Suwalki

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Suwalki

Suwalki (; , 1939-1944 ) is a town in northeastern Poland

Poland

Poland , 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 Enclave and exclave, to the north....
with 69,340 inhabitants (2008). The Czarna Hancza river flows through the town.

It is the capital of Suwalki County

Suwalki County

Suwalki County is a unit of territorial administration and local government in Podlaskie Voivodeship, north-eastern Poland, on the Lithuanian border....
and one of the most important centres of commerce in the Podlaskie Voivodeship

Podlaskie Voivodeship

Podlaskie Voivodeship is a Voivodeships of Poland in north-eastern Poland. It was created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Bialystok Voivodeship and Lomza Voivodeships and the eastern half of the former Suwalki Voivodeship, pursuant to the Poland Local Government Reorganization Act of 1998....
. Until 1999 the town was the capital of Suwalki Voivodeship

Suwalki Voivodeship

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast to the southwest....
n border. One Lithuanian ethnographic region is named Suvalkija

Suvalkija

Suvalkija or Sudovia is the smallest of the five cultural regions of Lithuania. Its unofficial capital is Marijampole. People from Suvalkija are called suvalkieciai or suvalkietis ....
, and that name came from this town.

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Encyclopedia

Suwalki (; , 1939-1944 ) is a town in northeastern Poland

Poland

Suwalki County

Podlaskie Voivodeship

Suwalki Voivodeship

Lithuania

Suvalkija

Protected area

Protected areas are locations which receive protection because of their environmental, cultural or similar value. The term protected area includes marine protected area, which refers to protected areas whose boundaries include some area of ocean....
known as Suwalki Landscape Park

Suwalki Landscape Park

Suwalki Landscape Park is a protected area in north-eastern Poland, established in 1976, covering an area of .The Park lies within Podlaskie Voivodeship, in Suwalki County ....
.

History

The area of Suwalki has been populated by local Yotvingian and Prussian

Old Prussians

The Old Prussians or Baltic Prussians were an ethnic group, indigenous peoples Balts tribes that inhabited Prussia , the lands of the southeastern Baltic Sea in the area around the Vistula Lagoon and Curonian Lagoon Lagoons....
tribes since the early Middle Ages

Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
. However, with the arrival of the Teutonic Order to Sudovia

Yotvingians

Yotvingians or Sudovians were a Balts people with close cultural ties to the Lithuanians and Prussians. The Sudovian language was a Western Baltic language nearest to Prussian language, but with small variations....
, their lands were conquered and remained largely depopulated in the following centuries. The village was founded by Camaldolese monks

Camaldolese

The Camaldolese are part of the Benedictine family of monastic communities which follow the way of life outlined in the Rule of St. Benedict, written in the 6th century....
, who in 1667 were granted the area surrounding the future city by Grand Duke of Lithuania John II Casimir

John II Casimir of Poland

File:Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1648.PNGJohn II Casimir was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and Duke of Opole in Upper Silesia, titular King of Sweden 1648-1660....
. Soon afterwards the monastic order built its headquarters in Wigry, where a monastery

Monastery

Monastery , a term derived from the Greek language word ???ast?????, neut. of ???ast????? - monasterios denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of Monk, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in Cenobium or alone ....
and a church were built. The new owners of the area started fast economic exploitation and development of the forest

Forest

File:Stara planina suma.jpgA forest is an area with a high density of trees. There are many definitions of a forest, based on various criteria....
s and brought enough settlers (mainly from over-populated Masovia

Masovia

Masovia or Mazovia is a geographic and Historical regions of Central Europe situated in eastern Poland's Masovian Plain. Its historic capitals include Plock and Warsaw....
) to build several new villages in the area. Also, production of wood, lumber

Lumber

Lumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from logging through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....
, tar

Tar

Tar is modified resin produced from the wood and roots of pine by destructive distillation under pyrolysis. It is a viscosity black liquid. Production and trade in tar was a major contributor in the economies of Northern Europe and Colonial America....
and iron ore

Iron ore

Iron ores are Rock and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in colour from dark grey, bright yellow, deep purple, to rusty red....
was started.

