Jedwabne is a town in
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, in the
Podlaskie VoivodeshipPodlaskie Voivodeship is a voivodeship in north-eastern Poland. It was created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Białystok and Łomża Voivodeships and the eastern half of the former Suwałki Voivodeship, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998...
, in Łomża County, with 1,942 inhabitants (2002).
First mentioned in 1455, Jedwabne received city rights on July 17, 1736, from the Polish king August III, including the right to hold weekly markets on Sundays and five country fairs a year. A wooden Catholic church with two steeples was built in 1737-1738, and a synagogue around 1770. The
Jedwabne synagogueThe Jedwabne Synagogue, , located in Jedwabne, Poland, was built in 1770. It was an example of the unique Polish Jewish architectural tradition of building large, domed wooden synagogues. The layered, pitched roof visible in surviving exterior photographs conceals a series of massive trusses...
was a fine example of the unique Polish Jewish architectural tradition of wooden synagogues.
Jedwabne is a town in
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, in the
Podlaskie VoivodeshipPodlaskie Voivodeship is a voivodeship in north-eastern Poland. It was created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Białystok and Łomża Voivodeships and the eastern half of the former Suwałki Voivodeship, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998...
, in Łomża County, with 1,942 inhabitants (2002).
History
First mentioned in 1455, Jedwabne received city rights on July 17, 1736, from the Polish king August III, including the right to hold weekly markets on Sundays and five country fairs a year. A wooden Catholic church with two steeples was built in 1737-1738, and a synagogue around 1770. The
Jedwabne synagogueThe Jedwabne Synagogue, , located in Jedwabne, Poland, was built in 1770. It was an example of the unique Polish Jewish architectural tradition of building large, domed wooden synagogues. The layered, pitched roof visible in surviving exterior photographs conceals a series of massive trusses...
was a fine example of the unique Polish Jewish architectural tradition of wooden synagogues. At the end of the 18th century new textile factories opened. In 1851 in Jedwabne there were as many as 17 weaving establishments employing 36 workers. In terms of its cloth production Jedwabne was already the eleventh largest manufacturing centre in the Kingdom of Poland. In 1862 there were 11 mechanical and 13 manual weaving machines installed. The cloth production fell into decline only after the
January uprisingThe January Uprising was an uprising in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against the Russian Empire...
due to Russian repression against Polish and Jewish entrepreneurs.
During
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and following the
Soviet invasionSoviet invasion of Poland can refer to:* the second phase of the Polish-Soviet War of 1920 when Soviet armies marched on Warsaw, Poland* Soviet invasion of Poland of 1939 when Soviet Union allied with Nazi Germany attacked Second Polish Republic...
of
eastern PolandThe term Kresy, meaning "Outskirts" or "Borderlands", is used to define the Polish eastern frontier. The term referred to the eastern frontiers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. During the period of the Second Polish Republic, these territories roughly equated with the lands to the east of...
, a wave of anti-Polish repression by the
Soviet Secret PoliceThe People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including...
was conducted between 1939 and 1941, coupled with a successful Soviet attack against a Polish partisan unit stationed in the Kobielne Wilderness. A number of Polish people were arrested, and their families deported to Siberia. Soon after the German takeover of Jedwabne following their
attack on the Soviet UnionOperation Barbarossa was the code name for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a 2,900 km front...
, on July 10, 1941, the town became the site of the infamous
Jedwabne pogromThe Jedwabne pogrom was a massacre of at least 300 Polish Jews at Jedwabne in German occupied Poland in July 1941. The Polish Institute of National Remembrance has established that the crime was committed by a mob of Polish Gentiles, not by a Nazi German Einsatzgruppen or 'death squad' operation...
with the estimated 250 to 400 Jews burned alive in a barn of Bronisław Śleszyński, in the presence of Nazi German gendarmes. According to wittness accounts, the Germans created a ghetto in Jedwabne on July 11, 1941, and incarcerated around 100-130 Jews in it till November, then shipped them to a transit camp in Łomża and finally, to extermination camp in Treblinka.
Immigrants to the United States from Jedwabne built the synagogue Congregation Anshe Yedwabne at 242 Henry Street in the
Lower East SideThe Lower East Side is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, E. Houston, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street...
neighborhood of New York City.
St. Jacob church in Jedwabne |
Jedwabne SynagogueThe Jedwabne Synagogue, , located in Jedwabne, Poland, was built in 1770. It was an example of the unique Polish Jewish architectural tradition of building large, domed wooden synagogues. The layered, pitched roof visible in surviving exterior photographs conceals a series of massive trusses...
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