View source for Parczew

{{for|the village of the same name|Parczew, Greater Poland Voivodeship}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name = Parczew
| image_shield = POL Parczew COA.svg
| image_flag = POL Parczew flag.svg
| image_skyline = Parczew Bazylika Mniejsza.JPG
| image_caption = Minor Basilica of Saint John the Baptist
| pushpin_map = Poland#Poland Lublin Voivodeship
| pushpin_label_position = bottom
| subdivision_type = Country
| subdivision_name = {{POL}}
| subdivision_type1 = [[Voivodeships of Poland|Voivodeship]]
| subdivision_name1 = [[Lublin Voivodeship|Lublin]]
| subdivision_type2 = [[Powiat|County]]
| subdivision_name2 = [[Parczew County]]
| subdivision_type3 = [[Gmina]]
| subdivision_name3 = [[Gmina Parczew]]
| leader_party = [[Law and Justice|PiS]]
| leader_title = Mayor
| leader_name = Paweł Kędracki
| established_title = Town rights
| established_date = 1401
| area_total_km2 = 8.05
| population_as_of = 2006
| population_total = 10281
| population_density_km2 = auto
| timezone = [[Central European Time|CET]]
| utc_offset = +1
| timezone_DST = [[Central European Summer Time|CEST]]
| utc_offset_DST = +2
| coordinates = {{coord|51|38|N|22|52|E|region:PL|display=it}}
| postal_code_type = Postal code
| postal_code = 21-200
| blank_name = [[Polish car number plates|Car plates]]
| blank_info = LPA
| blank_name_sec2 = [[Voivodeship road]]s
| blank_info_sec2 = [[File:DW813-PL.svg|32px]] [[File:DW815-PL.svg|32px]] [[File:DW819-PL.svg|32px]]
| website = http://parczew.com }}

'''Parczew''' {{IPAc-pl|'|p|a|r|cz|e|f}} is a town in eastern [[Poland]], with a population of 10,281 (2006).  It is the capital of [[Parczew County]] in the [[Lublin Voivodeship]].

Parczew historically belongs to [[Lesser Poland]] (''Małopolska'') region. The town lies 60 kilometers north of [[Lublin]], and 70 kilometers south of [[Biala Podlaska]]. It has a rail station on the secondary-importance line from Lublin to [[Łuków]], which was inaugurated in 1898.

==History==
{{Historical populations|align=left|1897|6660|1910|7753|1921|7893|1931|9943|1950|5709|1960|6195|2010|10048
|source=<ref>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Dokumentacja Geograficzna|volume=3/4|year=1967|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=Instytut Geografii [[Polish Academy of Sciences|Polskiej Akademii Nauk]]|page=37}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Wiadomości Statystyczne Głównego Urzędu Statystycznego|volume=X|year=1932|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=Główny Urząd Statystyczny|page=194}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|url=https://stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/PUBL_l_ludnosc_stan_struktura_31_12_2010.pdf|title=Stan i struktura ludności oraz ruch naturalny w przekroju terytorialnym w 2010 r.|year=2011|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=Główny Urząd Statystyczny|page=58|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111113152513/https://stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/PUBL_l_ludnosc_stan_struktura_31_12_2010.pdf|archive-date=13 November 2011}}</ref>}}
The settlement of Parczew existed since the 12th century, lying near then-eastern border of the [[Kingdom of Poland (1025–1385)|Kingdom of Poland]]. In 1401, it received [[Magdeburg rights]] town charter from King [[Władysław II Jagiełło]]. The union of Poland and Lithuania (see [[Union of Krewo]]) helped Parczew to develop, as it ceased to be a border town. The town was conveniently located on one of the routes joining the capitals of the two united nations - [[Kraków]] and [[Vilnius]]. In the [[Union of Horodło]] (1413), Parczew was designated to be the location of Polish–Lithuanian councils. The town emerged as one of the centers of political life of the two nations. Parczew was visited by all kings of the [[Jagiellonian dynasty]], and the last council took place here in 1564.
 
Parczew had a [[defensive wall]], with three gates, and a royal residence, where Polish kings stayed on their way to and from Vilnius. The town was the seat of a [[starosta]], with a town hall located on the market square, two bath houses, four mills and breweries. In the 16th century, it had three Roman Catholic churches, one Orthodox church, a synagogue, a school and a hospital. In 1500 and 1544, Parczew was destroyed in [[Crimean Tatars]] raids, and in 1655, it was seized, ransacked and burned by the Swedes (see [[Deluge (history)|Deluge]]). After the wars of the mid-17th century, the town did not recover until the reign of [[Stanisław August Poniatowski]]. The 1st Polish Infantry Regiment was stationed in the town in 1793.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gembarzewski|first=Bronisław|title=Rodowody pułków polskich i oddziałów równorzędnych od r. 1717 do r. 1831|year=1925|language=pl|publisher=Towarzystwo Wiedzy Wojskowej|location=Warszawa|page=26}}</ref>