The village was first mentioned in 1688; two years later it was reported to have two houses. However, the growth of the village was fast and by 1700 it was split onto Male Suwalki and Wielkie Suwalki (Small and Great Suwalki). The village was located almost exactly in the centre of Camedulian estates and it was located on the main trade route linking Grodno and Merecz with Königsberg

Königsberg

K?nigsberg was after World War II in 1946 renamed Kaliningrad by the Soviet Union.The city was the Capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945....
. That is why in 1710 King Augustus II the Strong granted the village a privilege to organise fairs and markets. Five years later, in 1715, the village was granted city rights by the grand master of the order, Rev. Ildefons. The town was divided into 300 lots for future houses and its inhabitants were all granted civil rights and freed from taxes for seven years. In addition, the town was granted with 18.03 square kilometres of forest that was to be turned into arable land

Arable land

In geography, arable land is an agriculture term, meaning land that can be used for growing agriculture. Arable land is currently being lost at the rate of over 200,000 km? per year....
. On May 2, 1720, the city rights were approved by King August II, and the town was allowed to organise one fair a week and four markets a year. In addition, a coat of arms

Coat of arms

A coat of arms, more properly called an armorial achievement, armorial bearings or often just arms for short, in European tradition, is a design belonging to a particular person and used by them in a wide variety of ways....
was approved, depicting Saint Roch and Saint Romuald.

After the Partitions of Poland

Partitions of Poland

The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish?Lithuanian Commonwealth....
in 1794 the area was annexed by Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was, most recently, a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. This state had for centuries substantial influence on Germany and European history....
. In 1796 the monastery in Wigry was closed and its property confiscated by the Prussian

Kingdom of Prussia

The Kingdom of Prussia was a Germany monarchy from 1701 to 1918 and, from 1871, was the leading state of the German Empire, comprising almost two-thirds of the area of the empire....
government. The following year a seat of local powiat
Powiat

A powiat is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture in other countries....
authorities was moved to the town, as well as a military garrison. By the end of 18th century, Suwalki had 1,184 inhabitants and 216 houses. A large part of them were Jewish.

In 1807 Suwalki was annexed by the newly-formed Duchy of Warsaw

Duchy of Warsaw

The Duchy of Warsaw was a Poland state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807 from the Polish lands ceded by the Kingdom of Prussia under the terms of the Treaties of Tilsit....
and became one of the centres of department of Lomza

Lomza

Lomza [] is a town in north-eastern Poland, approximately 90 miles from Warsaw and 50 miles from Bialystok. It is situated alongside the Narew river and has been in the Podlaskie Voivodeship since 1999; previously, it was the capital of the Lomza Voivodeship ....
. After the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Congress of Vienna

Congress of Vienna

The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by the Austrian statesman Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815....
, the area was incorporated into the Kingdom of Poland. The status of a powiat
Powiat

A powiat is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture in other countries....
capital was briefly withdrawn, but it was re-introduced on January 16, 1816, when Augustów Voivodeship was created and its authorities were gradually moved to Suwalki. Soon afterwards the old city hall was demolished and replaced with a new one, and General Józef Zajaczek

Józef Zajaczek

Prince J?zef Zajaczek , was a controversial Poland general and politician.His first important military post was that of an aide-de-champ to hetman Franciszek Ksawery Branicki....
financed the paving of all the city's streets. Also, the cemetery was moved from the town centre to the outskirts, while the area was turned into a romantic city park. Also, a new road linking Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the Capital and World's largest cities of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River roughly from both the Baltic Sea coast and the Carpathian Mountains....
with St. Petersburg was built, which added to the city's prosperity.

