Będzin
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| Będzin | |||
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| Motto: Civitas Regi Bendzinensis | |||
  Będzin
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| Coordinates: | |||
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| Country |  Poland |
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| Voivodeship | Silesian | ||
| County | Będzin County | ||
| Gmina | Będzin (urban gmina) | ||
| Established | 9th century | ||
| Town rights | 1358 | ||
| Government | |||
| - Mayor | Radosław Baran | ||
| Area | |||
| - City | 37.08 km² (14.3 sq mi) | ||
| Highest elevation | 382 m (1,253 ft) | ||
| Lowest elevation | 260 m (853 ft) | ||
| Population (2006) | |||
| - City | 58,659 | ||
| - Density | 1,582/km² (4,097.3/sq mi) | ||
| - Metro | 3,487,000 | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| Postal code | 42-500 | ||
| Area code(s) | +48 32 | ||
| Car plates | SBE | ||
| Website: http://www.bedzin.pl | |||
Będzin [ˈbɛnd͡ʑin] (
listen) is a small city in south Poland with 59,936 inhabitants (31 Dec 1999), and covering an area of 37 km².
Situated in the Silesian Voivodship (since 1999), previously in Katowice Voivodship (1975-1998), it is the capital of Będzin County. Historically, it lies in the Zagłębie Dąbrowskie (Zaglembia) region of Lesser Poland, adjoining the Silesia region.
Until World War II, Bedzin had a vibrant Jewish community but in September, 1939 the German Army (Wehrmacht) overran this area, followed by the SS death squads (Einsatzgruppen), who burned the Będzin synagogue and murdered many of the Jewish inhabitants. Eventually, in the summer of 1943, most of the Jews in Będzin were deported to the nearby German concentration camp at Auschwitz and exterminated in the Holocaust. Since Bȩdzin was one of the last Polish communities to be liquidated, there are a relatively greater number of survivors from there, and an extensive collection of their personal photographs were recovered, offering a photographic insight into the pre-war life there.
[edit] Notable inhabitants
- Rutka Laskier, diarist (1929-1943)
- Jean-Marie Lustiger
[edit] References and other sources
- Weiss, Ann (2005). The Last Album: Eyes from the Ashes of Auschwitz-Birkenau, 2nd ed.. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 32-37. ISBN 0-393-01670-6.
[edit] External links
- Official web page of the city of Będzin (Polish)
- A Memorial to the Jewish Community of Będzin
- Będzin, Czeladź, Dąbrowa Górnicza, Sławków, Sosnowiec
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