Bychawa

Bychawa
Late Renaissance Saint John the Baptist church seen from the park
Car plates		LUB
Website	http://www.bychawa.pl/

Bychawa

The

As a result of the Partitions of Poland in 1795 Bychawa was annexed by Austria. In 1809 it was regained by Poles and included in the short-lived Polish Duchy of Warsaw and since 1815, it was part of the Russian-controlled Congress Poland. Following the January Uprising, the Russians stripped it of its town rights in 1863. Bychawa remained a village until 1958. During World War I it was occupied by the Austrians from 1915 to 1918.^[2]

In 1900 Bychawa had 2,800 inhabitants, including 2,294 Jews who constituted 81% of the total population of the town, as a result of Russian discriminatory regulations. In the second half of the 1930s, due to the worsening economic situation and intensifying anti-Semitic atmosphere, the situation of Jews in Bychawa was systematically declined, which led to the increase in emigration rate. On the eve of the outbreak of World War II, Jewry made up only a half of the entire population in Bychawa. The Germans created a ghetto in Bychawa in December 1940 during World War II and around 2,600 Jews lived in the ghetto in 1942. Jews from Bychawa were transported to the ghetto in Bełżyce and then to the Sobibor extermination camp on 11 October 1942. Apart from regular mass exterminations in Bełżec, the Nazis also carried out individual executions around the town.^[3]

• The Jewish section and community of Bychawa, prior to WWII
• 
  Jewish home in Bychawa
• 
  Houses in Jewish section
• 
  Street corner in Jewish section
• 
  Jewish youth group, 1933
• 
  Jewish youth group working as woodcutters, 1934

In July 1944, as part of the Operation Tempest, the Polish Home Army liberated Bychawa from German occupation, a few days later the Soviets entered the town.^[2]

In 1958, town rights were restored.^[2] In 1962 a Culture House was built.^[2] In 1966, a housing cooperative was founded.^[2]

Sights

• 
  Catholic cemetery with Duniewski's mausoleum
• 
  18th-century wayside shrine in Bychawa
• 
  Wooden belfry
• 
  Bychawa synagogue in disrepair, 2007
• 
  Fresco in the interior of the ruined synagogue
• 
  Palace ruins

The town's landmark is the late Renaissance Saint John the Baptist church, built in the early 17th century. Other monuments include the old Catholic cemetery with Duniewski's mausoleum, the ruins of the palace, and a synagogue.

References

External links

• Official town webpage
• Jews of Bychawa