Kabaty
Encyclopedia
Kabaty kaˈbatɨ is the southernmost neighborhood of the city of Warsaw
, located in its Ursynów
district. Until the late 1980s it was a small village located south of Warsaw, between Warsaw and the Kabaty Woods. The area's most notable landmark is the Kabaty Palace, a manor which from 1937 housed the General Staff
's Cipher Bureau
, which among other things read German Enigma ciphers
, originally solved in December 1932 at the General Staff building — the Saxon Palace — on Warsaw's Saxon, now Piłsudski, Square. Other historic landmarks include a mass grave of Polish soldiers from the January 1863 Uprising
and a monument to the 183 victims of a 1987 Kabaty Woods air crash
.
of Płock. Prince Janusz I of Masovia granted it with Chełm Law (a local variant of the Magdeburg Law) and with certain degree of internal autonomy. Until 16th century the village remained a part of Ciołek family domain. In 1580 census it was reported as covering approximately 70 hectare
s. In early 17th century the village was transferred to the Piekarski family, but in 1656 was completely destroyed by the Swedish armies during The Deluge
. In the 1721 the village of Kabaty, located on the Wisła River
, had been purchased by Elżbieta Sieniawska
, widow of Hetman
Adam Mikołaj Sieniawski and owner of the Wilanów Palace
. The village was rebuilt after a plague, and its character has been preserved since.
Elżbieta Sieniawska, who also bought the surrounding Kabaty Forest, ordered a protection of its animals and trees. Even the wood needed to build her new manor in 1726 was transported from Nieporęt
rather than from the surrounding forest. In 1775 the village had 16 houses and a szlachta
manor. By 1827 it grew to 17 houses and 177 inhabitants, mostly serfs. In 1864, after the January Uprising
, the village was administratively attached to Wilanów
. By 1905 it had 38 houses and 319 inhabitants. After Poland regained her independence in 1918, the village became a popular summer vacations place for the nearby town of Warsaw. The forest has been parcelled and a small resort was built there with 8 houses and 61 permanent inhabitants (in addition to 59 houses with 397 inhabitants in the village itself).
In 1937 the Cipher Bureau
moved to the Kabaty manor. The following year, Warsaw President Stefan Starzyński
purchased the Kabaty Woods for the city and turned them into a park and forest reserve. The Woods are now named after Starzyński. During World War II
, they were a scene of partisan warfare against Poland's German occupiers. The heaviest fighting around Kabaty took place during the 1944 Warsaw Uprising
, when Home Army units from southern Poland sought to break through to Warsaw via the Woods.
After the war, the village and the fields adjacent to the Woods were nationalized and treated as a space for Warsaw's further expansion. It was not until 1951, however, that it became part of Warsaw, included in the newly-created borough of Ursynów
. In the 1990s the area was built up with apartment blocks and single-family houses, and agricultural activity was discontinued. The area is now one of the fastest-growing parts of Warsaw. Due to its proximity to the Woods — a popular weekend destination for Varsovians — it is considered especially desirable among the middle class.
Kabaty has two Warsaw Metro
facilities: the Kabaty train yard, and the Kabaty station
itself, the southern terminus of line no. 1, beneath the intersection of Wąwozowa Street and KEN Avenue.
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, located in its Ursynów
Ursynów
Ursynów is the southernmost district of Warsaw. With a surface area of 44.6 km², it is the third largest district in Warsaw, comprising 8.6 percent of the city. The district has a population of almost 148,000, and is one of the fastest growing neighborhoods in Warsaw...
district. Until the late 1980s it was a small village located south of Warsaw, between Warsaw and the Kabaty Woods. The area's most notable landmark is the Kabaty Palace, a manor which from 1937 housed the General Staff
General Staff
A military staff, often referred to as General Staff, Army Staff, Navy Staff or Air Staff within the individual services, is a group of officers and enlisted personnel that provides a bi-directional flow of information between a commanding officer and subordinate military units...
's Cipher Bureau
Biuro Szyfrów
The Biuro Szyfrów was the interwar Polish General Staff's agency charged with both cryptography and cryptology ....
, which among other things read German Enigma ciphers
Enigma machine
An Enigma machine is any of a family of related electro-mechanical rotor cipher machines used for the encryption and decryption of secret messages. Enigma was invented by German engineer Arthur Scherbius at the end of World War I...
, originally solved in December 1932 at the General Staff building — the Saxon Palace — on Warsaw's Saxon, now Piłsudski, Square. Other historic landmarks include a mass grave of Polish soldiers from the January 1863 Uprising
January Uprising
The January Uprising was an uprising in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against the Russian Empire...
and a monument to the 183 victims of a 1987 Kabaty Woods air crash
LOT Polish Airlines Flight 5055
LOT Polish Airlines Flight 5055 crashed in the Kabaty Woods nature reserve on the outskirts of Warsaw on May 9, 1987. The aircraft was an Ilyushin Il-62M bearing the name Tadeusz Kościuszko...
.
