Bychawa

History

The gord, located at the site of current Bychawa, existed as early as the 9th and 10th centuries. The town was first mentioned in historical documents from the 14th century. In 1537, King Sigismund I the Old granted Bychawa Magdeburg town rights and established two annual fairs. It was a private town in the Lublin Voivodeship in the Lesser Poland Province of the Kingdom of Poland. The town developed successfully, trade and crafts flourished, including weapons production, and In the second half of the 1930s, due to the worsening economic situation and intensifying anti-Semitic atmosphere, the situation of Jews in Bychawa systematically declined, which led to an increase in the emigration rate. On the eve of the outbreak of World War II, Jewry made up only half of the entire population in Bychawa. The Germans created a ghetto in Bychawa in December 1940 during World War II, and around 2,600 Jews lived in the ghetto in 1942. Jews from Bychawa were transported to the ghetto in Bełżyce and then to the Sobibor extermination camp on 11 October 1942. Apart from regular mass exterminations in Bełżec, the Nazis also carried out individual executions around the town. In July 1944, as part of Operation Tempest, the Polish Home Army liberated Bychawa from German occupation, and a few days later, the Soviets entered the town. From 1956 to 1975, Bychawa was the seat of Bychawa County. In 1958, town rights were restored. In 1962, a Culture House was built. In 1966, a housing cooperative was founded.

Most-observed species

• Eurasian Collared-Dove

  Streptopelia decaocto (Frivaldszky, 1838) · Aves
  173
• Common Wood-Pigeon

  Columba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  145
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  135
• Eurasian Tree Sparrow

  Passer montanus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  135
• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  128
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  114
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  108
• Barn Swallow

  Hirundo rustica Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  107