Trzcianne

Trzcianne (Tšcianai) is a village in Mońki County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Trzcianne. It lies approximately 11 km south-west of Mońki and 41 km north-west of the regional capital Białystok. It is close to Biebrza National Park.



History
First records of Trzcianne come from the 13th century. The name probably comes from reeds (trzcina) surrounding the river that flowed through the village.

The lands of Trzcianne first belonged to the Baltic Yotvingians. Then Trzcianne became part of the Wizna Land, created in the 14th century, of the Duchy of Masovia, within which it was located on the border of Goniądz and Tykocin counties. Then, Trczianne belonged to the Bielsk Land that was part of Podlachia, part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

According to the records of Alexander Jagiellon, Grand Duke of Lithuania, the first Catholic church in Trzcianne was built before 1496 and it survived c. 100 years.

The current, fourth church in Trzcianne was built in 1846 and consecrated in 1860.

20th century
The first Jews arrived in Trzcianne in the 18th century. By the 20th century, Jews were a majority of Trzcianne's population, making it a shtetl. In the 1909 census, 98% of Trzcianne's population was Jewish. There is still an old Jewish cemetery in the village, but it is not tended by anyone.

According to the 1921 Polish census, the village had a total population of 1,434 people. Of these, 1,401 were Jews. The remaining 33 inhabitants were Catholic Poles. There were 177 residential buildings in the village.

World War II
When the Germans occupied the area in June 1941, they set fire to the whole village. Then, they gathered together more than 1,000 local Jews in the neighboring village of Zubole. The Jews were kept in the gravel pit and then in a barn for almost a week before the series mass executions took place. 400 to 700 Jews were murdered. The rest of the Jews were released. In autumn of 1941, a ghetto was created in Trzcianne. It lasted until November 2, 1942, when the Jews from the ghetto were sent to the Bogusze transit camp. A few weeks later, with Jews from surrounding town and villages, they were sent to Treblinka and Auschwitz death camps. Right before World War II, there were about 2,500 Jews living in the village, only 25 Trzcianne Jews survived the Holocaust.

Both during and after World War II, many inhabitants of Trzcianne were deported to Kazakhstan by the Soviets.

Tourist attractions

 * Church dating to 1846
 * Jewish cemetery