Tykocin
Encyclopedia
Tykocin t is an old, smaller size town in north-eastern Poland, with 1,800 inhabitants (1998), located on the Narew
Narew
The Narew River , in western Belarus and north-eastern Poland, is a left tributary of the Vistula river...

 river. Tykocin has been situated in the Podlaskie Voivodeship
Podlaskie Voivodeship
Podlaskie Voivodeship , is a voivodeship in northeastern Poland. It borders on Masovian Voivodeship to the west, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship to the northwest, Lublin Voivodeship to the south, the Belarusssian Voblasts of Grodno and Brest to the east, the Lithuanian Counties of Alytus and...

 since 1999. Previously, it belonged to Białystok Voivodeship (1975-1998). It is one of the oldest settlements in the region.

History of the town

The name of Tykocin was first mentioned in the 11th century and through the 14th century it was a Duchy
Duchy
A duchy is a territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess.Some duchies were sovereign in areas that would become unified realms only during the Modern era . In contrast, others were subordinate districts of those kingdoms that unified either partially or completely during the Medieval era...

 of Masovian castellany
Castellany
A castellany was a district administered by a castellan.Castellanies appeared during the Middle Ages and in most current states are now replaced by a more modern type of country subdivision....

 seat and castle on the Masovian border neighboring the growing medieval pagan Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

. Tykocin received city rights from prince Janusz I of Warsaw in 1425, but several months later it was given to Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...

 by the Polish king
King
- Centers of population :* King, Ontario, CanadaIn USA:* King, Indiana* King, North Carolina* King, Lincoln County, Wisconsin* King, Waupaca County, Wisconsin* King County, Washington- Moving-image works :Television:...

 Wladyslaw II Jagiello.

Shortly later, or about 1433 AD, Duke Sigismund Kęstutaitis
Sigismund Kestutaitis
Sigismund Kęstutaitis was the Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1432 to 1440. Sigismund was his baptismal name; Sigismund's pagan Lithuanian birth name is unknown. He was son of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Kęstutis and his wife Birutė....

 gave the town along with other towns to Jonas Gostautas
Jonas Goštautas
Jonas Gostautas or Goštautas was a Lithuanian nobleman from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania of the Goštautai noble family, a politician and skillful land owner...

, and it became the most important power seat of that Lithuanian magnate Gostautai
Goštautai
Gostautai , masculine Gostautas and feminine form Gostautaite were a Lithuanian noble family, one of the most influential magnate families during the 15th and early 16th centuries...

 family clan. During 1560s, upon the family's last member passing away, the town became one of the most favorite properties for Polish king and Lithuanian Grand Prince Sigismund II Augustus
Sigismund II Augustus
Sigismund II Augustus I was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the only son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548...

 who had a Renaissance castle
Tykocin Castle
The Tykocin Royal Castle is a 15th century castle located on the right bank of the river Narew in Tykocin, Poland. It fell into ruin in the 18th century and its reconstruction began in 2002.-History:...

 built there instead of the medieval one. It became property of the Crown and eventually it was awarded to 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....

 Stefan Czarniecki
Stefan Czarniecki
Stefan Czarniecki or Stefan Łodzia de Czarnca Czarniecki Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth general and nobleman. Field Hetman of the Crown of the Polish Kingdom. He was a military commander, regarded as a Polish national hero...

, later on through marriage of Czarniecki's daughters it passed to Branicki
Branicki
Branicki can refer to:* two aristocratic families of Poland :** Branicki family, Gryf Coat of Arms** Branicki family, Korczak Coat of Arms* individuals bearing Branicki surname:**Franciszek Ksawery Branicki...

 Gryf coat-of-arms family.

After the Partitions of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth one of the Branickis, Isabela Branicka sold the town to the Prussian government circa 1795. In 1807 it was given to Russia as a part of the Treaty of Tilsit
Treaties of Tilsit
The Treaties of Tilsit were two agreements signed by Napoleon I of France in the town of Tilsit in July, 1807 in the aftermath of his victory at Friedland. The first was signed on 7 July, between Tsar Alexander I of Russia and Napoleon I of France, when they met on a raft in the middle of the Neman...

. In 1815 it was returned to the Kingdom of Poland
Congress Poland
The Kingdom of Poland , informally known as Congress Poland , created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was a personal union of the Russian parcel of Poland with the Russian Empire...

. During the interwar period
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...

, the population of Tykocin had reached an estimated 4,000 inhabitants. In 1950 Tykocin lost its city rights due to heavy loss of life during World War II, only to regain it in 1993 after the collapse of communism
History of Poland (1989–present)
In 1989-1991, Poland engaged in a democratic transition which put an end to the Polish People's Republic and led to a democratic regime, called Polish Third Republic...

.