History
Kabaty has been inhabited for at least 600 years. The village of that name was first mentioned in 1386 as belonging to Andrzej Ciołek, standard-bearerChorąży
Chorąży or Khorunzhyi is a military rank in Poland, Ukraine and some neighboring countries. A chorąży was once a knight who bore a standard — the emblem of an armed troop, a province , a land , a duchy, or the kingdom...
of Płock. Prince Janusz I of Masovia granted it with Chełm Law (a local variant of the Magdeburg Law) and with certain degree of internal autonomy. Until 16th century the village remained a part of Ciołek family domain. In 1580 census it was reported as covering approximately 70 hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
s. In early 17th century the village was transferred to the Piekarski family, but in 1656 was completely destroyed by the Swedish armies during The Deluge
The Deluge (Polish history)
The term Deluge denotes a series of mid-17th century campaigns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In a wider sense it applies to the period between the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648 and the Truce of Andrusovo in 1667, thus comprising the Polish–Lithuanian theaters of the Russo-Polish and...
. In the 1721 the village of Kabaty, located on the Wisła River
Vistula
The Vistula is the longest and the most important river in Poland, at 1,047 km in length. The watershed area of the Vistula is , of which lies within Poland ....
, had been purchased by Elżbieta Sieniawska
Elżbieta Sieniawska
Elżbieta Helena Sieniawska née Lubomirska was a Polish noble lady, Grand Hetmaness of the Crown and renowned patron of arts. As an influential woman politician in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during the reign of Augustus II the Strong she was deeply embroiled in the Great Northern War and...
, widow of Hetman
Hetman
Hetman was the title of the second-highest military commander in 15th- to 18th-century Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which together, from 1569 to 1795, comprised the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or Rzeczpospolita....
Adam Mikołaj Sieniawski and owner of the Wilanów Palace
Wilanów
Wilanów is a district of the city of Warsaw, Poland. It is home to historic Wilanów Palace, the "Polish Versailles," and second home to various Polish kings.-History:...
. The village was rebuilt after a plague, and its character has been preserved since.
Elżbieta Sieniawska, who also bought the surrounding Kabaty Forest, ordered a protection of its animals and trees. Even the wood needed to build her new manor in 1726 was transported from Nieporęt
Nieporet
Nieporęt is a village in Legionowo County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Nieporęt. It lies approximately east of Legionowo and north of Warsaw....
rather than from the surrounding forest. In 1775 the village had 16 houses and a szlachta
Szlachta
The szlachta was a legally privileged noble class with origins in the Kingdom of Poland. It gained considerable institutional privileges during the 1333-1370 reign of Casimir the Great. In 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of...
manor. By 1827 it grew to 17 houses and 177 inhabitants, mostly serfs. In 1864, after the January Uprising
January Uprising
The January Uprising was an uprising in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against the Russian Empire...
, the village was administratively attached to Wilanów
Wilanów
Wilanów is a district of the city of Warsaw, Poland. It is home to historic Wilanów Palace, the "Polish Versailles," and second home to various Polish kings.-History:...
. By 1905 it had 38 houses and 319 inhabitants. After Poland regained her independence in 1918, the village became a popular summer vacations place for the nearby town of Warsaw. The forest has been parcelled and a small resort was built there with 8 houses and 61 permanent inhabitants (in addition to 59 houses with 397 inhabitants in the village itself).
In 1937 the Cipher Bureau
Biuro Szyfrów
The Biuro Szyfrów was the interwar Polish General Staff's agency charged with both cryptography and cryptology ....
moved to the Kabaty manor. The following year, Warsaw President Stefan Starzyński
Stefan Starzynski
Stefan Starzyński was a Polish politician, economist, writer and statesman, President of Warsaw before and during the Siege of Warsaw in 1939.-Soldier:Starzyński was born on August 19, 1893 in Warsaw...
purchased the Kabaty Woods for the city and turned them into a park and forest reserve. The Woods are now named after Starzyński. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, they were a scene of partisan warfare against Poland's German occupiers. The heaviest fighting around Kabaty took place during the 1944 Warsaw Uprising
Warsaw Uprising
The Warsaw Uprising was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance Home Army , to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. The rebellion was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union's Red Army approaching the eastern suburbs of the city and the retreat of German forces...
, when Home Army units from southern Poland sought to break through to Warsaw via the Woods.
Ursynów
Ursynów is the southernmost district of Warsaw. With a surface area of 44.6 km², it is the third largest district in Warsaw, comprising 8.6 percent of the city. The district has a population of almost 148,000, and is one of the fastest growing neighborhoods in Warsaw...
. In the 1990s the area was built up with apartment blocks and single-family houses, and agricultural activity was discontinued. The area is now one of the fastest-growing parts of Warsaw. Due to its proximity to the Woods — a popular weekend destination for Varsovians — it is considered especially desirable among the middle class.
Kabaty has two Warsaw Metro
Warsaw Metro
The Warsaw Metro is a rapid transit system serving the city of Warsaw, the capital of Poland. It consists of a single north-south line that links central Warsaw with its densely populated northern and southern suburbs. The first section was opened in 1995, then gradually extended until it...
facilities: the Kabaty train yard, and the Kabaty station
Kabaty (Warsaw Metro)
Metro Kabaty is at the southern end of Line 1 of the metro. It is close to the metro train depot and a Tesco supermarket. Kabaty station is situated at the southern end of Al. KEN....
itself, the southern terminus of line no. 1, beneath the intersection of Wąwozowa Street and KEN Avenue.