Belzyce
Encyclopedia
Bełżyce AUD is a town
in eastern Poland
, in the Lublin Voivodeship
, in Lublin County
, and about 20 km to the west of the city of Lublin
.
against the Russia
n Tsar
. During the Protestant Reformation
, through the 16th and 17th centuries, Bełżyce was a center for the Polish brethren
, and a destination for reformist conventions and synod
al gatherings. According to the 1921 census
the town had a Jewish community consisting of 1882 people, or 50.9 percent of its total population. During the German occupation in Second World War 3500 residents of the city were killed or otherwise disappeared, a full 60 % of the population. Many, mostly Jewish, victims of the Majdanek
Nazi
concentration and extermination camp are buried at the Bełżyce cemetery.
Bełżyce was granted city status again in 1958, when the population had sufficiently recovered in numbers. Today, the town is a minor agricultural center, and home to a factory that produces creamery equipment. It is also the intersection of several highways.
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
in eastern Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe 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 Lublin Voivodeship
Lublin Voivodeship
- Administrative division :Lublin Voivodeship is divided into 24 counties : 4 city counties and 20 land counties. These are further divided into 213 gminas....
, in Lublin County
Lublin County
Lublin County is a unit of territorial administration and local government in Lublin Voivodeship, eastern Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its administrative seat is the city of Lublin, although the city is not part...
, and about 20 km to the west of the city of Lublin
Lublin
Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 350,392 . Lublin is also the largest Polish city east of the Vistula river...
.
History
Granted city rights in 1417, these rights were lost in 1869 in the aftermath of the failed January UprisingJanuary Uprising
The January Uprising was an uprising in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against the Russian Empire...
against the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n Tsar
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
. During the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
, through the 16th and 17th centuries, Bełżyce was a center for the Polish brethren
Polish Brethren
The Polish Brethren were members of the Minor Reformed Church of Poland, a Nontrinitarian Protestant church that existed in Poland from 1565 to 1658...
, and a destination for reformist conventions and synod
Synod
A synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...
al gatherings. According to the 1921 census
Polish census of 1921
The Polish census of 1921 or First General Census in Poland was the first census in the Second Polish Republic, performed on September 30, 1921 by the Main Bureau of Statistics ....
the town had a Jewish community consisting of 1882 people, or 50.9 percent of its total population. During the German occupation in Second World War 3500 residents of the city were killed or otherwise disappeared, a full 60 % of the population. Many, mostly Jewish, victims of the Majdanek
Majdanek
Majdanek was a German Nazi concentration camp on the outskirts of Lublin, Poland, established during the German Nazi occupation of Poland. The camp operated from October 1, 1941 until July 22, 1944, when it was captured nearly intact by the advancing Soviet Red Army...
Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
concentration and extermination camp are buried at the Bełżyce cemetery.
Bełżyce was granted city status again in 1958, when the population had sufficiently recovered in numbers. Today, the town is a minor agricultural center, and home to a factory that produces creamery equipment. It is also the intersection of several highways.
Historic Sites
- A castle that was built in 1417, captured by the CossackCossackCossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
forces of Bohdan KhmelnytskyBohdan KhmelnytskyBohdan Zynoviy Mykhailovych Khmelnytsky was a hetman of the Zaporozhian Cossack Hetmanate of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . He led an uprising against the Commonwealth and its magnates which resulted in the creation of a Cossack state...
in 1648, and, since Second World War, has been used as a dairy farm. - A late RenaissanceRenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
church.