Parczew

Infobox Settlement
name = Parczew
image_shield = POL Parczew COA.svg
pushpin_

pushpin_label_position = bottom
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = POL
subdivision_type1 = Voivodeship
subdivision_name1 = Lublin
subdivision_type2 = County
subdivision_name2 = Parczew County
subdivision_type3 = Gmina
subdivision_name3 = Gmina Parczew
leader_title = Mayor
leader_name = Paweł Kędracki
area_total_km2 = 8.05
population_as_of = 2006
population_total = 10281
population_density_km2 = auto
timezone = CET
utc_offset = +1
timezone_DST = CEST
utc_offset_DST = +2
latd = 51 | latm = 38 | lats = | latNS = N | longd = 22 | longm = 52 | longs = | longEW = E
postal_code_type = Postal code
postal_code = 21-200
blank_name = Car plates
blank_info = LPA
website = http://parczew.com

Parczew [IPA-pl|'|p|a|r|cz|e|f] is a town in eastern Poland, with a population of 10,352 (2004).

Situated in the Lublin Voivodeship (since 1999), previously in Biała Podlaska Voivodeship (1975-1998). It is the capital of Parczew County.

History

The town is one of the oldest in the Lublin region. A settlement known by the name existed already in the 12th century, and was granted a town charter in 1401. An organized Jewish community existed in the town since the early 16th century. Just before the outbreak of World War II the Jewish community numbered 5,000, more than half of the town's population. During the German occupation, in the course of the Holocaust, the Jewish population was first confined to a ghetto, then its inmates were deported to Treblinka in September, 1942 and murdered there. A number of Jewish partisan groups operated in the forests around the town.

After the war, Parczew was one of the very few shtetls in which an attempt was made to re-establish the Jewish community. About 200 Jews were inhabiting the town by early 1946. In February 1946 local anti-communist partisan unit seized control the town and carried out a pogrom. In the following hours three Jewish men were executed, and most Jewish households were robbed. After these events almost all Jews fled the town to seek refuge in larger cities.