Gmina Garwolin (urban gmina) Time zone CET (UTC+1) Area 22.08 km² | County Garwolin County Town rights 15th century Postal code 08-400 Population 16,710 (2009) Local time Friday 10:22 PM | |
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Weather 4°C, Wind W at 5 km/h, 79% Humidity | ||
Garwolin [ɡarˈvɔlʲin] is a town on the Wilga river in eastern Poland, capital of Garwolin County, situated in the southeast part of the Garwolin plateau in Masovian Voivodeship (since 1999, before: Siedlce Voivodeship), 62 km southeast of Warsaw, 100 km northwest of Lublin. There are about 16,000 inhabitants in the town.
Contents
Map of Garwolin, Poland
History
Traces of settlement on terrains of present days boundaries of Garwolin are more than 2000 years old. It is believed that Garwolin received its city charter in 1423, but the exact date is unknown; it is almost certain that the document from 1423 was only acknowledgement of before-stated city laws. In time of the Deluge casualties exceeded 90%.
During World War II and the Nazi occupation of Poland, about 70% of the city was destroyed. The town and the powiat were administered by Kreishauptmann Karl Freudenthal, who was responsible for the murder of more than 1000 inhabitants, the deportation of several thousand local Poles to Nazi concentration camps and slave labor in Nazi Germany, and the transfer of the local Jews to various ghettos in the region. For his war crimes, Freudenthal was sentenced to death by the Polish underground, and the sentence was carried out by the Home Army on 5 July 1944, as part of Operacja Główki ("Operation Heads").
At the end of July 1944 the Red Army's 2nd Guards Tank Army, under the command of Alexei Radzievsky, routed the German 73rd Infantry Division at Garwolin, capturing its commander, Friedrich Franek.
After the war Garwolin was restored and enlarged. The Neo-baroque church, dating from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, is a notable building.
Education
Economy
Centre of industry and services; machine, means of transport, nutritive (milk co-operative, meat) industries, clothing, leather, construction materials, furniture and cosmetics manufactures.
Transport
In distance of 5 km from town railway route Warszawa-Lublin proceeds; station Garwolin is placed in nearby village Wola Rębkowska.