Also, new streets were paved and new facilities opened. In 1820 a new church was built and the following year the first synagogue

Synagogue

A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer.Synagogues usually have a large hall for prayer , smaller rooms for study and sometimes a social hall and offices....
was opened. In 1829 a permanent post office

Post office

A post office is a facility authorized by a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail. Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies....
was opened in Suwalki. Between 1806 and 1827 the town's population almost tripled and reached 3,753 people living in 357 houses. During the November Uprising of 1831 the town's population took part in the struggles against Russia, but the city was taken by the Russian army on February 11. In 1835 Tsar

Tsar

Tsar or czar , occasionally spelled csar or tzar in English language, is a slavs term designating certain monarchs.Originally, the title Czar meant Emperor in the European medieval sense of the term, that is, a ruler who has the same rank as a Ancient Rome or Byzantine emperor due to recognition by another emperor or...
Nicholas I

Nicholas I of Russia

Nicholas I , , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the List of Russian rulers. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometres....
declined to move the capital of voivodeship to Augustów and the fate of Suwalki was sealed. Two years later the Voivodeships of Poland

Voivodeships of Poland

The voivodeship or province has been a high-level administrative subdivision of Poland since the 14th century. Pursuant to the Local Government Reorganization Act of 1998, effective January 1, 1999, sixteen new voivodeships were created, replacing the former 49 that had existed from July 1, 1975....
were renamed to gubernias and so the town became the capital of Augustów Gubernia.

In 1826 an investment plan was passed and new buildings were started by the state authorities. In 1835 a police

Police

Police are agents or agencies, usually of the executive , empowered to enforce the law and to ensure public and social order through the legitimized use of force....
station was finished, in 1844 a new town hall, and Orthodox and Protestant churches. Soon afterwards a new marketplace was opened, as well as St. Peter's and Paul's hospital and gymnasium

Gymnasium (school)

A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English Grammar schools in the United Kingdoms or sixth form colleges and U.S....
. In addition, between 1840 and 1849 the main Catholic

Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
church was refurbished by many of Poland's most notable architects of the era, including Piotr Aigner, Antoni Corazzi and Enrico Marconi

Enrico Marconi

Enrico Marconi, known in Poland as Henryk Marconi , was an Italy architect who spent most of his life in Congress Poland.Initially he was taught by his father Leander, later on, between 1806 and 1810, he studied both at the University of Bologna and at the Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna....
. To change the city's climate and break with the rural past, in 1847 the city council passed a law banning construction of new wooden houses.

The city's population continued to grow rapidly. In 1857 it had 11,273 inhabitants and in 1872 almost 20,000. Newly-built factories needed workers and these were brought from all over the world. Because of that, the mixed Polish-Jewish population was soon joined by people of almost all denominations that worshipped in the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

File:Russian Emperor Flag.jpgFile:Romanov Flag.svgThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917....
. Soon the city became the fourth most populous town in the Kingdom of Poland

Congress Poland

Congress Poland [], officially and formally Kingdom of Poland and informally known as Russian Poland was a constitutional personal union of the Russian Empire created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, replaced by the Central Powers in 1915 with the Kingdom of Poland ....
. After the January Uprising of 1863, the new administrational reform was passed to unify the Polish lands with Russia completely. In 1866 the gubernia of Augustów was finally renamed to Suwalki Gubernia. However, the newly-built Warsaw-Petersburg rail road passed by Suwalki and the town's prosperity ended. It was not until the early 20th century, when the arrival of new Russian army garrison

Garrison

Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, of more than 50 men, but now often simply using it as a home base....
s brought the economy back on track. Also a railroad line was finally completed, linking Suwalki with Grodno.

