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Lubartów
Lubartów, a district seat in the Lublin voivodship, has a population of about 24,000. It is located about 23 km to the north of Lublin, on the Lubartów Uplands, on the Wieprz river.
Worth seeing
- Lubomirski palace (Baroque, seventeenth century)
- Geometric park (seventeenth-eighteenth centuries)
- Orangerie (eighteenth century)
- Late Baroque elliptical parish church (eighteenth century)
- Baroque church and Capuchin monastery (eighteenth century)
Brief history
The city was founded as 29 May 1593 on the basis of a location privilege granted by the Lublin voivod, Piotr Firlej of Dąbrownica by the Polish king, Zygmunt the Old. The town was intended to glorify the Firlej family, and was renamed Lewartów after the crest of its founder, "Lewart". Lewartów�s buildings were typical of those in towns founded on Magdeburg law.
The town was most famous and significant during the Reformation because its founder's son, Mikołaj Firlej, was one of the most important figures of Calvinism in Małopolska. He allowed the Catholic church in the town to be used as a Protestant church. He founded a Calvinist gymnasium (secondary school) dedicated to the humanities, and promoted the town's development by bringing many talented craftsmen from Holland, Flanders, and Germany. He granted them special privileges, as well as freedom of religion and conscience.
With the death of Mikołaj Firlej, the city lost its Calvinist character, through it did remain an important center of the Reformation. Mikołaj Kazimierski assumed control of the city. He founded an Arian church and reorganized the school, which from 1588-1598 was one of the leading Arian schools in Poland, thanks to the impressive efforts of Wojciech of Kalisz. Wojciech of Kalisz was not only its rector, but also prepared and carried out thorough curricular reforms, which he collected and described in his work Schola Lewartowiana restituta. As a result of the wars during the seventeenth century, which devastated Poland, Lewartów was plundered by the Swedes and for many years afterwards lost its urban character. Later, it formed part of the Zasławski, Wiśniowiecki and Lubomirski family holdings. The town experienced better times when it became part of Paweł Karol Sanguszko's holdings. He supported trade and crafts by founding the ironworkers' guild and confirmed the privileges of all existing guilds. It was during this period than the palace was reconstructed, and during the years 1733-1738 the new lord constructed the Baroque church of St. Anne, designed by Paweł Antoni Fontana, who also designed the Capuchin church and monastery that had been funded by Sanguszko and Mikołaj Krzyniecki.
On 22 November 1744, King August III confirmed the town's charter and changed its name from Lewartów to Lubartów. The new name was supposed to recall the near-legendary founder of the Sanguszko line - Lubart. The town also received a new town crest, granted by the king, which was, however, accepted and adopted only on 10 February 1993 by the town council. Sanguszko died in Zahajce in Volhynia. Although his remains are interred in the Capuchin church in Lublin, his heart and tongue are in the church of St. Anne in Lubartów. After his death, the Sanguszko family continued to rule the town for another one hundred years.
The Lubartów estate was bought in 1839 by Henryk Łubieński, who founded a factory producing English-style porcelain. It functioned from 1840-1850; unfortunately, as the result of financial scandals, it was taken over by a bank and sold off in 1859 Stanisław Mycielski, though the ceramics industry failed to develop any further. During the Partitions the town was at first in Austrian hands, then was annexed to the Duchy of Warsaw.
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After Napoleon's defeat in 1815, it became part of the Russian Partition that was known as the Kingdom of Poland. Damage done by numerous fires and the repressions by the Partitioning powers for having participated in the national uprisings led to an economic and cultural decline. In 1866, a tsarist decree removed heirs� rights, Lubartów district (powiat) was created, and in 1867 the Capuchin monastery was liquidated and its property confiscated. By the twentieth century, the town of Lubartów had been forgotten.
During the First World War, after brief fighting between the Austrians and the Russians, Lubartów fell into Austrian hands and remained under Austrian control until the autumn of 1918. During the interwar period, a number of institutions, such as the Polish Art-lovers' Society, existed in Lubartów. Their aim was to rebuild Polish culture after one hundred twenty three years of captivity. The city strove to lift itself from the long-lasting stagnation by building roads, establishing the first private electrical plant, building glass cement and brick factories, as well as a hospital and cinema.
The German army entered Lubartów in September 1939. During the occupation, the resistance in the Lublin region based its operations in the town. Lubartów was liberated on 22 July 1944 as part of the Home Army's "Burza" (Storm) campaign. Three days later, however, these soldiers were disarmed by the Soviet army in nearby Skrobów.
The Jews of Lubartow
No documents exist that would tell us with any certainty when it was that the Jews first arrived in Lubartów. It is known, however, that they constituted a significant proportion of settlers arriving in Lewartow during the mid-sixteenth century. They were mainly involved in the grain trade with Gdańsk, and their community was so already so large that in 1592 they founded their own religious Community and built a synagogue. No other details about this community have survived. During the interwar period, in 1921, there were 3,209 Jews living in the town, representing 54% of its total population. They lived for many generations in the area around Lubelska street.
After the Germans entered Lubartów, they created a ghetto where approximately 4,500 Jews were forced to live, including approximately 1,000 Jews who had been deported from Czechoslovakia. The ghetto was liquidated in 1942. All the Jews were sent to the death camp in Bełżec. All traces of the Jews' presence were destroyed, including the synagogue, cemetery and Community buildings.
Traces
The Jewish cemetery in Lubartów, Cicha street. The only remnant of Lubartów's Jewish past is the kirkut - the "new" Jewish cemetery. The old cemetery, established in the second half of the sixteenth century, had been located on Żabia street. It was closed in the late nineteenth century. During the occupation it was completely destroyed by the Germans. After the war, the communist government allowed a city park to be created at the site of the former cemetery.
The new cemetery was founded in 1819. The last known burial took place there in 1943. Despite the severe damage, about thirty gravestones have survived in a total area of 0.8 hectare. The oldest of these dates back to 1848. Save of the headstones still have traces of colored polychromes and Hebrew inscriptions. During the 1960's trees were planted on the site of the former cemetery. In 1988, a lapidarium was created from fragments of the former headstones.
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