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Jedwabne [jÉ›dˈvabnÉ›] (Yiddish: יעדוו××‘× ×¢, Yedvabna) is a town in Poland, in the Podlaskie Voivodeship, in Åomża 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 synagogue was a fine example of the unique Polish Jewish architectural tradition of wooden synagogues.[1] 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 uprising due to Russian repression against Polish and Jewish entrepreneurs. The town was a center of a large Jewish community, its population in 1900 was 1,941.[2]
During World War II, and following the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland, a wave of anti-Polish repression by the Soviet Secret Police 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 Union, on July 10, 1941, the town became the site of the infamous Jedwabne pogrom with the estimated 250 to 400 Jews burned alive according to official accounts while others, such as those conducted by historian Jan T. Gross estimate up to 1,600[3]. This incident occurred in the barn of BronisÅ‚aw ÅšleszyÅ„ski, in the presence of Nazi German gendarmes.[4] According to witness 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 Åomża and finally, to extermination camp in Treblinka.[5]
Immigrants to the United States from Jedwabne built the synagogue Congregation Anshe Yedwabne at 242 Henry Street in the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York City.[6]
See also
Notes
- ^ Maria and Kazimierz Piechotka, Heaven's Gate: Wooden Synagogues in the Territory of the Former Plish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Institute of Art, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wydawnnictwo Krupski I S-ka, Warsaw, 2004, pp. 231-32
- ^ JewishGen.org
- ^ Cross, Jan T. Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne Poland (United States of America: Penguin Books, 2002), 121-122.
- ^ Tomasz Strzembosz, "Inny obraz sąsiadów", Rzeczpospolita, 31.03.01 Nr 77
- ^ (Polish) The 90th session of the Senate of the Republic of Poland. Stenograph, part 2.2. A Report by Leon Kieres, president of the Institute of National Remembrance, for the period from July 1, 2000 to June 30, 2001. Donald Tusk presiding. See statement by Senator Jadwiga Stokarska.
- ^ Yedwabne Yizkor Book
References
Coordinates: 53°17′N 22°18′E / 53.283°N 22.3°E / 53.283; 22.3
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