is the 17th largest Polish city in terms of population and the 20th largest city in terms of area.[citation needed]
AtWidełka substation, situated approximately 20 kilometres (12 miles) north-northeast of Rzeszów, theRzeszów–Khmelnytskyi powerline, the only 750 kV powerline in Poland, ends.
In recent years, communication has been improved by a modernization of the roads within the city.SCATS traffic system has been implemented.The A4 highway and S19 expressway act as bypass of the city, running through the northern and eastern districts of Rzeszów.
Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport (Port Lotniczy Rzeszów-Jasionka) is located in the village of Jasionka 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) north of the city. As of June 2015 scheduled passenger services are offered byRyanair,LOT Polish Airlines, andLufthansa. This is supplemented seasonally by tourist charter flights to typical summer leisure destinations.
The city operates 49 bus lines including night and airport buses. Rzeszów is also a gateway to theBieszczady mountains, with many buses heading forSanok.[59]
Rzeszów is an important rail hub is on the main west–east rail route;Line 91. This runs fromSilesia andKraków,Kraków Main station(Kraków Główny) –Medyka on the Polish eastern border. This line then continues on toUkraine. Itsmain railway station was established in the 19th century and apart from it, there are five additional stations in the city:Rzeszów Staroniwa,Rzeszów Zwięczyca,Rzeszów Osiedle,Rzeszów Załęże andRzeszów Zachodni (freight only). There are also two non-electrified lines stemming from Rzeszów – toJasło and toTarnobrzeg.
^Cf.Pięć wieków miasta Rzeszowa XIV-XVIII, Collective of authors,Franciszek Błoński [pl] (ed.) on behalf of the Polskie Towarzystwo Historyczne, Rzeszów department, Warsaw: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1958, p. 18; and Władysław Makarski,Roczniki humanistyczne, Towarzystwo Naukowe Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Lubelskiego, 1983. T. 33, p. 70. During the German occupation 1939–1944 Rzeszów was given the artificial new name Reichshof
^J. Motylkiewicz. "Ethnic Communities in the Towns of the Polish-Ukrainian Borderland in the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Centuries". C. M. Hann, P. R. Magocsi ed.Galicia: A Multicultured Land.University of Toronto Press. 2005. p. 37.
^Wardzyńska, Maria (2009).Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion (in Polish). Warszawa:IPN. pp. 58–59.
^abStefan Krakowski (2013)."Rzeszow. Holocaust Period".Encyclopaedia Judaica. Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved8 July 2013.In September 1943 the able-bodied Jews of Rzeszów were transported to Szebnia, where the majority met their death.
^Dobroszycki, Lucjan (1994).Survivors of the Holocaust in Poland. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. pp. 73, 80.ISBN1-56324-463-2.
^Megargee, Geoffrey (2012).Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos. Bloomington, Indiana: University of Indiana Press. p. Volume I 567–569I.ISBN978-0-253-35599-7.
^Datner, Szymon (1968).Las sprawiedliwych (in Polish). Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza. p. 71.
^Rejestr faktów represji na obywatelach polskich za pomoc ludności żydowskiej w okresie II wojny światowej (in Polish). Warszawa: IPN. 2014. pp. 241, 360.
^Rejestr faktów represji na obywatelach polskich za pomoc ludności żydowskiej w okresie II wojny światowej, pp. 66, 78, 98, 106, 384
^abcDan Diner (2012).Enzyklopädie jüdischer Geschichte und Kultur (EJGK). Vol. 3: He–Lu. Stuttgart/Weimar: Metzler. p. 345.ISBN978-3-476-02503-6.
^A note attempting to provide the English comprehension ofhalny, which lacks a one-word translation:Halny is a singular masculine noun in Polish (plural:halne) when denoting the wind. Wind is of masculine gender in Polish:wiatr. The termshalny andwiatr halny are synonymous.Halny is also a general masculine adjective derived from the feminine nounhala, a grassy meadow typical of the higher elevations of the Carpathian Mountains and theAlps. The feminine singular adjective ishalna, while the neuter singular and the plural for all three genders of the adjective ishalne.
^"Średnia dobowa temperatura powietrza".Normy klimatyczne 1991-2020 (in Polish). Institute of Meteorology and Water Management.Archived from the original on 3 December 2021. Retrieved22 January 2022.
^"Średnia minimalna temperatura powietrza".Normy klimatyczne 1991-2020 (in Polish). Institute of Meteorology and Water Management.Archived from the original on 15 January 2022. Retrieved22 January 2022.
^"Miesięczna suma opadu".Normy klimatyczne 1991-2020 (in Polish). Institute of Meteorology and Water Management.Archived from the original on 9 January 2022. Retrieved22 January 2022.
^"Liczba dni z opadem >= 0,1 mm".Normy klimatyczne 1991-2020 (in Polish). Institute of Meteorology and Water Management.Archived from the original on 15 January 2022. Retrieved22 January 2022.
^"Średnia grubość pokrywy śnieżnej".Normy klimatyczne 1991-2020 (in Polish). Institute of Meteorology and Water Management.Archived from the original on 15 January 2022. Retrieved22 January 2022.
^"Liczba dni z pokrywą śnieżna > 0 cm".Normy klimatyczne 1991-2020 (in Polish). Institute of Meteorology and Water Management.Archived from the original on 21 January 2022. Retrieved22 January 2022.
^"Średnia suma usłonecznienia (h)".Normy klimatyczne 1991-2020 (in Polish). Institute of Meteorology and Water Management.Archived from the original on 15 January 2022. Retrieved22 January 2022.
Malczewski, Jan (1995). Rakuś, Anna; Staszewski, Krzysztof; Malczewski, Jan (eds.).'Zamek w Rzeszowie, jego otoczenie i właściciele (in Polish). Rzeszów: Libri Ressovienses.ISBN83-902021-5-8.
Moshe Yaari-Wald (ed.), Sefer Zikkaron li-Kehillat Risha (Heb., some Yid. and Eng., 1967).
The list includes the 107 urban municipalities governed by acity mayor (prezydent miasta) instead of a town mayor (burmistrz) ·Cities with powiat rights are initalics · Voivodeship cities are inbold
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