Kurow

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Kur?w is a village in South-Eastern Poland, located between Pu?awy and Lublin, on the Kur?wka River. It is capital of a separate gmina within the Lublin Voivodship and has roughly 2800 inhabitants (as of 1998).

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Between 1431 and 1442 the village was granted with city rights based on the Magdeburg Law. As a private town, it served as a centre of foodstuffs trade for the surrounding area. Several fur and leather production manufactories were also located there. In 16th century it was one of the centres of Calvinism, as many of the Polish Brethren settled there. Gradually, until 1660, most of the inhabitants converted to Arianism.

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In 1670 the town was struck by a plague and lost the city charter, but regained it soon afterwards. Since then it shared the history of the whole region. After the Partitions of Poland, in 1795, it was annexed by Austria. In 1809 it became part of the Duchy of Warsaw, only to become part of the Kingdom of Poland in 1815. During the November Uprising, in February of 1831, a minor Battle of Kur?w took place there, with Polish forces under general J?zef Dwernicki defeating the Russian units. After the January Uprising, in 1870 the town finally lost the city charter, never to regain it. Since 1918 it is again part of Poland.

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During the Polish Defensive War, at the outbreak of World War II, on September 9, 1939, the town was heavily bombed by German Luftwaffe. Among the targets destroyed was a civilian hospital (marked with red crosses), where many victims perished. During the War, Germany set up two slave labour camps in the town. In 1942 also a minor ghetto was established there, but the majority of Poles imprisoned there managed to escape and joined the Home Army units operating in the forests nearby.

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Among the notable tourist attractions is a renaissance church (refurbished in 1692) with a grave of the Zb?ski family and sculptures by Santi Gucci (1587). It is also known as the birthplace of general Wojciech Jaruzelski. It is also proable that the emmigrants from Kur?w gave name to a settlement of Kurow in New Zealand.

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Pu?awy: Pu?awy is a city in eastern Poland, in Lublin Voivodship (province), on the Wis?a (Vistula) River and Kur?wka River. According to the 2004 GUS census estimate, the town had a total population of 49,864. Pu?awy is the capital of Pu?awy County....

Lublin: Lublin (pronounce: ) is the biggest city in eastern Poland and the capital of Lublin Voivodship with a population of 355,954 (2004)....

Gmina: Gmina is the principal unit (lowest level) of the territorial division in Poland, and is equivalent to a commune or municipality. In 2004 there are 2478 gminas. Each gmina can also contain several smaller villages. The word is derived from German Gemeinde....