Biłgoraj

The area of current Biłgoraj was covered by dense forests and swamps, where establishment of human settlements was difficult. In the first half of the 16th century, local noble family of Gorajski built first settlements in this sparsely populated corner of Lesser Poland. At that time, the villages of Gromada, Dąbrowica and Olendrów were founded.

The town of Biłgoraj was officially established in 1570 by Adam Gorajski, and incorporated by King Stefan Batory at Lviv on September 10, 1578. Its main market square was placed on the hill called Bialy Goraj. The town, surrounded by rivers, held a strategic position and was easy to defend. Biłgoraj quickly grew, due to a busy merchant road from Jarosław to Lublin. Biłgoraj town was surrounded by a defensive wall with watchtowers, although the town's further growth extended into suburbs. A bridge was built over the Biala Lada. Until 1693 Biłgoraj remained in the hands of the Gorajski family. Throughout the 18th century, it belonged either to the Szczuka family or the Potocki family. Most houses in Biłgoraj were made of wood, which resulted in several fires. Furthermore, the wars of the mid-17th century destroyed the town twice; first in 1648, when the town was burned by the Cossacks of Bohdan Khmelnytsky; then in 1655, by the Swedes during the deluge.

Biłgoraj was an important center of the Bar Confederation, and in the area of the town several skirmishes took place between the Poles and the Russians. After the Partition of Poland, Biłgoraj was annexed by the Austrian Empire, and in 1809 it became part of Duchy of Warsaw (since 1815, Russian-controlled Congress Kingdom). In the late 18th century its population was 3,000; and grew to 6,000 by 1865. At that time, it was the third biggest town of Lublin Governorate, after Lublin and Hrubieszów.[5]

In 1806 following the Partitions, Biłgoraj – which was still privately owned and on the verge of bankruptcy – was purchased by the local entrepreneur named Stanisław Nowakowski,[6] who built for himself a palace in Biłgoraj's district of Roznowka, modelled after Warsaw's famous Łazienki Palace. The town remained in the hands of the Nowakowski family until 1850, when it was sold to the Tsarist official Nikolay Platonov (Mikołaj Płatonow), and in 1864 appropriated by the government as the seat of a county. During the January Uprising, several skirmishes took place Biłgoraj and its vicinity.

In 1918 Biłgoraj returned to newly created Second Polish Republic. Its population in 1921 reached 5,600. In 1928, electrification reached the town, but Biłgoraj nevertheless remained poor and underdeveloped, where most houses were constructed of wood. Historically, the town was a center of a large Jewish community, whose population in 1931 reached 4,596.[7]

On September 11, 1939, a unit of German-minority Fifth column agents set fire to the town, which destroyed most of it. A few days later Nazi German troops entered the town and immediately organized anti-Jewish pogroms. Furthermore, the Luftwaffe bombed Biłgoraj twice (September 8 and 14). On September 15–16, 1939 units of Kraków Army and Lublin Army retreating towards Tomaszow Lubelski, fought the Wehrmacht in the Battle of Biłgoraj. The Germans tried to capture the towns several times, but they did not manage to do so until September 17, after yet another fire. On September 28, units of the Red Army entered Biłgoraj, but they retreated after a few weeks, and the town became part of the Nazi-ruled General Government. On June 25, 1940, a ghetto was established.

During the German occupation, Biłgoraj was an important center of the resistance. Local units of the Home Army and other clandestine organizations took part in the Zamość Uprising. Germans knew well that Solska Forest was filled with Polish fighters, and the Poles frequently attacked German units in Biłgoraj. The most famous incident of this kind took place on September 24, 1943, when a Home Army unit under Tadeusz Sztumberk-Rychter attacked Biłgoraj's prison, releasing 72 inmates, including Ludwik Ehrlich.

There was also Jewish partisan resistance in the Bilgoraj area. On August 17 and August 26, 1943, two other clashes are recorded: one in the village of Podgranicznik, 30 km. northwest of Krasnystaw, in which two Jews were killed; and another in the village of Poreba, 26 km. east of Bilgoraj, between a large partisan unit and the Nazi German Truppenzpolizei.[8]

Six transports to Belzec gas chambers took place from Bilgoraj: 500 Jews in April, 1942; 1,000 Jews in May, 1942; 1,200 Jews in August, 1942; 5,000 Jews in September, 1942; 500 Jews in October, 1942; and 2,000 Jews in November, 1942. On Jan. 15, 1943, the last 27 survivors who had remained in hiding were shot. Very few of the Jewish partisans from Bilgoraj survived the war due to great efforts by the Nazi Germans to hunt them down in the woods.[9]

Most of Biłgoraj's Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.[10] Only around 50 Jews survived the war. The Germans left Biłgoraj on July 24, 1944. During the war, 80% of the town was destroyed, and it lost 50% of its population.

After 1945 Biłgoraj was rebuilt, becoming by 1975 a regional industrial center. The town was a part of the Lublin Voivodeship from 1945 to 1975, Zamość Voivodeship from 1975 to 1998, and once again in Lublin Voivodeship since 1999.

Biłgoraj is twinned with:

• Afula in Israel
• Bílina in Czech Republic
• Crailsheim in Germany
• Kelmė in Lithuania
• Stropkov in Slovakia
• Novovolynsk in Ukraine

Former twin towns:

• Kruhlaye in Belarus

Cooperation with Kruhlaye was ended due to Belarusian involvement in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.