After the spring of 1905, when the Russians were forced to accept a limited liberalisation, the period of Polish cultural revival started. Although the Polish language

Polish language

Polish , an official language of Poland, has the largest number of speakers of any West Slavic languages. Polish-speakers use the language in a uniform manner through most of Poland, and it has a regular orthography....
was still banned from official use, new Polish schools were opened, as well as a Polish-language Tygodnik Suwalski weekly and a library. After the Great War broke out, heavy fights for the area erupted. Finally in 1915, the Germans broke the Russian front and Suwalki was put under German occupation. The town and surrounding areas were detached from the rest of the Polish lands and were directly administered by the German military commander of the Ober-Ost Army. Severe laws imposed by the German military command and the tragic economic situation of the civilians led to the creation of various secret social organisations. Finally, in 1917, local branches of the Polska Organizacja Wojskowa were created.

After the collapse of the Central Powers

Central Powers

The Central Powers was one of the two sides that participated in World War I, the other being the Allies of World War I....
in November 1918, the local commander of the Ober-Ost signed an agreement with the Temporary Council of the Suwalki Region and de facto allowed for the region to be incorporated into Poland. However, the German army remained in the area and continued its economic exploitation. In February 1919 the local inhabitants took part in the first free elections to the Polish Sejm

Sejm

The Sejm is the lower house of the Poland parliament.Before the 20th century, the term "Sejm" referred to the entire three-Chambers of parliament Polish parliament, comprising the lower house , the upper house and the monarch....
, but soon afterwards the German commanders changed their mind and expelled the Polish military units from the area and in May passed it to Lithuanian authority. By the end of July the Paris Peace Conference

Paris Peace Conference, 1919

The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors in World War I to set the peace terms for Germany and other defeated nations, and to deal with the empires of the defeated powers following the Armistice of 1918....
granted the city to Poland and the Lithuanians withdrew from the city, but some of the Polish-inhabited lands were left on the Lithuanian side of the border while several Lithuanian villages were left on the Polish side of the so-called Foch Line

Foch Line

The Foch Line was a temporary demarcation line between Poland and Lithuania proposed by the Entente in the aftermath of World War I. The line was proposed by Marshal of France Ferdinand Foch and was accepted by the Conference of Ambassadors in 1919....
. This led to the outbreak of the Sejny Uprising

Sejny Uprising

The Sejny Uprising or Seinai Revolt refers to a 1919 Rebellion by Poles irregular forces, later aided by the regular Polish army, in the area of the town of Sejny , against Lithuanian authorities....
on August 23, 1919. To secure the city, the following day the first regular units of the Polish Army entered Suwalki. A short Polish-Lithuanian War

Polish-Lithuanian War

The Polish-Lithuanian War was an armed conflict between Lithuania and Second Polish Republic, lasting from August 1920 to October 7, 1920, in the aftermath of World War I, not long after both countries had regained their independence....
erupted and for several days limited fights were fought for the control over Suwalki, Sejny

Sejny

Sejny [] is a town in north-eastern Poland, in Podlaskie Voivodeship, close to the border with Lithuania and Belarus. It is located in the eastern part of the Suwalki Lake Area , on the Marycha river, being a tributary of Czarna Hancza....
and other towns in the area. The war ended on the insistence of the Entente

Triple Entente

File:Map Europe alliances 1914-en.svgThe Triple Entente was the name given to the loose alignment of the British Empire, French Third Republic, and Russian Empire after the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907....
in mid-September (negotiations took place in Suwalki

Suwalki Agreement

The Suwalki Agreement, Treaty of Suvalkai, or Suwalki Treaty was an agreement signed in Suwalki on October 7 1920, between Second Polish Republic and Lithuania, achieved under pressure and mediation from the League of Nations, and resulting in a ceasefire of the Polish-Lithuanian War....
in early October). During the Polish-Bolshevik War the city was captured by the Reds and after the Battle of Warsaw

Battle of Warsaw (1920)

The Battle of Warsaw was the decisive battle of the Polish?Soviet War, which began soon after the end of World War I in 1918 and lasted until the Peace of Riga ....
it was again passed to the Lithuanians, but it was retaken by the Polish Army with negligible losses soon afterwards.

