Ropczyce is located east of Kraków and west of Rzeszów. The coordinates for Ropczyce: Latitude 50°0500' and Longitude 21°6167. In DMS or Degree, Minutes, & Seconds; Latitude 50°2'60N and Longitude is 21°37'0E. Its elevation is 240 metres (787 feet) above sea level. The time zone for Poland is UTC+1.
Population
Ropczyce has a total population of 26,055 according to the Polish Official Census 2008[3] of whom 15,098 live in the Ropczyce urban area and 10,957 live in the surrounding rural areas (7 km (4 mi) radius).[4] It is the seat of Ropczyce-Sędziszów County, which has a total population of 713,350 people (30 June 2008).[4]
Since its formation Ropczyce has been known by several different names, although these appear to be phonetic variations of the same name. By the middle of the 16th century, it was first recorded as 'Ropczyce' replacing the previous variation of 'Robczyce' – this name is thought to have probably originated from the family name of Robek' (from the Polish verb, 'robić – to work) who are thought to have established the original settlement.[9]
In the 16th century Ropczyce's churches were influenced by The Reformation, with the Parish Church going over to Protestantism several times. Around the 1550s the Parish Church was under the control of the Polish Brethren(Bracia Polscy, also called Arians or Socinians) for over a decade.[10]
The earliest information about Jews settling in Ropczyce dates back to 1564. It was noted then that four Jewish families, i.e. about 30 people, lived on the farm of the Gryf family.[5] In 1604, King Sigismund III Vasa granted Ropczyce with a law, following which only two Jewish families (of a district’s leaseholder and of a tax collector) were allowed to live in the town, however, they were strictly forbidden to 'do business and produce alcohol...’[5]
The 17th century was the time of the town’s stagnation and downfall. Ropczyce was plundered by Swedish troops in 1655 and conclusively devastated in 1657 by the army of George II Rákóczi, the Prince of Transylvania. Many houses in the town were deserted and ruined after the wars. As nobody paid for them, the local authorities tried to occupy the houses with new inhabitants. However, Polish townsmen were not interested in it, and so Jews were the buyers, despite the fact that the ban on their settling in the town was still in effect. The law was broken for the first time in 1675, when the Town Council allowed Józef Szmul, a Jew, to acquire a house at the Market Square under condition of renovating the building. In exchange for that, he was exempted from paying taxes for two years.[10][11]
At the end of the 18th century, Ropczyce became a significant center of Chassidism after the famous Naftali Zvi Horowitz (1760–1827) settled in the town (He was born on 22 May 1760, the day that the Baal Shem Tov, founder of Chassidism, died). He was the son of Menachem Mendel Rubin, the rabbi of Lesko and a follower of two great tzadikkim: Elimelech of Leżajsk (Lizhensk) and Menachem Mendel of Rymanów. Tzadik Naftali Zvi Horowitz was the author of, among others,Zera Kodesh (a collection of comments to the Torah, published in 1868), and Ohel Naftali (a collection of sayings, published in 1911).[12] At the end of his life, he left Ropczyce and settled in Łańcut where he died on 8 May 1827 (corresponding to 11 Iyar 5587) and where he was buried.[13][14] Asher of Ropczyce was the next tzadik of the town. The sons of Naftali Zvi Horowitz also became tzadikkim: Eliezer Horowitz – in Dzików near Tarnobrzeg, and Jakub Horowitz (named The SmallBaal Shem Tov, usually translated into English as Master of the Good Name, due to numerous miracles that he performed) – in Kolbuszowa and later in Mielec.[15]
Up until World War II Ropczyce was a ‘shtetl’ (Yiddish: ראָפּשיץ, Ropshits, Ropshitz, Ropschitz) with a significant Jewish population. There is a RopshitzHasidic dynasty.
