Szczuczyn
Szczuczyn | |
|---|---|
 Piarist abbey | |
 Coat of arms | |
  Szczuczyn | |
| Coordinates: 53°33′58″N 22°17′6″E / 53.56611°N 22.28500°E | |
| Country |  Poland |
| Voivodeship | Podlaskie |
| County | Grajewo |
| Gmina | Szczuczyn |
| Area | |
| • Total | 13.23 km2 (5.11 sq mi) |
| Population (2006) | |
| • Total | 3,564 |
| • Density | 270/km2 (700/sq mi) |
| Postal code | 19-230 |
| Website | http://www.um.szczuczyn.pl |
Szczuczyn [ˈʂt͡ʂut͡ʂɨn] is a town in Grajewo County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, Poland, with 3,602 inhabitants (2004).
Stanisław Antoni Szczuka is buried there.
History
Holocaust
Some 56% of the town's 4,502 inhabitants were Jews prior to the war.[1] At the outbreak of the Second World War Szczuczyn was briefly occupied by German forces who sent 350 men, mostly Jewish, to forced labor, of whom only 30 returned after five months. The town was then turned over to the Soviets, who arrested the wealthy residents of the town, including many Jews. Some twenty Jewish families were expelled to Siberia on 21 June 1941 and approximately 2,000 Jews remained in the town.[2] In June 1941, some 300 Jews were killed in a massacare carried out by the Polish inhabitants of Szczuczyn after the town was bypassed by the invading German soldiers in the beginning of Operation Barbarossa. The June massacre was stopped by German soldiers. A subsequent massacre by Poles in July killed some 100 Jews, and following the German Gestapo takeover in August 1941 some 600 Jews were killed by the Germans, the remaining Jews placed in a ghetto, and subsequently sent to Treblinka extermination camp.[2][3]
Notable residents
- Fania Bergstein (1908–1950), Hebrew-language poet
- Myer Prinstein (1878–1925), Jewish American track and field athlete, three-time Olympic gold medal winner
References
- ^ Kopstein, Jeffrey S., and Jason Wittenberg. "Deadly communities: Local political milieus and the persecution of Jews in occupied Poland." Comparative Political Studies 44.3 (2011): 259-283.
- ^ a b Yad Vashem Ghetto Encyclopedia: Szczuczyn, Yad Vashem
- ^ The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust: Seredina-Buda-Z, Shmuel Spector & Geoffrey Wigoder, page 1276
External links
- Official town webpage
- Jewish community of Szczuczyn
- From the Inferno Back to Life (Szczuczyn, Poland)- Written by Itzhak Wertman z”l
53°34′N 22°18′E / 53.567°N 22.300°E
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