Белая Подляска: История и судьба города

the village of the same name

Biała Podlaska (; Alba Ducalis) is a city in eastern Poland with 56,498 inhabitants as of 2021. In 1569, Biała Podlaska changed ownership; the new owners were the Radziwiłł family. Under their rule, Biała Podlaska had been growing for two and a half centuries. In 1622, Aleksander Ludwik Radziwiłł built the fortress and the castle. In 1628, Krzysztof Ciborowicz Wilski established Bialska Academy as a regional center of education (since 1633 it was a branch of the Jagiellonian University, then called Kraków Academy). It was one of the best schools in Poland in that time (about 1650–1700). During this time, many churches were erected, as was a hospital. The prosperity period ended with the Swedish invasion in 1655. Then Biała Podlaska was attacked by Cossacks and Rákóczi armies. The town was significantly destroyed; however, thanks to Michał Kazimierz Radziwiłł and his wife Katarzyna Sobieska, it was rebuilt. In 1670, Michał Kazimierz Radziwiłł gives Biała Podlaska town rights and the coat of arms, which depicts archangel Michael standing on a dragon. The last commander of the regiment, lieutenant colonel Wacław Budrewicz, was taken prisoner of war by the Soviets and murdered by them in the 1940 Katyn massacre, in which also multiple Polish teachers and policemen from the city, and alumni of local schools were murdered. World War II halted the town's development because of Nazi and Soviet repression. The Germans captured Biała Podlaska on 13 September 1939, but withdrew on 26 September to allow the Soviets to a station in the town. But, on 10 October 1939, in accordance with the terms of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviets departed and the town was reoccupied by the Germans. By that time, the Soviets had already completely plundered the PWS aircraft factory, so that nothing but empty buildings remained. Poles expelled by the Germans in 1939–1940 from various places in German annexed western Poland were deported to the area, while their previous homes were handed over to German colonists as part of the Lebensraum policy. In March and July 1940, the Germans imprisoned dozens of Poles in the local prison, and then massacred them in the nearby Grabarka forest. Over 40 Polish teachers were arrested in the town on 24 June 1940, imprisoned in Lublin and then deported to concentration camps, as part of the AB Aktion. On 5 July 1940 the Germans carried out another massacre of Poles in Grabarka, whom they previously imprisoned in the town. By the end of the year, the Nazis began to impose discriminatory restrictions against the Jews. On 1 December 1939, they decreed that all Jews had to wear a yellow Star of David. Jews were ordered to move into an open type ghetto along the Grabanów, Janowa, Prosta and Przechodnia streets, and a Jewish Ghetto Police was established. At the end of 1939, some 2,000 to 3,000 more Jews were brought there as a result of deportations from Suwałki and Serock. The overcrowding and poor sanitations resulted in a typhus epidemic in Biała Podlaska in early 1940, causing many deaths. Several hundred more Jews were brought in from as far as Kraków and Mława during German "resettlement" actions conducted in 1940 and 1941. The men were sent to new labour camps in the Wola district at an airfield, the train station, and elsewhere. Hundreds were forced to pave roads, drain ditches, construct sewage lines and build barracks. Many Jewish women worked in the Nazi farms. In March 1942 the ghetto had 8,400 inmates. In September 1942, some 3,000 Jews from the neighbouring towns of Janów and Konstantynów were brought into Biała Podlaska Ghetto. The overcrowding became desperate. The Jews sensed that the ghetto was slated for liquidation. Many escaped to the forests; others prepared hiding places in the basements. Chil Rajchman, a Sonderkommando who survived the Treblinka revolt and the war, later testified that he witnessed a transport of 6,000 Jews from Biała Podlaska arrive at Treblinka. When the sealed doors were opened, 90 percent of prisonersmen, women, and childrenwere already dead inside. Their bodies were thrown into smouldering mass grave at the "Lazaret". The remaining Jews of Biała Podlaska were sent to a transit point at the Międzyrzec Podlaski Ghetto for deportations to death camps. The Jewish community is commemorated by a memorial erected at the site of the Jewish cemetery, which was destroyed by the Nazis. Another memorial was recently erected by Jewish survivors from the town who now live in the USA. Two former private prayer houses of the Jewish community are still in existence. The cemetery otherwise stands as a reminder of the hole that was ripped out of Biała Podlaska life by the Holocaust and loss of so many Jews. Apart from Israel, Melbourne in Australia has the largest number of Jewish survivors from Biała Podlaska all now very aged.

Popular points of interest include the Old Town, as well as St. Anne's Church built in 1572, St. Anthony's Church from 1672 to 1684, Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary built in 1759, and the historic building Academy of Biała from 1628. Popular museums include the most important Muzeum Południowego Podlasia (Museum of Southern Podlasie, founded in 1924), as well as the Oddział Martyrologiczno Historyczny (Martyrology and Historic Division, since 1973, in the World War II Gestapo jail at Łomaska 21 Street). Among the local art galleries are the Galeria Podlaska, Galeria Ulica Krzywa (Crooked Street Gallery), Bialskie Centrum Kultury (the Biała Podlaska Cultural Center), and Galeria Autorska Jakusza Maksymiuka (Janusz Maksymiuk's Gallery). There are two popular cinemas in Biała Podlaska including Novekino Merkury 1 hall, 282 seats, digital cinema 3D, as well as Cinema 3D multiplex situated in Rywal Shopping Center; 4 halls; digital cinema 3D, 4K (Ultra HD). Plays are staged in the auditorium of the Pope John II State School of Higher Education in Biała Podlaska and in amphitheater in Radziwiłł park. There are also several cultural centers in the city including Bialskie Centrum Kultury, Scena, Piast, and Eureka.

The city is a major transport hub: national road 2, which is also the european route E30, two voivodeship roads (DW811, DW812) and national railway line 2, pass through the town. Biała Podlaska has its own bus lines. The organizer of the communication is the Management of Urban Transport (Polish: ZKM Zarząd Komunikacji Miejskiej). Buses operate 8 lines marked with letters from "A" to "H" (frequency approx. 30 min). On the basis of an agreement between the neighboring villages, buses carry courses outside the administrative boundaries of the city. The Biała Podlaska Airport has one of the longest runways in Poland. The airport was used for military purposes, however since 2020 the airport is closed.

as of 2022, the city mayor of Biała Podlaska is Michał Litwiniuk.

Smoleńsk film, which tells the story of the Smolensk plane crash on 10 April 2010. Scenes were recorded at airport in Biała Podlaska. To nie koniec świata! (Eng. It's not the end of the world!) TV series broadcast on Polsat
K2 Kierowców dwóch automotive program by TVN Turbo. Some episodes are recorded on Biala Podlaska Airport

Sport facilities in Biała Podlaska include 4 stadiums, 3 swimming pools, and a popular tennis court. Recreation facilities include also public spaces such as Radziwiłł Park and promenade at Plac Wolności (the Freedom Square).