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Nowy Sacz
Nowy Sącz, Yiddish: Zantz, Noyzantz, is a district seat within the Małopolska Voivodship, situated in the Sącz Valley, at the junction of the Dunajec and Kamienica rivers.
Sights of interest:
- ruins of the royal castle
- ruins of the medieval walls
- town hall and market square
- St. Margaret's basilica (13th-14th centuries)
- church of the Holy Ghost (15th century)
- former Franciscan monastery complex (13th century)
- Szymbark museum of folk architecture
- Orthodox church in Bartne
Historical overwiev
At first, the settlement located where Nowy Sącz stands today was called Kamienica. This was the case until 1325, when it was granted its town charter. At that time, St. Margaret (Małgorzata), whose image was used on the town�s seal, was adopted as its patron. The city's charter stated that the town would use the name of its neighbor, Civitas Sandecz - Sącz. The adjective "Nowy" ("new") was added somewhat later to distinguish from the previous town (Stary Sącz, or "Old" Sącz). The name Sandecz is much older than both of these towns, dating back to the eleventh century. It is from this place name that the region came to be called ziemia sądecka ("the Sącz land"), which is seen in documents as early as the first part of the thirteenth century.
The town's origins also go back to the thirteenth century, when King Wacław II instructed wójt Bartold that he should found the town Sącz (Stary Sącz) in a new location. Soon, the king also funded the Franciscan church. A lovely legend about the icon of the Transfiguration is associated with its foundation.
Important trade routes ran through the town, linking the Baltic with the Danube, as well as Ko�ice and Kraków. The town was witness to many historical events, such as the arrival of the Hungarian emissaries to take Elżbieta, daughter of Władysław Łokietek.
In 1344, Kazimierz the Great confirmed the town's charter and freed its burghers from customs duties. He began the construction of the castle, where in 1409 Jagiełło and Prince Witold drew up their plans for the war with the Teutonic Knights. Sącz was freed from more customs duties and gained valuable privileges from later rulers as well. Nowy Sącz also saw its fair share of disasters, as well as important personages: there were numerous fires and floods, which the town always strove to overcome as best it could. In 1683, the town welcomed King Jan III Sobieski as he returned from the siege of Vienna.
The partitions did not hinder the town's growth: new industrial enterprises related to the railroad were established, as well as many new sections of track. This does not mean that it was a time free of repression, however. The Austrians introduced a new crest for the town, in which St. Margaret for example was absent. The Josephine reforms meant the liquidation of the monasteries, which in turn had a negative impact on education in the town, since schools run by religious orders were also closed.
The old castle served as a warehouse for a military garrison, and its cellars were used by the partitioning power as a prison for Austria's political opponents.
In 1900, Nowy Sącz had a population of 15,724, of which 10,568 were Catholics; 252 were Greek Catholics; 217 were Lutherans and 4,687 were Jews. During the First World War, the Russian army was stationed in the town. After Poland regained its independence in 1918, the town�s economy and community revived during the interwar period, a number of organizations and associations were founded, and its population grew.
On 6 September 1939 the town was taken by the Germans, despite strong resistance on the part of its residents. Persecution, deportation and executions followed. Several days before the Red Army entered the town, on 17 January 1945, the Germans blew up the royal castle. The town's material losses during the Second World War came to 61%. The German occupiers killed 12,000 of the town�s residents; in 1945, the town had a population of 24,000. In January 1945, the Soviet army entered Sącz.
Jews in Nowy Sacz
The Jews appeared in Nowy Sącz for the first time in 1667, when Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki granted them the privilege of settlement within the city walls. A short time later, in 1699, the Nowy Sącz starost - Jerzy Paweł Lubomirski - granted the Jews a privilege allowing them to build a synagogue in the northwestern part of the town, where most of the town's Jews lived. The synagogue was built not far from the royal castle and was finished in 1746. It was constructed of bricks on a rectangular floor plan, and covered with a Polish type of mansard roof.