The Holocaust

The Jewish population of Tykocin estimated at 2,000 people was eradicated by Nazi Germans during the Holocaust. On 25–26 August 1941 the Jewish residents of Tykocin were assembled at the market square for "relocation", and then marched and trucked by the Nazis into the nearby Łopuchowo forest, where they were executed in waves into pits by SS Einsatzkommando
Einsatzkommando
During World War II, the Nazi German Einsatzkommandos were a sub-group of five Einsatzgruppen mobile killing squads—up to 3,000 men each—usually composed of 500-1,000 functionaries of the SS and Gestapo, whose mission was to kill Jews, Romani, communists and the NKVD collaborators in the captured...

 Zichenau-Schroettersburg under SS-Obersturmführer Hermann Schaper
SS-Obersturmführer Hermann Schaper
Hermann Schaper , was a German member of the NSDAP and SS during the Second World War...

. A memorial now exists outside the city.

Points of interest

  • Castle
    Tykocin Castle
    The Tykocin Royal Castle is a 15th century castle located on the right bank of the river Narew in Tykocin, Poland. It fell into ruin in the 18th century and its reconstruction began in 2002.-History:...

     of II Augustus built before 1469, extended in 16th century and partially reconstructed in 2005
  • The Baroque
    Baroque
    The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

     Tykocin Synagogue
    Tykocin Synagogue
    The Tykocin Synagogue is an historic synagogue building in Tykocin, Poland. The synagogue, in mannerist-early Baroque style, was built in 1642....

     Bejt ha-Kneset ha-Godol, built in 1642, one of the best preserved in Poland from that period, is a major tourist attraction.
  • A baroque Church of the Holy Trinity and former monastery of Congregation of Mission founded in 1742 by Jan Klemens Branicki
    Jan Klemens Branicki
    Count Jan Klemens Branicki was a Polish nobleman, magnate and Hetman, Field Crown Hetman of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth between 1735 and 1752, and Great Crown Hetman between 1752 and 1771....

  • Baroque monastery dating from 1771–90
  • Former military hospital from 1755
  • Jewish cemetery - one of the oldest in Poland
  • a lot of white stork
    White Stork
    The White Stork is a large bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on its wings. Adults have long red legs and long pointed red beaks, and measure on average from beak tip to end of tail, with a wingspan...

    s and their nests

Notable individuals

  • Joshua Höschel ben Joseph
    Joshua Höschel ben Joseph
    Joshua Höschel ben Joseph was a Polish rabbi born in Vilnius, Lithuania about 1578 and died in Cracow on August 16, 1648. In his boyhood, he journeyed to Przemyśl, Red Ruthenia, to study the Talmud under Rabbi Samuel ben Phoebus of Cracow. He returned to his native country, and continued his...

    , a Polish rabbi born in Wilno
  • Jan Klemens Branicki
    Jan Klemens Branicki
    Count Jan Klemens Branicki was a Polish nobleman, magnate and Hetman, Field Crown Hetman of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth between 1735 and 1752, and Great Crown Hetman between 1752 and 1771....

    , Field Crown Hetman of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
    Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
    The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...

  • Łukasz Górnicki, chancellor of Sigismund August of Poland
  • Mikołaj Ostroróg, a Polish-Lithuanian szlachcic
  • Bogusław Radziwiłł, an Imperial Prince of the Holy Roman Empire
    Holy Roman Empire
    The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...

  • Janusz Radziwiłł (1612-1655)
  • Paweł Jan Sapieha
    Paweł Jan Sapieha
    Paweł Jan Sapieha was a Polish-Lithuanian nobleman .Paweł Jan became a Hussar Rotmistrz in 1633, courtier in 1635, Obozny of Lithuania in 1638, Podstoli of Lithuania in 1645, voivode of the Witebsk Voivodeship in 1646, voivode of the Vilnius Voivodeship and Great Hetman of Lithuania in 1656.He...

  • Jan Smółko (b. 1907, AK
    Armia Krajowa
    The Armia Krajowa , or Home Army, was the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II German-occupied Poland. It was formed in February 1942 from the Związek Walki Zbrojnej . Over the next two years, it absorbed most other Polish underground forces...

     alias Lokalizator), wife Władysława (b. 1908), Polish Righteous among the Nations
    Polish Righteous among the Nations
    Polish citizens have the world's highest count of individuals awarded medals of Righteous among the Nations, given by the State of Israel to non-Jews who saved Jews from extermination during the Holocaust...

     - produced over a hundred fake IDs for Tykocin Jews during World War II, based on Catholic parish records.
  • Rebecca bat Meir Tiktiner
    Rebecca bat Meir Tiktiner
    Rebecca bat Meir Tiktiner was a Yiddish writer, whose works include a treatise on Jewish ethics in the style of musar literature as well as a poem about Simchat Torah. She lived in the 16th century and was buried in Prague; she died circa 1550. She or her father probably resided in the northeast...

     (d. 1550)
  • Krzysztof Wiesiołowski
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