In the interbellum Suwalki became an autonomous town within the Bialystok Voivodeship (1919-1939)

Bialystok Voivodeship (1919-1939)

Bialystok Voivodeship was an administrative unit of interwar Poland . It ceased to exist in September 1939, following Nazi Germany and Soviet Invasion of Poland ....
. This led to yet another period of prosperity, with the city's population rising from 16,780 in 1921 to almost 25,000 in 1935. The main source of income shifted from agriculture to trade and commerce. Also, in 1931 the new water works and a power plant were built. Also, Suwalki continued to serve as one of the biggest garrisons in Poland, with two regiments of the Polish 29th Infantry Division

Polish 29th Infantry Division

29th Grodno Infantry Division was a unit of the Polish Army during the interbellum period. It was created in early 1920s, after the army of Republic of Central Lithuania was absorbed by the Polish Army....
and almost an entire Suwalki Cavalry Brigade stationed there. Since 1928 Suwalki was also the headquarters of one of the battalion

Battalion

A battalion is a military unit of around 500-1500 men usually consisting of between two and seven company and typically commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel....
s of the Border Defence Corps.

During the later stages of the Polish Defensive War

Invasion of Poland (1939)

The Invasion of Poland in 1939 precipitated World War II. It was carried out by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak invasion of Poland contingent....
of 1939 the town was briefly captured by the Red Army

Red Army

The Red Army was the armed force first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918 and, in 1922, became the army of the Soviet Union....
. However, on October 12 of the same year the Soviets withdrew and transferred the area to the Germans, in accordance with the Nazi-Soviet Alliance. The town was renamed to Sudauen and incorporated directly into the German Reich's East Prussia

East Prussia

East Prussia refers to the main part of the Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Sea from the 13th century to 1945. From 1772?1829 and 1878?1945, the Province of East Prussia was a province of the Germany state of Prussia....
. Severe laws and terror that erupted led to the creation of several resistance organisations. Although most of them were at first destroyed by the Gestapo

Gestapo

The was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Under the overall administration of the Schutzstaffel , it was administered by the Reichssicherheitshauptamt and was considered a dual organization of the Sicherheitsdienst and also a suboffice of the Sicherheitspolizei ....
, by 1942 the area had one of the strongest ZWZ

Zwiazek Walki Zbrojnej

Zwiazek Walki Zbrojnej was an Resistance movement army formed in Poland following her Invasion of Poland in September 1939 by Germany and the Soviet Union that opened World War II....
and AK

Armia Krajowa

Prisoner of war

A prisoner of war is a combatant who is held in continuing custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict....
was established. On October 23, 1944, the city was captured by the forces of the Soviet 3rd Belarusian Front. The fights for the city and its surroundings lasted for several days and took the lives of almost 5,000 Soviet soldiers. The anti-Soviet resistance of former Armia Krajowa

Armia Krajowa

The Armia Krajowa , abbreviated "AK", was the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II Nazi Germany-History of Poland . It was formed in February 1942 from the Zwiazek Walki Zbrojnej and over the next two years absorbed most other Polish underground forces....
members lasted in the forests surrounding the city until the early 1950s.

After the war, Suwalki remained a capital of the powiat
Powiat

A powiat is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture in other countries....
. However, the heavily-damaged town recovered very slowly and the Communist economic system could not help the city's problems. This period came to an end in 1975, when a new administrative reform was passed and Suwalki yet again became the capital of a separate Suwalki Voivodeship

Suwalki Voivodeship

Suwalki Voivodeship was an administrative division and local government in Poland from 1975 to 1998, superseded in half by Podlaskie Voivodeship and Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship ....
. The number of inhabitants rose rapidly and by the end of the 1970s it was over 36,000. Large factories were built in the city and it became one of the important industrial and commercial centres of Eastern Poland.

