Będzin

Infobox Settlement
name = Będzin
motto = Civitas Regi Bendzinensis


imagesize = 250px
image_caption = Będzin Castle

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image_shield = POL Będzin COA.svg
pushpin_

pushpin_label_position = bottom
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = POL
subdivision_type1 = Voivodeship
subdivision_name1 = Silesian
subdivision_type2 = County
subdivision_name2 = Będzin County
subdivision_type3 = Gmina
subdivision_name3 = Będzin (urban gmina)
leader_title = Mayor
leader_name = Radosław Baran
established_title = Established
established_date = 9th century
established_title3 = Town rights
established_date3 = 1358
elevation_min_m = 260
elevation_max_m = 382
area_total_km2 = 37.08
population_as_of = 2006
population_total = 58659
population_density_km2 = auto
population_metro = 3487000
timezone = CET
utc_offset = +1
timezone_DST = CEST
utc_offset_DST = +2
latd = 50
latm = 20
lats =
latNS = N
longd = 19
longm = 7
longs =
longEW = E
postal_code_type = Postal code
postal_code = 42-500
area_code = +48 32
blank_name = Car plates
blank_info = SBE
website = http://www.bedzin.pl

Będzin Audio-IPA-pl|pl-bedzin.ogg|'|b|e|n|dź|i|n ( _yi. "Bendin" בענדין, _de. Bendzin) is a town in Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland. It has a population of 58,659 (2006), and covers an area of convert|37|km2|sqmi.

Situated in Silesian Voivodeship since 1999, previously in Katowice Voivodship (1975-1998), it is now the seat of Będzin County. Historically, it lies in the Zagłębie Dąbrowskie (Zaglembia) region of Lesser Poland, which borders Silesia proper.

Until World War II, Będzin had a vibrant Jewish community but in September, 1939 the German Army (Wehrmacht) overran this area, followed by the SS death squads (Einsatzgruppen), who burned the Będzin synagogue and murdered many of the Jewish inhabitants. Eventually, in the summer of 1943, most of the Jews in Będzin were deported to the nearby German concentration camp at Auschwitz and exterminated in the Holocaust. Since Będzin was one of the last Polish communities to be liquidated, there are a relatively greater number of survivors from there, and an extensive collection of their personal photographs were recovered, offering a photographic insight into the pre-war life there.

Notable inhabitants

*Rutka Laskier, diarist (1929-1943)
*Jean-Marie Lustiger's parents

References and other sources

*cite book
last = Weiss
first = Ann
title = The Last Album: Eyes from the Ashes of Auschwitz-Birkenau, 2nd ed.
publisher = Jewish Publication Society of America
date = 2005
location = Philadelphia
pages = 32-37
isbn = 0-393-01670-6

External links

* [http://www.bedzin.pl Official web page of the city of Będzin] (Polish)
* [http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/bedzin/bedzin.html A Memorial to the Jewish Community of Będzin]
* [http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Zaglembie/Zaglembie.html Będzin, Czeladź, Dąbrowa Górnicza, Sławków, Sosnowiec]