About Parczew

 Parczew is a town in eastern Poland, with a population of 10,352 (2004).
Situated in the Lublin Voivodeship (since 1999), previously in Biała Podlaska Voivodeship (1975-1998). It is the capital of Parczew County.

History

The town is one of the oldest in the Lublin region. A settlement known by the name existed already in the 12th century, and was granted a town charter in 1401. An organized Jewish community existed in the town since the early 16th century. Just before the outbreak of World War II the Jewish community numbered 5,000, more than half of the town's population. During the German occupation, in the course of the Holocaust, the Jewish population was first confined to a ghetto, then its inmates were deported to Treblinka in September, 1942 and murdered there. A number of Jewish partisan groups operated in the forests around the town.

After the war, Parczew was one of the very few shtetls in which an attempt was made to re-establish the Jewish community. About 200 Jews were inhabiting the town by early 1946. In February 1946 local anti-communist partisan unit seized control the town and carried out a pogrom. In the following hours three Jewish men were executed, and most Jewish households were robbed. After these events almost all Jews fled the town to seek refuge in larger cities.