The Germans occupied Ropczyce in September 1939 and immediately began brutalizing the Jewish population, at that time around 1000 people. They burned the synagogue and shortly began to conscript Jews for forced labor. Many Jewish refugees from nearby villages came to Ropczyce during the next two years. In May, 1942, 75 men were deported to a labor camp in Pustkow. In June, there was another roundup where 23 people were murdered on the spot and others were sent to Pustkow. Later in the month, the remaining Jews were forced into an overcrowded ghetto. In July, the Germans shot 28 people, children and the elderly, and took the rest of the Jewish population to Sedziszow Malopolski. Several hundred were shot there and the rest sent by train to Belzec where they were immediately gassed. The number of survivors among the Ropczyce Jews is unknown.[16]
The Parish Church of the Transfiguration in Ropczyce
17th century to 18th century
Ropczyce's ‘Golden Age’ was but a distant memory in the 17th and 18th centuries – these were times of wars and invasions. The town went into decline and life got a lot harder for the townspeople. In 1605 over half of the town was destroyed in a great fire. Fifty years later, Ropczyce was hit by The Plague. Ropczyce was plundered by Swedish troops in 1655 and then devastated in 1657 by the army of George II Rákóczi, the Prince of Transylvania. In 1669 the Parish Church was destroyed by fire.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the population grew to over 1,000. At this time there was a small Austriangarrison stationed in the town. In 1806 there was a Cholera outbreak in which 133 people from Ropczyce died.[10] In 1873 the town was again struck by a great fire, with much destruction.[6]
In the following administrative changes of the region of Galicia in 1885, 178 counties(powiats) were created in the existing 19 administrative areas (cyrkułs) and Ropczyce was made the administrative centre of its own county. The last reorganisation occurred in 1867 saw the reduction of administrative areas and the number of counties set to 74. Ropczyce remained as the seat of its county. At the end of 1867 the population of Ropczyce county was 58,975 people, the first starosta; elder or mayor of the reorganised county of Ropczyce was Wilhelm Mehoffer[9] (father of Józef Mehoffer, Polish painter). Ropczyce remained part of Galicia until 1918, when it became part of independent Poland (Second Polish Republic).[10]
A community centre in RopczyceMayor's Office in Ropczyce600 years Anniversary Monument in RopczyceA park in Ropczyce
Transport
Ropczyce is located on the main West-East European E40 Highway, which goes from Calais in France via Belgium, across Germany, Poland, Ukraine and onto Russia and Kazakhstan. (Within Poland the E40 follows the A4 Highway and the DK 4 National Road). However, the A4 is not regarded as a 'highway' in the Ropczyce area – it is by Western standards, just a regular, one-lane main A-road (although, it is currently being upgraded). Other Polish cities located by the E40 are Wrocław, Opole, Katowice, Kraków, Tarnów, Rzeszów and Przemyśl.
Ropczyce has a railway station which is on the main west–east rail route; Line 91. This runs from Silesia and Kraków, Kraków Main station(Kraków Główny) – Medyka on the Polish eastern border. This line then continues on to Ukraine.
"Ziemia Ropczycka" Józef Ambrozowicz Agencja Wydawnicza JOTA, 1998. ISBN978-83-906916-4-0
"Shtetl Finder: Jewish Communities in the 19th and early 20th centuries in the Pale of Settlement of Russia and Poland", Chester G. Cohen, Heritage Books, 1989. ISBN1-55613-248-4, ISBN978-1-55613-248-3
"Ropczyce: The Chassidic Route" Weronika Litwin, Marianna Mańko, Sławomir Mańko, translated by Maciej Gugała Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland Warsaw 2008. ISBN978-83-61306-64-1www.polin.org.pl
^Beider, Alexander (2012). "Eastern Yiddish Toponyms of German Origin"(PDF). Yiddish Studies Today. ISBN 978-3-943460-09-4, ISSN 2194-8879 (düsseldorf university press, Düsseldorf 2012). Retrieved 26 December 2023.
Poland
Subcarpathian