After the peaceful dissolution of the Communist system in Poland in 1989 the city experienced a period of economic difficulties. Most of the city's major factories were inefficient and went bankrupt. However, the creation of the Suwalki Special Economic Zone

Special Economic Zone

A Special Economic Zone is a geographical region that has economic laws that are more liberal than a country's typical economic laws. The category 'SEZ' covers a broad range of more specific zone types, including Free Trade Zones , Export Processing Zones , Free Zones , Industrial Estates , Free Ports, Urban Enterprise Zones and others....
and the proximity of the Russian and Lithuanian borders opened new possibilities for the local trade and commerce. In addition, the ecologically clean region started to attract many tourists from all around the world.

Trivia

In 2001 it was reported to the Polish radio station Radio ZET that Windows Word (PL) crashed whenever the spelling checker encountered the word 'Suwalki'. One of the station's presenters, famous for making comic telephone calls on the air, incorporated this into one of his broadcasts by telephoning Microsoft Polska and asking them what they had against the place. The software error has since been repaired.

Tourist attractions

Kosciuszko
Tadeusz Kosciuszko

Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kosciuszko of Roch III Coat of Arms was a Poland military leader who is regarded as a national hero in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, and the United States....
street with classicist architecture
Romantic 19th century park
St. Alexander's Church
St. Peter and Paul's Church
Cemetery complex at Bakalarzewska street (Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim)
Municipal museum
Town Hall
Former gymnasium building
Museum and monument to Maria Konopnicka
Maria Konopnicka

Maria Konopnicka was a Poland poet, novelist, translator and essayist. She sometimes used pen names, often "Jan Sawa."Konopnicka was a representative poet of the Positivism in Poland period in Polish literature....
19th century brewery of Waclaw Kunc

Education

Wyzsza Szkola Sluzby Spolecznej im. Ks. Franciszka Blachnickiego
Wyzsza Szkola Suwalsko-Mazurska im. Papieza Jana Pawla II

People

Knut Olof Falk (1906 - 1990), Swedish slavist
Josef Hassid
Josef Hassid

Josef Hassid was a Poland violinist.He was noted for his intense vibrato and temperament, causing Fritz Kreisler to say "A Heifetz violinist comes around every 100 years, a Hassid every 200." Furthermore pianist Gerard Moore called him "possibly the most incandescent prodigy after perhaps Yehudi Menuhin." He received an honorary diploma i...
(1923 - 1950), violinist
Adam Koc (1891 - 1969), soldier, politician and journalist
Maria Konopnicka
Maria Konopnicka

Maria Konopnicka was a Poland poet, novelist, translator and essayist. She sometimes used pen names, often "Jan Sawa."Konopnicka was a representative poet of the Positivism in Poland period in Polish literature....
(1842-1910), poet
Mieczyslaw Mackiewicz
Mieczyslaw Mackiewicz

Mieczyslaw Mackiewicz was a Polish general.In partitioned Poland, he joined the Russian Army, where he fought in the Russo-Japanese War and reached the rank of a captain....
(1880 - 1954), general
Henryk Minkiewicz
Henryk Minkiewicz

File:Henryk Minkiewicz.jpgHenryk Minkiewicz was a Poland Socialism politician and a General of the Polish Army. Former commander of the Border Defence Corps, he was among the Polish officers murdered in the Katyn massacre....
(1880 - 1940), general, killed in the Katyn Massacre
Katyn massacre

The Katyn massacre, also known as the Katyn Forest massacre , was a mass murder of thousands of Poles military officers, policemen, intellectuals and civilian pow by Soviet NKVD, based on a proposal from Lavrentiy Beria to execute all members of the Polish Officer Corps dated March 5 1940....
Emil Mlynarski
Emil Mlynarski

Emil Szymon Mlynarski was a Poland conducting, violinist, composer, and pedagogue....
(1870 - 1935), composer and conductor
Aleksandra Pilsudska
Aleksandra Pilsudska

Aleksandra Pilsudska , n?e Szczerbinska, was the second wife of J?zef Pilsudski.Aleksandra was born December 12, 1882, in Suwalki, in the Suwalki Governorate, Russian Empire , and was the seventh child of Piotr Pawel and Julia Jadwiga, n?e Zahorska....
(1882 - 1963), wife of Józef Pilsudski
Józef Pilsudski

