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This project seeks to collect all of the Jewish families from the town of Baranów Sandomierski, Poland.
History
Baranów Sandomierski [ba%CB%88ranuf sandɔˈmʲɛrskʲi] is a small town in southern Poland, in the Subcarpathian Voivodship, Tarnobrzeg County on the Vistula River, with 1,440 inhabitants (02.06.2009). It belongs to the historic province of Lesser Poland, and for centuries was part of the Sandomierz Voivodeship. Its name comes either from sheep husbandry, which was prevalent in this area in the past (baran means ram in Polish), or from the Baranowski family, owners of the town.
The settlement or the gord of Baranów was first mentioned in 1135. It was conveniently located near the Vistula river ford, and in 1354 it was granted town charter by King Casimir III the Great. Baranów belonged to the Baranowski family, and in the late 15th century it became property of the Kurozwecki family. In 1518 Barbara Kurozwecka married Stanisław Górka, so Baranów remained in the hands of the Górka family until 1560, when it was sold to Rafał Leszczyński.
During the Protestant Reformation, Baranów was an important center of Calvinism. The town prospered due to grain trade, as well as its artisans. Its decline began during the catastrophic Swedish invasion of Poland (1655 - 1660), when Baranów was ransacked and burned.
In 1677 the town was sold to Dymitr Wiśniowiecki, later on it belonged to the Lubomirski family, and the Potocki family. In the mid-18th century its population was ca. 1,200. After the partitions of Poland Baranów found itself in the Austrian province of Galicia, where it remained from 1772 until 1918. The town further declined, as it was located near the tightly sealed Austrian - Russian border. Furthermore, frequent Vistula floods caused extensive damages, and on August 24, 1898 almost whole town burned in a fire. Its decline was so severe that Baranów lost its town charter in 1896, remaining a village until 1934.
Second Polish Republic
In the Second Polish Republic Baranów became part of Tarnobrzeg County, Lwów Voivodeship. In 1933, Baranów received its coat of arms. During the 1939 Invasion of Poland, units of the Kraków Army withdrew eastwards in the area of Baranów, and in 1939 - 1944, the Baranów Castle was the seat of a local German administrative office. In July 1944, units of the Red Army crossed the Vistula near the town, creating the so-called Baranów Bridgehead (see Vistula–Oder Offensive).
The castle was built around the years 1591–1606 in the style of Poland's Mannerism with richly decorated attics, side towers and arcade courtyard for Andrzej and Rafał Leszczyński (1526–1592) of the Wieniawa coat of arms.[2] It is believed to be the work of a famous Italian architect, Santi Gucci, the court artist of king Stephen Báthory.[2] In about 1620 the castle was surrounded by bastion fortifications and in 1625 its chambers were adorned with early Baroque decorations executed by the eminent stucco decorator Giovanni Battista Falconi.
The Castle
By the end of the 17th century, the castle came into the possession of the Lubomirski family through marriage. Prince Józef Karol Lubomirski wedded its owner, Princess Teofila Ludwika Zasławska in 1683. The gallery housed their collection of art. Notably, almost two centuries later, all works of art were destroyed in massive fires, first in 1848 (with the entire library) under Krasicki family and finally in 1898 under Dolańskis.
In 1867 the structure was restored by owner Stanisław Dolański after a fire in 1898. The castle remained in the possession of the Dolański family till the outbreak of World War II.
Due to war damages the castle was renovated by the State in the years 1959–1969, under the guidance of professor Alfred Majewski. The building's sponsorship was turned over to state-run Sulphur Mines and "Siarkopol" plant in nearby Tarnobrzeg.