Zagórz


Zagórz is a town in Sanok County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, Poland, on the river Osława in the Bukowsko Upland mountains, located south-east of Sanok on the way to Ustrzyki Dolne, distance. The nearest towns in northeastern Slovakia are Palota and Medzilaborce. Zagórz has a population of 4,988.
Zagórz is the most southeasterly railroad junction of the PKP, with lines going into three directions - eastwards, southwards and westwards.

History

The village of Zagorz was established in the 14th century, when Red Ruthenia was annexed by the Kingdom of Poland. In the early 16th-century documents, its name was spelled Sagorsze and Sogorsch. Zagorz belonged to the noble Tarnawski family, but in 1490, the village was sold to Piotr Kmita Sobienski. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Zagorz frequently changed owners.
In 1710, Voivode of Volhynia, Count Jan Adam Stadnicki built in Zagorz a fortified complex of Carmelite Monastery, which also served as a hospital for war veterans. The complex served as a hideout for rebels of the Bar Confederation, and in 1789, when Zagorz already belonged to Austrian Galicia, the abbey was closed by Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor. In 1830, the complex burned in a fire.
In 1880, the population of Zagorz was 1,639, with Poles, Rusyns, Jews and Germans. By that time, Zagorz already had a rail station, located in the district of Nowy Zagorz. Establishment of a rail junction contributed to the development of the village, whose population grew to 2,400. During the Polish–Ukrainian War, local rail workers built the armoured train Gromobój, which protected the area from Ukrainian raids.
In the Second Polish Republic, Zagorz belonged to Lwow Voivodeship. On September 12, 1939, first Wehrmacht units entered the village, welcomed by local Ukrainians. During the war, a Home Army unit operated in the area of the village. German occupation ended on September 13, 1944, when Red Army entered Zagorz.
During World War II dzielnica Zasław of the town Zagórz was the location of Zasław concentration camp set up by Nazi Germany for the concentration and exploitation of Polish Jews soon to be exterminated in Belzec.

Points of interest