Parczew administratively belonged to the [[Lublin Voivodeship (1474–1795)|Lublin Voivodeship]] in the [[Lesser Poland Province, Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Lesser Poland Province]] until the [[Third Partition of Poland]] in 1795, when it was annexed by [[Habsburg monarchy|Austria]]. It was regained by Poles following the [[Austro-Polish War]] of 1809, and included within the short-lived [[Duchy of Warsaw]]. After the duchy's dissolution, it was part of [[Russian Partition|Russian-controlled]] [[Congress Poland]]. During the [[January Uprising]], on June 29, 1863, it was the site of a skirmish between Polish insurgents and Russian troops.<ref>{{cite book|last=Zieliński|first=Stanisław|title=Bitwy i potyczki 1863-1864. Na podstawie materyałów drukowanych i rękopiśmiennych Muzeum Narodowego w Rapperswilu|year=1913|language=pl|publisher=Fundusz Wydawniczy [[Polish Museum, Rapperswil|Muzeum Narodowego w Rapperswilu]]|location=Rapperswil|page=67}}</ref> In 1898, the rail line from Lublin, via Parczew, to Łuków was built. In 1918, Poland regained independence and control of the town. During the [[Polish–Soviet War]], the town was briefly occupied by the Russian invaders, before it was recaptured by the Poles on August 16, 1920.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kowalski|first=Andrzej|year=1995|title=Miejsca pamięci związane z Bitwą Warszawską 1920 r.|journal=Niepodległość i Pamięć|language=pl|publisher=[[Museum of Independence|Muzeum Niepodległości w Warszawie]]|issue=2/2 (3)|page=147|issn=1427-1443}}</ref> In the interbellum, the town had a population of 10,000.
[[File:Parczew-19JJWCKS-memorial.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|Memorial to fallen members of the local [[Polish resistance movement in World War II|resistance]] against German and Soviet occupation during World War II]]

Following the joint German-Soviet [[invasion of Poland]], which started [[World War II]] in September 1939, the town was [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|occupied by Germany]]. On 20 February 1940, the [[SS]] and ''[[Wehrmacht]]'' committed a massacre of 350 [[German atrocities committed against Polish prisoners of war|Polish prisoners-of-war]] of Jewish origin.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jastrzębski|first=Stanisław|title=Ludobójstwo nacjonalistów ukraińskich na Polakach na Lubelszczyźnie w latach 1939–1947|year=2007|location=Wrocław|publisher=Wydawnictwo Nortom|language=pl|page=169|isbn=978-83-89684-04-2}}</ref> It was a center of [[Polish resistance movement in World War II|Polish resistance]]. In local forests, numerous [[Home Army]] and [[Armia Ludowa]] units operated. On July 22, 1944, Parczew was liberated by the Home Army, and in the summer of 1945, the anti-Communist unit of Leon Taraszkiewicz attacked a local [[Urząd Bezpieczeństwa]] prison.{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}}

In 1955, Parczew County was created, and in 2001, the town celebrated its 600th anniversary. From 1975 to 1998, it was administratively located in the [[Biała Podlaska Voivodeship]].

== Jews in Parczew ==
An organized Jewish community existed in the town since the early 16th century. Just before the outbreak of World War II the Jewish community numbered 5,000, more than half of the town's population.  During the German [[occupation of Poland]] the Jews were first [[Jewish ghettos in German-occupied Poland|confined to a ghetto]] crammed with inhabitants of neighbouring settlements as well. In the course of [[The Holocaust in occupied Poland|the Holocaust]], on August 19, 1942 the Nazi German [[Reserve Police Battalion 101]] aided by the [[Trawniki men]] rounded up and deported 3,000 Jews to [[Treblinka extermination camp]]; 2,000 more Jews were loaded onto [[Holocaust trains]] and murdered upon arrival.<ref name="Robertson"/> The battalion returned to Parczew with the same company of [[Hiwis]] in October 1942.<ref name="Nowak">Anna Nowak (2014). [http://www.holocaust.myoptimus.com/strona-glowna/3-zaglada-zydow-na-podlasiu-holocaust/3-2-dzialania-eksterminacyjne-batalionu-policyjnego-101/  "Działania eksterminacyjne batalionu policyjnego 101"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141020170920/http://www.holocaust.myoptimus.com/strona-glowna/3-zaglada-zydow-na-podlasiu-holocaust/3-2-dzialania-eksterminacyjne-batalionu-policyjnego-101/ |date=2014-10-20 }} [Police Battalion 101 extermination actions] in Polish. Uniwersytet Marii Curie Skłodowskiej.</ref> There were 5,000 more Jews in the ghetto. They were massacred in a mass shooting action and deported, at which point the town was declared ''[[Judenfrei]]'' ("free of Jews").<ref name="Robertson">Struan Robertson (2006). [https://web.archive.org/web/20070913012451/http://www1.uni-hamburg.de/rz3a035//police101.html  "Hamburg Police Battalions during the Second World War"] ([[Internet Archive]]). Retrieved 20 October 2014.</ref> The [[Parczew partisans]] anti-Nazi fighter group operated in the forests around the town, which included Jewish men and women who managed to escape the slaughter.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}

==Sights==
Among points of interest there are:
* wooden bell tower (1675),
* former synagogue (19th century),
* [[Gothic Revival architecture in Poland|Neo-Gothic]] Collegiate Basilica of Saint John the Baptist (1905–1913).

==Notable people==
* [[Sławomir Nazaruk]] (born 1975), retired Polish footballer

==Notes and references==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline}}

{{Parczew County}}
{{Gmina Parczew}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Cities and towns in Lublin Voivodeship]]
[[Category:Parczew County]]
[[Category:Populated riverside places in Poland]]
[[Category:Holocaust locations in Poland]]
[[Category:Reserve Police Battalion 101]]