The city is situated between two small rivers, the Muchawka and the Helenka, and lies along theEuropean route E30, around 90 kilometres (56 mi) east ofWarsaw.[3] It is the fourth largest city of the Masovian Voivodeship, and the seat of theRoman Catholic Diocese of Siedlce. Siedlce is a local educational, cultural and sports center, with auniversity, a notablerugby club and two important museums. It also hosts a garrison of thePolish Armed Forces.
First recorded in themedieval period, Siedlce is a former residential city of prominent Polish magnate families ofCzartoryski andOgiński, under whose patronage it became an important cultural center in Poland. The city contains several landmarks in various styles, especiallyBaroque andNeoclassical, including the Ogiński Palace and Park ensemble. From 1975 to 1998, the city was the capital of a separateSiedlce Voivodeship.
The city, which is a part of the historical province ofLesser Poland, was most probably founded some time before the 15th century, and was first mentioned asSiedlecz in a document issued in 1448. In 1503, localnobleman Daniel Siedlecki erected a new village of the same name nearby, together with a church. In 1547 the town was grantedMagdeburg rights by KingSigismund the Old. Siedlce as an urban center was created after a merger of the two neighboring villages. It was aprivate town, administratively located in theLublin Voivodeship in theLesser Poland Province. In the 16th century, and until the mid-17th century, Siedlce prospered, with its population quickly growing and a number of artisans opening their shops here.
18th-century former guardhouse
The period of prosperity ended during theSwedish invasion of Poland (1655–1660), when Siedlce, together with most Lesser Poland's towns and cities, was burned by theCossacks,Tatars,Muscovities,Swedes and theTransylvanians. After these conflicts, the town belonged to theCzartoryski family, as a dowry of Joanna Olędzka, who married Prince Michał Jerzy Czartoryski. In 1692 Siedlce burned again, and the destruction was used byKazimierz Czartoryski, the son of Michał Jerzy, to plan a new, modern market square, together with adjacent streets. In the first half of the 18th century, a new parish church was built. In 1775, after Aleksandra Czartoryska marriedHetmanMichał Kazimierz Ogiński, the town passed over to theOgiński family. At that time Siedlce emerged as one of the most important cultural centers of the nation. TheOgiński Palace was visited by several notable artists and writers, such asFranciszek Karpiński, andJulian Ursyn Niemcewicz. KingStanisław August Poniatowski visited the palace twice, in 1783 and 1793. Due to efforts of Aleksandra Ogińska, several improvements took place in Siedlce. Among them, a new town hall was built, which now is one of the symbols of the city.[4]
In 1809 Siedlce became part of the PolishDuchy of Warsaw established byNapoleon, within which it was the capital of theSiedlce Department. Following his defeat, during the creation of the Russian-controlledCongress Poland (1815), Siedlce became the seat of a province in theRussian Partition (seePodlasie Governorate). During theNovember Uprising against Russian domination, theBattle of Iganie (10 April 1831) took place near the town. In theJanuary Uprising of 1863, Siedlce was again an important center of the anti-Tsarist rebellion. In 1867 theSiedlce Governorate was created. Siedlce continued to develop with new administration buildings, a post office complex, a courthouse, and a new prison. In the late 19th century, Siedlce became an important railroad junction, with connections toWarsaw (completed 1866),Brest Litovsk (1867),Małkinia Górna (1884), andCzeremcha (1906). In the beginning of the 20th century, local students launched a protest against the ruthlessRussification policies. Subsequently, in 1906 the Russian secret police organized theSiedlce pogrom in order to terrorize the locals. At that time, Siedlce was an important center of Jewish culture, with Jews making up 50% of the population.[4]
MarshallJózef Piłsudski during his visit in Siedlce in 1919Kazimierza Pułaskiego street in 1935
In theSecond Polish Republic, since the return to independence in 1918, Siedlce belonged to theLublin Voivodeship (1919–39) in the central part of the country (unlike today) with the provincial capital inLublin. During thePolish–Soviet War, the city was briefly captured by the Russians, and then recaptured by Poles on 17 August 1920.[5] On 19 August 1920, after the Polish victory in theBattle of Warsaw, MarshalJózef Piłsudski, Prime MinisterWincenty Witos and MinisterMaciej Rataj held a meeting in the city.[5] Within interwar Poland, the city remained an important rail junction and was the location of a military garrison, where the9th Infantry Division was stationed before the German-Sovietinvasion of Poland, which startedWorld War II in September 1939.
