Łosice

History

Łosice was first mentioned in 1264, as a medieval settlement from around the 11th–13th centuries; situated near the village of Dzięcioły. However, the location prevented the town's further development and in the late 15th and early 16th century, the community was moved to Łosice's present location. The first documented history of the town is preserved in the privileges issued by King Alexander Jagiellon in Radom on May 10, 1505; thus releasing Łosice from under the Ruthenian and Lithuanian city laws, and giving it more progressive Magdeburg rights. Private judiciary was revoked enabling the inhabitants to form a municipal government with a mayor and city council. The privileges allowed also for weekly markets and four fairs a year at a more convenient location; and, proposed the establishment of a town hall. A nearly complete destruction of Łosice came about during the Swedish Deluge of 1655–1660. Only in the second half of the 18th century, the town began to gradually recover. In 1975–1998, it was administratively located in the Biała Podlaska Voivodeship. Between the world wars, there were approximately 2,900 Jews in Łosice, about 70% of its inhabitants. They were living a full life there, handling with politics, religion, economic, youth groups and everyday life. In 1920, a pogrom took place against the town's Jewish by the local Polish citizens. On September 12, 1939, during the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland which started World War II, the town was taken over by the Germans, but shortly thereafter it was transferred to the Soviet Union. In the wake of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the town returned under German occupation, and they began to rob and murder Jews. The Judenrat that has been established in the town in early 1940, headed by Gershon Levin,…