Country Poland Gmina Rokitno Voivodeship Lublin Voivodeship | County Biała Podlaska County Local time Tuesday 4:14 PM | |
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Weather 12°C, Wind SW at 11 km/h, 75% Humidity | ||
Rokitno [rɔˈkʲitnɔ] is a village in Biała Podlaska County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland, close to the border with Belarus. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Rokitno. It lies approximately 15 kilometres (9 mi) north-east of Biała Podlaska and 109 km (68 mi) north-east of the regional capital Lublin.
Contents
Map of Rokitno, Poland
Early History
The land of Rokitno was originally owned by Princess Anila Rzyszczewska. Rokitno was once thought to have been a much larger city, extending eastward to the villages of Sohov and Osnitzek, prior to being reduced by decree.
Second World War
In 1939, the population of Rokitno was approximately 8,500, of whom approximately 2,000 were Jewish. The town was occupied by Nazis in August 1941, following the withdrawal of Soviet troops. All Jewish males aged fifteen and older were thereafter conscripted by the Germans into forced labour.
On August 26, 1942, the entire Jewish population of Rokitno was ordered into the market square, where persons were systematically shot or herded into waiting rail cars. An estimated 300 persons were killed in the market square that day. Those who were not shot at Rokitno were shipped by rail to Sarny, approximately forty kilometres away, where they and other Jews from neighbouring towns, amounting to between 14,000 and 18,000 persons, were shot in mass executions over the next two days, on August 27-28, 1942, in what became known as the Sarny Massacre. Those from Rokitno who survived the executions did so by escaping to the dense forest which surrounded the town. A monument commemorating those murdered has been erected in the Jewish cemetery at Rokitno; the cemetery has been preserved.