During the invasion of Poland, Germany bombed Polish civilian refugees on the road from Warsaw to Siedlce,[6] and the city was captured and thenoccupied by Germany until 1944. The Polish government evacuated the Polishgold reserve, part of which was stored in Siedlce, to Polish-allied France.[7] In mid-September 1939, the GermanEinsatzgruppe V entered the city to commitatrocities against Poles.[8] Siedlce was included within the Warsaw District of theGeneral Government (German-occupied central Poland).[9] During the war, the area of Siedlce was home to a large partisan force of theHome Army and otherunderground organizations, such asArmia Ludowa. Due toGerman terror, the town lost one-third of its population, including its entire Jewish community deported toextermination camps duringthe Holocaust. In 1941, the Germans relocated the Oflag 58prisoner-of-war camp to Siedlce, which was soon converted into the Stalag 366 POW camp for Polish,Italian,French and Soviet POWs with subcamps inSuchożebry andBiała Podlaska.[10] Approximately 9,000–12,000 POWs died in the Stalag 366 camp.[10] The Stalag 316 POW camp was also based in Siedlce in 1941, before its relocation toWołkowysk in January 1942.[11]
In late July 1944 (seeOperation Tempest), Home Army units freed the town, together with theRed Army. After the war, 50% of Siedlce was in ruins, including the town hall.
Siedlce Synagogue, destroyed by the Germans in December 1939
Until theHolocaust, like many other cities in Europe, Siedlce had a significant Jewish population. At some times, indeed, Jews were the majority of its population. The presence of Jews at Siedlce is attested from the mid-16th century – inn keepers, merchants and artisans. A Jewish hospital existed in the town since the early 18th century. In 1794, aBeit Midrash (study hall) was founded in the town and 1798 the Jewish cemetery was extended, testifying to the increase of the community. These changes coincided with the town coming under Austrian rule with theThird Partition of Poland. Austrian rule lasted until 1809. It was passed to Russian rule in 1815 formally (in 1813 de facto), that lasted for over a hundred years. Until 1819, the Jewish community ofWarsaw, 90 kilometres (56 miles) to the west, was formally subject to the authority of the Siedlce rabbis.
As a result ofRussian discriminatory policies for much of the 19th century – a time when the town's population steadily increased – Jews were the majority of Siedlce's population: 3,727 (71.5%) in 1839; 4,359 (65%) in 1841; 5,153 (67.5%) in 1858; 8,156 (64%) in 1878. Later on, the percentage of Jews decreased due to non-Jewish migration: according to theRussian census of 1897, out of the total population of 23,700, Jews constituted 11,400 (so around 48% percent).[12] The first Polish census, in 1921, recorded 14,685 Jews living in Siedlce. Their number remained steady in the interwar period, and in 1939, on the eve of theSecond World War, there were some 15,000 Jews living in the town.[citation needed]
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, secular political and cultural activity was evident among Jews in Siedlce, similar to other parts of Central and Eastern Europe. In 1900, theBund started activity in the town, as did theZionist movement, and many of the town's Jews were adherents of thePolish Socialist Party. Between 1911 and 1939, twoYiddish weeklies were published in the town, and a Jewish high school was founded during theFirst World War.
In the last decades ofTsarist rule, many Siedlce activists (both Polish and Jewish) took part in the1905 Revolution. After a series of attacks on Russians in all of Poland onBloody Wednesday (15 August 1906) the Russian authoritiesorganized a pogrom in Siedlce in reprisal on 8–10 September 1906,[13][14][15][16] in which 26 Jews perished. In the wake of theFirst World War the town was affected by thePolish-Soviet War, being occupied by theRed Army in 1920 and taken over by the Polish Army in 1921.
German tanks in Siedlce in 1944New town hall in 1934, destroyed by Germans in 1939 and never rebuilt
In 1939, Jews constituted some 37% of the town's population. Germans deported over a thousand Jews from elsewhere in Poland to Siedlce in 1940, especially fromŁódź,Kalisz andPabianice. In March 1941, – still before the formal decision to implement the "Final Solution" which meant the wholesale extermination of the Jews – GermanOrder Police battalions rampaged for three days in Siedlce, killing many of its Jewish inhabitants. In August of the same year, the Jews were forced into the newSiedlce Ghetto. It consisted of several small city blocks and over a dozen walkable streets in the city centre. On 1 October 1941, the ghetto was completely cut off from the outside world. In August 1942, some 10,000 Siedlce Jews were deported toTreblinka and murdered there together with a similar number of Jews from three nearby transit ghettos: inŁosice, holding local Jews and families fromHuszlew,Olszanka, andŚwiniarów; inSarnaki, with Jews fromGórki,Kornica,Łysów; and the third transit ghetto with prisoners fromMordy,Krzesk-Królowa Niwa,Przesmyki,Stok Ruski, andTarków. The town's remaining Jews imprisoned at the "little ghetto" were sent off to extermination on 25 November 1942.[17][18]
The Siedlce Jewish community was not restored after the Nazi defeat, and the town's later history lacked the hitherto conspicuous Jewish component. Survivors of the town's population established an association in Israel which in 1956 published a comprehensive memorial book on the community's history.[19] In 1971, Y. Kravitz, one of the survivors, published his memoirs entitled "Five Years of Living Hell under Nazi Rule in the City of Siedlce".[20]
Ecstasy of St. Francis of Assisi, (ca.1580) byEl Greco on display in the Diocesan Museum in Siedlce
The city is a cultural hub for the entire province, with festivals, exhibitions, and concerts of country-wide significance. The town has three museums and three public libraries. The principal animators of culture operating in the city are the Culture and Art Center (CKiS) and the Municipal Cultural Centre (MOK). There are two movie theatres; the art-house cinema run by the CKiS, and the multiscreen cinemaNovekino network. A number of artistic groups operate in the city, including the dance companies LUZ and Caro Dance, the Choir of the City of Siedlce, and the ES Theatre. The city also has an art gallery located at the University. A painting byEl Greco, "The Ecstasy of St. Francis", is preserved there. It is the only El Greco painting in Poland.
