Staszów

History

First mention of the town comes from 1241, when, during first Mongol invasion of Poland, the village of Staszów was burned, together with its wooden parish church. In 1345, new stone church of St. Bartholomew was built, and in the 1440s, the village of Staszów was mentioned in Jan Długosz's Liber Beneficiorum Dioecesis Cracoviensis. In the early 16th century, Staszów had a market square with a town hall, surrounded by tenement houses. The first Jews settled in Staszów around the time it was awarded city status, in 1526, and a shortly after an organized Jewish community was established there. In 1580 it emerged as one of centers of Protestant Reformation in Lesser Poland, with Polish Brethren active here. The town belonged to several noble families, including the Opaliński and the Tęczyński. In 1610 The Jewish inhabitants were accused of a blood libel of ritual murder. A trial took place, after which they were expelled from the city. Even after the deportation, several Jews remained, who also suffered from blood libels. In 1942 the Jędrusie resistance organization robbed a local savings bank to raise funds for resistance activities. The Germans occupied Staszów in September 1939 and immediately began to rob and brutalize the Jewish population which then comprised about half of Staszów's 11,000 inhabitants. Jews from other towns, including from Austria, were brought to Staszów. Both those Jews and local Jews were obligated to perform forced labor for the Germans, building roads and draining swamps, among other tasks. The influx of people brought about epidemic diseases, including both typhus and typhoid. Beginning in January 1942, Jews were forbidden to leave the town. A two part ghetto with more than 6,000 inhabitants was established in June 1942 and more Jews were…

Most-observed species

• Common Buzzard

  Buteo buteo (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  203
• Common Wood-Pigeon

  Columba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  196
• Barn Swallow

  Hirundo rustica Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  177
• Common Chaffinch

  Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  176
• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  171
• White Wagtail

  Motacilla alba Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  164
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  162
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  161