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The prayer room occupied three-quarters of the building, which was adorned with a ten-field monastery-type ceiling, supported on four pillars. Baroque in style, the interior was designed by an outstanding Polish artist, painter, poet and playwright - Stanisław Wyspiański, during his travels around the Sącz region in 1889. The synagogue also had a vestibule, as well as a room for sessions of the kahal and rabbinical court, and a women's gallery on the first floor (second, US style), accessed by a separate entrance. A fire that swept through the town in 1894 also destroyed the synagogue. It was rebuilt in the late nineteenth century style, which has been preserved to this day. The building's front is framed by square towers that are embedded into its façade.
During the Second World War, the synagogue was used as a warehouse for Jewish property. After the war, too, it still served as storage space for various types of goods, until the Kraków Community gave it to the town of Nowy Sącz in 1974. The destroyed building was taken over by the District Museum in Nowy Sącz for use as an art gallery. The building was completely renovated. The main room is covered by a coffered ceiling supported on its original pillars. The gallery is called "The Old Synagogue" and is on ul. Berka Joselewicza 12. It houses an exhibition of Sącz Judaica, whose curator is Elżbieta Długosz.
The synagogue. Photo: A.Olej&K. Kobus:
A dynasty of tsaddikim existed in Sącz, founded by Chaim Halberstam (d. 1875), and there was also a famous yeshiva. The cult of this tsaddik dynasty is still cultivated abroad, and the grave of tsaddik Halberstam is the site of frequent pilgrimages. One can see the modern matsevoth of Chaim�s descendants who were also tsaddikim in the renovated ohel that stands in the middle of the cemetery. The last of these, Mordechaj Halberstam, died in 1942 w Tarnów; rabbi Baruch Halberstam, who lived in Grybów, was killed by the Germans in Bełżec.
The Jews are also mentioned in the history of the Sącz churches, such as in the history of the medieval Franciscan church Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was one of the most popular churches attended by the Sącz burghers, and the monastery buildings were sometimes used for the sessions of noble sejmiki (regional councils). Jews also often built their homes nearby. Two large fires in the late eighteenth century destroyed the monastery, and the liquidation of the orders in 1785 meant its importance definitively waned. The Austrian authorities demolished the church, leaving only the chapel of the Transfiguration, where an icon associated with the town�s earliest days had been housed. The icon, however, was moved to the parish church, and Jewish buyers eventually acquired the surviving Franciscans� buildings and the chapel from the Austrian Treasury. Since they could not use buildings of this provenance for their own purposes, they in turn sold them to the Protestant community that was founded for German colonists in Nowy Sącz. Thus, a Lutheran church came to be housed in the former chapel of the Transformation. After the Second World War, it was nationalized and after 1950 it was returned to the Lutheran community.
The oldest kirkut in Nowy Sącz is on ul. P. Skargi on the �municipal escarpment�, and was known as the �Jewish okopisko� (regional word used to refer to Jewish cemeteries). The current kirkut was founded in the late nineteenth century and was expanded in 1926. It is surrounded by a wall and has its entrance on ul. Rybacka. The key to the cemetery and the ohel is kept by the Holcers at Rynek 12.
During the war, the cemetery was the site of executions of Poles and Jews, to whom a memorial obelisk was dedicated on 18 June 1959, with an inscription that reads: "To the victims of the Nazi barbarity and to the heroes of the struggle for the freedom of the Polish nation, 1939-1945". Jakub Müller is the caretaker of the Jewish cemetery.
An important date in the history of Nowy Sącz was 16 June 1999, when Pope John Paul II beatified Kinga the Blessed in Stary Sącz.
Regular cultural events:
- the feast of the town's patron, St. Margaret, in June
- Ada Sari Days of Vocal Music � in May, every other year
- Review of Wind Orchestras � June
- Festival of the Children of the Mountains: July-August
- Thursdays at the mayor�s � once a month
You are welcome to discuss about "Nowy Sacz"
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