Garwolin

Garwolin
Flag Coat of arms
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Masovian
County	Garwolin County
Gmina	Garwolin (urban gmina)
Town rights	15th century
Government
• Mayor	Tadeusz Mikulski
Area
• Total	22.08 km2 (8.53 sq mi)
Population  (2009)
• Total	16,710
• Density	760/km2 (2,000/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	08-400
Area code	+48 25
Car plates	WG
Website	http://www.garwolin.pl

Garwolin [ɡarˈvɔlʲin] is a town on the Wilga river in eastern Poland, capital of Garwolin County, situated in the southeast part of the Garwolin plateau in Masovian Voivodeship (since 1999, before: Siedlce Voivodeship), 62 km southeast of Warsaw, 100 km northwest of Lublin. There are about 16,000 inhabitants in the town.

History

Traces of settlement on terrains of present days boundaries of Garwolin are more than 2000 years old. It is believed that Garwolin received its city charter in 1423, but the exact date is unknown; it is almost certain that the document from 1423 was only acknowledgement of before-stated city laws. In time of the Deluge casualties exceeded 90%.

During WWII and the Nazi occupation of Poland, about 70% of the city was destroyed. The town and the powiat were administered by Kreishauptmann Karl Freudenthal, who was responsible for the murder of more than 1000 inhabitants, the deportation of several thousand local Poles to concentration camps and slave labor in Nazi Germany, and the transfer of the local Jews to various ghettos in the region. For his war crimes, Freudenthal was sentenced to death by the Polish underground, and the sentence was carried out by the Home Army on 5 July 1944, as part of Operacja Główki ("Operation Heads").

After war it was restored and enlarged. Neobaroque church from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries is a noteworthy monument of Garwolin.

Education

• the Józef Piłsudski grammar school,
• two vocational schools,
• Academy of Management in Łódź, branch in Garwolin.

Economy

Centre of industry and services; machine, means of transport, nutritive (milk co-operative, meat) industries, clothing, leather, construction materials, furniture and cosmetics manufactures.

Transport

• Principal road #17: direction Warsaw-Garwolin-Lublin-Hrebenne,
• Principal road #76: direction Łuków-Garwolin-Wilga.

In distance of 5 km from town railway route Warszawa-Lublin proceeds; station Garwolin is placed in nearby village Wola Rębkowska.

Sport & Culture

• "Wilga" Cinema,
• Centre of Sports and Culture,
• Wilga Garwolin Sports Club.

External links

• County of Garwolin
• City's Hall Official Page
• Garwolin County's Community Association
• Community of Garwolin
• Jewish Community in Garwolin on Virtual Shtetl