Among the media outlets which operate in this area are the local television (TV Siedlce) and theCatholic radio station Radio Podlasie. Siedlce is the location of the regional headquarters of the TVP Warsaw/TVP Info, RDC (Radio For You) andRadio Eska.
Vladimir Chelomei (1914–1984), Soviet Academician and scientist in the field of mechanics and control processes; designer of missiles, spacecraft, and space stations; founder and the General Constructor of OKB-52 (now NPO Mashinostroyenia).
Lidia Chojecka (born 1977), Polish middle-distance runner who specializes in the 1500 metres and sometimes 3000 metres
Aleksander Fogiel [pl] (1910–1996), theatre and film actor, director, theatre director and designer
^"Główny Urząd Statystyczny" [Central Statistical Office] (in Polish). To search: Select "Miejscowości (SIMC)" tab, select "fragment (min. 3 znaki)" (minimum 3 characters), enter town name in the field below, click "WYSZUKAJ" (Search).
^abMegargee, Geoffrey P.; Overmans, Rüdiger; Vogt, Wolfgang (2022).The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV. Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. pp. 217, 370.ISBN978-0-253-06089-1.
^Megargee, Geoffrey P.; Overmans, Rüdiger; Vogt, Wolfgang (2022).The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV. Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. p. 304.ISBN978-0-253-06089-1.
^Zakład Naukowo-Badawczy Archiwistyki (Poland) (1 January 1997).Archeion. Naczelna Dyrekcja Archiwów Państwowych, Zakład Naukowo-Badawczy Archiwistyki. p. 334. Retrieved30 December 2011.
^Edward Kopówka with English translation by L. Biedka (2007),Siedlce Ghetto. H.E.A.R.T, Holocaust Research Project.org. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
^Wolfgang Curilla (2011).Der Judenmord in Polen und die deutsche Ordnungspolizei 1939–1945 [The murder of Jews in Poland and the German Order Police 1939–1945]. Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh GmbH & Co KG. p. 646.ISBN978-3506770431.Die örtliche deutsche Gendarmerie nahm an der ersten Aussiedlung der Juden aus Losice am 22.8.1942 teil. Noch am selben Tag trieb man die Juden aus ihren Häusern auf den Marktplatz von Losice, lud die Älteren auf Lastkraftwagen und brachte die Jüngeren in einer Kolonne zu Fuß nach Siedlce. Viele Juden, mindestens 100, wurden vor Ort erschossen, u.a. durch die örtliche Gendarmerie, viele während des Marsches nach Siedlce.[Note 81]Source of data: Zentrale Stelle der Landesjustizverwaltungen zur Aufklärung nationalsozialistischer Verbrechen, Ludwigsburg (ZStL 11 AR 14/63 Abschlussbericht, S. 54.)
^Wolf Yesni (ed.), "Memorial to the Siedlce Community – 14 Years Since its Destruction" (in Yiddish), 1956
^,י.קראוויץ, "החיים בגיהנום, חמש שנים תחת שלטון הנאצים בעיר שדליץ", תשל"א
^"Miesięczna suma opadu".Normy klimatyczne 1991-2020 (in Polish). Institute of Meteorology and Water Management. Archived fromthe original on 9 January 2022. Retrieved5 February 2022.
^"Liczba dni z opadem >= 0,1 mm".Normy klimatyczne 1991-2020 (in Polish). Institute of Meteorology and Water Management. Archived fromthe original on 15 January 2022. Retrieved5 February 2022.
^"Średnia grubość pokrywy śnieżnej".Normy klimatyczne 1991-2020 (in Polish). Institute of Meteorology and Water Management. Archived fromthe original on 15 January 2022. Retrieved5 February 2022.
^"Średnia suma usłonecznienia (h)".Normy klimatyczne 1991-2020 (in Polish). Institute of Meteorology and Water Management. Archived fromthe original on 15 January 2022. Retrieved5 February 2022.
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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