]]In 1892 Pilsudski returned from exile. In 1893 he joined the Polish Socialist Party and helped organize its Lithuanian branch. Initially he sided with the Socialists' more radical wing, but despite the socialist movement's ostensible internationalism he remained a Polish nationalist....
and the Polish first lady
First Lady

First Lady is a term used in the United States to describe the wife of an elected male head of state. It originated in 1849, when President of the United States Zachary Taylor called Dolley Madison "First Lady" at her state funeral while reciting a eulogy written by himself....
Zygmunt Podhorski (1891 - 1960), general, cavalry commander
Pinchas Sapir
Pinchas Sapir

Pinchas Sapir was an Israeli politician during the first three decades following the country's Declaration of Independence . He held two important ministerial posts, Finance Minister of Israel and Industry, Trade and Labour Minister of Israel as well as several other high-ranking governmental posts....
(1906-1975), Israeli politician, Minister of Finance
Avraham Stern
Avraham Stern

Avraham Stern , alias Yair was a Jewish urban revolutionary who founded and led the Zionism organization later known as Lehi ....
(Yair) (1907 - 1942), poet and Jewish resistance fighter
Edward Szczepanik
Edward Szczepanik

Edward Franciszek Szczepanik, was a Poles economist and the last Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland of the Polish Government in Exile. ...
, economist and the last Polish Prime Minister in Exile
Polish government in Exile

File:Herb Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej .pngThe Polish Government in exile was the government of Poland after History of Poland at the start of World War II ....
Andrzej Wajda
Andrzej Wajda

Andrzej Wajda is a Poland film director. Recipient of an honorary Academy Awards, he is one of the most prominent members of the Polish Film School....
, film director
Alfred Wierusz-Kowalski
Alfred Wierusz-Kowalski

Alfred Wierusz-Kowalski was a Poland painter of the Munich school, one of the most popular among Jozef Brandt and Wladyslaw Czach?rski. Wierusz-Kowalski settled in Munich in 1873 just after his studies in Warsaw and Dresden....
(1849 - 1915), painter
Visarion (1987 - present), Legendary priest

Twin Towns

Suwalki is twinned

Town twinning

Town twinning, also known as sister cities, is a concept whereby towns or city in geographically and politically distinct areas are paired, with the goal of fostering human contact and cultural links between their inhabitants....
with:

Grande-Synthe

Grande-Synthe is a Communes of France in the Nord Departments of France in the Nord-Pas de Calais R?gion in France in northern France.It is the third-largest suburb of the city of Dunkirk and lies adjacent to it on the west....
in France

France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
Marijampole

Marijampole

Marijampole Under Occupation_of_Baltic_states#Soviet_re-occupation.2C_1944-1991 from 1956 to 1989, the town was officially named Kapsukas, after Vincas Kapsukas, founder of the Lithuanian Communist Party....
in Lithuania

Lithuania

Alytus

Alytus Divided onto two separate entities for centuries, it consists of two parts still frequently referred to as Alytus I and Alytus II, the earlier being a smaller town and the latter forming the city centre with parks, microdistricts and industrial areas....
in Lithuania

Lithuania

Waren

Waren is a town in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, capital of the M?ritz district. It is situated on the northern end of Lake M?ritz, approximately 40 km west of Neubrandenburg....
in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
Võru

Võru

V?ru is a Populated places in Estonia and a Municipalities of Estonia in south-eastern Estonia. It is the Capital of V?ru County and the centre of V?ru Parish....
in Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Finland across the Gulf of Finland, to the west by Sweden across the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by the Russia ....
Nemencine

Nemencine

Nemencine is a city in Vilnius district municipality, Lithuania. It is located about 20 km north-east of Vilnius....
in Lithuania

Lithuania

Suwalki

History

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Twin Towns

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