Tykocin

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Tykocin
Market Square with the statue of hetman Stefan Czarniecki
Market Square with the statue of hetman Stefan Czarniecki
Coat of arms of Tykocin
Coat of arms
Tykocin is located in Poland
Tykocin
Tykocin
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Country  Poland
Voivodeship Podlaskie
County Białystok
Gmina Tykocin
Established 11th century
Town rights 1425
Government
 • Mayor Krzysztof Chlebowicz
Population (2012)
 • Total 2,010
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 16-080
Area code(s) +48 85
Car plates BIA
Website tykocin.podlaskie.pl

Tykocin [tɨˈkɔt͡ɕin] Yiddish: ‎טיקטין) is an old, smaller size town in north-eastern Poland, with 2,010 inhabitants (2012), located on the Narew river. Tykocin has been situated in the Podlaskie Voivodeship since 1999. Previously, it belonged to Białystok Voivodeship (1975-1998). It is one of the oldest settlements in the region.

History of the town

The name of Tykocin was first mentioned in the 11th century and through the 14th century it was a Duchy of Masovian castellany seat and castle on the Masovian border neighboring the growing medieval pagan Lithuania. Tykocin received city rights from prince Janusz I of Warsaw in 1425, but several months later it was given to Grand Duchy of Lithuania by the Polish king Władysław II Jagiełło.

Shortly later, or about 1433 AD, Duke Sigismund Kęstutaitis gave the town along with other towns to Jonas Gostautas, and it became the most important power seat of that Lithuanian magnate Gostautai family clan. During the 1560s, upon the family's last member passing away, the town became one of the most favorite properties for Polish king and Lithuanian Grand Prince Sigismund II Augustus who had a Renaissance castle built there instead of the medieval one. It became property of the Crown and eventually it was awarded to hetman Stefan Czarniecki, later on through marriage of Czarniecki's daughters it passed to Branicki Gryf coat-of-arms family.

After the Partitions of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth one of the Branickis, Isabela Branicka sold the town to the Prussian government circa 1795. In 1807 it was given to Russia as a part of the Treaty of Tilsit. In 1815 it was returned to the Kingdom of Poland. During the interwar period, the population of Tykocin had reached an estimated 4,000 inhabitants. In 1950 Tykocin lost its city rights due to heavy loss of life during World War II, only to regain it in 1993 after the collapse of communism.

The Holocaust

The Jewish population of Tykocin estimated at 2,000 people was eradicated by Nazi Germans during the Holocaust. On 25–26 August 1941 the Jewish residents of Tykocin were assembled at the market square for "relocation", and then marched and trucked by the Nazis into the nearby Łopuchowo forest,[1][2] where they were executed in waves into pits by SS Einsatzkommando Zichenau-Schroettersburg under SS-Obersturmführer Hermann Schaper.[3] A memorial now exists outside the city for the Tykocin pogrom.

Points of interest

  • Tykocin Castle built before 1469, extended in 16th century and partially reconstructed in 2005
  • The Baroque Tykocin Synagogue Bejt ha-Kneset ha-Godol, built in 1642, one of the best preserved in Poland from that period, is a major tourist attraction.
  • A baroque Church of the Holy Trinity and former monastery of Congregation of Mission founded in 1742 by Jan Klemens Branicki
  • Baroque monastery dating from 1771–90
  • Former military hospital from 1755
  • Jewish cemetery – one of the oldest in Poland
  • a lot of white storks and their nests

  • Church of the Holy Trinity

  • Baroque Jewish Synagogue

  • Castle after reconstruction

  • Main altar at Holy Trinity

  • Monument of Stefan Czarniecki on the square

Notable individuals

See also

References

  1. ↑ (Polish) "Rocznica zagłady żydowskiego Tykocina," (commemoration) Gazeta Wyborcza Białystok, 24 August 2009
  2. ↑ Tykocin na mapie polskich judaików, at www.kirkuty.xip.pl
  3. ↑ Alexander B. Rossino, "Contextualizing Anti-Jewish Violence in the Białystok District during the Opening Weeks of Operation Barbarossa", Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry, Volume 16 (2003)
  4. ↑ Jan Smółko, deposition made available by the Ostberg Foundation, New York; Okręgowa Komisja Badania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu w Białymstoku, Merkuriusz Mszonowski, 4(150), 2009, page 34

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