Końskowola

Infobox Settlement
name = Końskowola
settlement_type = Village
total_type =


image_shield = POL gmina Końskowola COA.svg


subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = POL
subdivision_type1 = Voivodeship
subdivision_name1 = Lublin
subdivision_type2 = County
subdivision_name2 = Puławy
subdivision_type3 = Gmina
subdivision_name3 = Końskowola
latd = 51
latm = 25
lats =
latNS = N
longd = 22
longm = 3
longs =
longEW = E
pushpin_

pushpin_label_position = bottom
elevation_m =
leader_title = Mayor
leader_name = Ewa Gruza
established_title = Established
established_date = 14th century
established_title3 = City rights
established_date3 = 1532-1870
area_total_km2 = 9.81
population_as_of = 2004
population_total = 2188
population_density_km2 = 223
timezone = CET
utc_offset = +1
timezone_DST = CEST
utc_offset_DST = +2
postal_code_type = Postal code
postal_code = 24-130
area_code = +48 81
blank_name = Car Plates
blank_info = LPU
website = http://www.konskowola.info.pl

Końskowola IPA-pl| [|k|o|ń|s|k|o|'|w|o|l|a|] is a village in southeastern Poland, located between Puławy and Lublin, near Kurów, on the Kurówka River. It is the capital of a separate commune ("gmina") within Puławy County and Lublin Voivodeship, called Gmina Końskowola. Population: 2,188 inhabitants (as of 2004).

Name

Końskowola literally translates as "Horse's Will", but its name came from "Wola" - a type of village, and its owner's name - Jan z Konina (Jan Koniński, John of Konin). The name Konińskawola is noted in 1442.

History

The village was founded probably in the 14th century, under the name Witowska Wola. Its name was later changed to Konińskawola, its present form, in the 19th century.

On June 8, 1532, the town was incorporated. As a private town, Końskowola served as a centre of the foodstuffs trade for the surrounding area. Several textile production factories were also located there. Many people immigrated there from other parts of Poland and elsewhere as well; among others were many immigrants from Saxony.

Since then, it has shared the history of the entire region. After the third partition of Poland, in 1795, it was annexed by Austria. In 1809 it became part of the Duchy of Warsaw, only to become part of the Kingdom of Poland in 1815. After the January Uprising, in 1870 the town finally lost the city charter, never to regain it. During the Russian Revolution of 1905, many demonstrations and strikes of solidarity were organized there. Since 1918, the town is again part of Poland.

With the onset of the Second World War, on September 15, 1939, Końskowola was taken by German troops and occupied. During the course of WWII, the Germans set up a POW camp and camps for slave labour in the town. The POW camp was soon liquidated, but a labour camp continued in operation through 1943. The inmates worked for Germans on farms, and on construction sites of roads and railroads.

A ghetto was established in the town, to which many groups of Jews were relocated, including Jews from Slovakia. On May 8, 1942, the Nazis conducted an "Aktion" in which many Jews were rounded up and transported to the Nazi extermination camp Sobibor. In October 1942, the ghetto' population was liquidated. In a massacre carried out by German troops: the Reserve Police Battalion 101, some 800-1000 Jews, among them women and children, were taken to a nearby forest and slaughtered. The ghetto's remaining inhabitants were transferred to another camp.

With the approach of Red Army forces in the summer of 1944, the Germans had plans to burn the town. On July 25, 1944, the German occupation forces were engaged in battle by fighters of the Polish underground Armia Krajowa, joined by Polish partisans of the Bataliony Chłopskie. With the arrival of Soviet Red Army troops, the combined antifascist combatants succeeded in securing the area's liberation.

Tourism

Among the notable tourist attractions is a Catholic church (restored c. 1670 in a project by Tylman van Gameren) with the graves of the Opaliński and Lubomirski families. There is also another old Catholic church, built in 1613 in the "Lublin Renaissance" architectural style, whose finest exemplars are this church in Konskowola and one in Kazimierz Dolny. There are also the remains of a Lutheran cemetery.

Końskowola is also known as the place of death of the Polish poets: Franciszek Dionizy Kniaźnin and Franciszek Zabłocki.

Trivia

Henryk Sienkiewicz, a famous Polish author, Nobel prize winner, noted for his historical novel "With Fire and Sword" including a mention of:
- "(...) Very poor beer also in this Końskowola, Mr. Zagłoba noticed (...)"

External links

* [http://www.sobibor.info/transports.html Sobibor transport list]
* [http://www.ushmm.org/uia-cgi/uia_query/photos?hr=null&query=kw123812 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]