Ostrów Mazowiecka

Template:Short description Template:Infobox settlement Ostrów Mazowiecka (Template:IPAc-pl; Template:Langx) is a town in eastern Poland Template:TERYT with 23,486 inhabitants (2004). It is the capital of Ostrów Mazowiecka County in Masovian Voivodeship.

History

Ostrów was granted town rights in 1434 by Duke Bolesław IV of Warsaw.<ref name=ost>Template:Cite web</ref> Its name comes from the Old Polish word ostrowa.<ref name=ost/> In 1461 a parish school was founded in the town.<ref name=ost/> In 1514, Duchess Anna Radziwiłł, who is commemorated in the town with a monument, established four annual fairs and a weekly market, boosting the development of Ostrów.<ref name=ost/> In the 16th century Polish King Sigismund II Augustus built a residence in Ostrów.<ref name=ost/> Ostrów was a Polish royal town, administratively located in the Masovian Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province of the Kingdom of Poland.

The town's inhabitants took part in the Kościuszko Uprising of 1794;<ref name=ost/> however, the following year it was annexed by Prussia in the Third Partition of Poland. In 1807 it was included in the short-lived Polish Duchy of Warsaw, and in 1815 it became part of so-called Congress Poland within the Russian Partition of Poland. Many inhabitants took part in several battles of the Polish January Uprising of 1863–1864 against Russia, and an insurgent hospital was located in Ostrów.<ref name=ost/> Ostrów was subjected to anti-Polish repressions, was one of the sites of Russian executions of Polish insurgents, and there are memorials at the execution sites.<ref name=ost/> Despite such circumstances, in the following decades, various Polish organizations were founded in Ostrów.<ref name=ost/> In the 19th century, the town saw a significant influx of Jewish settlers as a result of Russian discriminatory policies, and according to the 1897 census, 5,660 inhabitants out of 10,471 were Jews.<ref name=jgen>Template:Cite web</ref> During World War I, it was occupied by Germany, and after the war, in 1918, it became part of restored independent Poland. In 1919 a reserve battalion of the Polish 15th Wolves Infantry Regiment was stationed in Ostrów Mazowiecka.<ref name=ww>Template:Cite book</ref> It trained Polish soldiers to reinforce the 15th Wolves Infantry Regiment during the Polish–Soviet War.<ref name=ww/> In 1920 a battle was fought on the town's outskirts during the Polish–Soviet War.<ref name=ost/> After the war, the battalion with the entire regiment was relocated to Dęblin in 1921.<ref name=ww/>

World War II

During the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland, which started World War II, Ostrów Mazowiecka was captured by Germany on September 8, 1939,<ref name=ost/> and in mid-September the Einsatzgruppe V entered the town to commit various atrocities against the population.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Already on 19 September the Germans arrested nine Poles, including chairmen of local veterans' organizations Włodzimierz Gadomski and Jan Radbalski.<ref>Wardzyńska, p. 112</ref> On 9 November 1939, one of the German soldiers set fire to the buildings on 3-ego Maja Street. The German authorities accused the Jews of starting the fire. On 11 November (though according to other sources, on 10 November) 500–800 Jews were killed by the German police in the Ostrów Mazowiecka massacre.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Polish underground resistance movement was organized already in autumn of 1939.<ref name=ost/> The first resistance organizations in the area were Service for Poland's Victory, Template:Ill, Template:Ill, National Military Organization, Secret Polish Army, Template:Ill, Template:Ill, Template:Ill.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Major Eugeniusz Mieszkowski nom de guerre Ostry unified the resistance organizations into a district of the Home Army under the cryptonym "Opocznik" ("wheatear").<ref name=akom10>Księga pamięci żołnierzy Armii Krajowej Obwodu Ostrów Maz. 1939-1944, p. 10</ref> It covered the Ostrów County, and was divided into five centers, one of which was located in the town.<ref name=akom10/> In addition to typical military, sabotage, and intelligence activities, the resistance movement also organized secret Polish education and issued and distributed underground Polish press.<ref>Księga pamięci żołnierzy Armii Krajowej Obwodu Ostrów Maz. 1939-1944, p. 16</ref> On May 1, 1943, the Home Army blew up the headquarters of the German Arbeitsamt in retaliation for round-ups and deportations of the local population for forced labour.<ref>Księga pamięci żołnierzy Armii Krajowej Obwodu Ostrów Maz. 1939-1944, p. 14</ref> On May 25, 1943, the Polish resistance successfully assassinated the chief of the local German administration, in retaliation for which the Germans massacred about 140 Poles.<ref name=ost/> The German occupation ended in 1944, and Ostrów was restored to Poland, although with a Soviet-installed communist regime, which stayed in power until the Fall of Communism in the 1980s. The NKVD and UB repressed members of the Polish resistance movement and began arresting and deporting them to the Soviet Union in September 1944.<ref name=akom23>Księga pamięci żołnierzy Armii Krajowej Obwodu Ostrów Maz. 1939-1944, p. 23</ref> Many members of the Home Army soon returned to the underground and continued their resistance against the communists.<ref name=akom23/> Template:Historical populations

Transport

Ostrów Mazowiecka is located at the intersection of Polish S8 and S61 highways.

It currently has no railway station or passenger rail service. The nearest train stations are in the towns of Ostrołęka and in the village of Małkinia Górna.

Although there are plans to begin the design and re-construction of the railway line between Ostrołęka and Małkinia Górna in 2027 <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

International relations

Template:See also

Twin towns – Sister cities

Ostrów Mazowiecka is twinned with:

Template:Flagicon Brembate di Sopra, Italy
Template:Flagicon Ryazan, Russia
Template:Flagicon Iziaslav, Ukraine

Notable people

Asher Zebi of Ostrowo (19th century), rabbi
Jadwiga Długoborska (1899–1944), teacher, social and charity worker
Jan Dołęga-Zakrzewski (1866–1936), politician, surveyor, publicist, mayor of Ostrów Mazowiecka (1930–1933)
Beata Mazurek (born 1967), politician
Krystyna Sienkiewicz (1934–2017), actress and singer