Zabłudów (; ) is a town in Białystok County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland, seat of Gmina Zabłudów.
History
thumb|left|Wooden Synagogue of Zabłudów in 1895
The town of Zabłudów was founded in 1553, it was also granted Magdeburg town rights. An annual fair and weekly market were established.
It was annexed by Prussia during the Third Partition of Poland in 1795. In 1800, the Prussian administration ordered the demolition of the local Catholic church, Germanisation attempts began, in 1803 a German school was founded.
During World War II, Zabłudów was occupied by the Soviets from 1939 to 1941 and by Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1944. On 23 June 1941, during their retreat, the Russians committed a massacre of 15 Poles in the vicinity of Zabłudów. Upon entering Zabłudów, the Germans burned part of the town, destroying the Zabłudów Synagogue in June 1941, and in July 1941, they created a ghetto for some 1,800 Polish Jews from the vicinity. On 2 November 1942, the ghetto was liquidated by Germans and the Blue Police and approximately 1,400 Jews were transported by Holocaust trains to the 10th Cavalry camp near Białystok and from there to the Treblinka extermination camp on November 10. All were gassed that day. A few dozen managed to hide from the ghetto roundup, though most of those were found and shot. Several local Polish and Belarusian families did shelter some Jews, but in May, 1945, seven of the ten survivors were shot by an armed Polish gang.
Prior to 1999 it was part of the Białystok Voivodeship.
Demographics
Points of interest
- Classicist Church of Saints Peter and Paul at the market square built in 1805-1840
- Eastern Orthodox Church of Virgin Mary at the main square built between 1847–1855
- Chapel of Saint Roch, built in the 18th century
See also
- Monastery of the Dormition of the Mother of God, Zabłudów
References
- Town History related to Jews at Tilford Bartman