Wiżajny, Poland

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History

Here is a timeline of Wizajny history, with main points of area history, compiled from the sources below.

• 1569 ~ the Polish Kingdom & the Grand Duchy of Lithuania merged into a Commonwealth. The region around Wizajny is in the Trocki powiat of the Grand Duchy.
• 16th century ~ Mentioned as a village of the Radziwill magnates
• 1604 ~ Granted town status
• 1646 ~ Documentation shows an active Jewish handcrafts' guild.
  
• 1650s ~ Town damaged in Swedish war.
• 1659 ~ Hospital built
• 1670 ~ Town's privileges affirmed by King Michal
  
• 1693 ~ Town's privileges approved again by King Jan III
• 1700 ~ Until 1700, Jews were not allowed to buried in Koenigsberg and many were brought to Wizajny for burial.
  
• 1795 ~ Partition of Poland puts Wizajny in Prussia
• 1807/8 ~ Prussia defeated by Napoleon, region fall under the French Duchy of Warsaw.
• 1814 ~ Russia defeats Napoleon and the Duchy is under Russian control
• 1815 ~ Kingdom of Poland, a semi-autonomous region under Czarist rule, was established. Wizajny is in Augostow Province
  
• 1866 ~ Augostow province divided into Suwalki and Lomza, with Wizajny in Suwalki.
• 1904-1914 ~ Mosheh Mendel Wizansky is the chief rabbi in Wizajny.
• 1939 ~ In September the Red army entered Wizajny, but soon prepared to leave. As they did, they advised the Jews to leave with them and go back to Russia. Many Jews accepted their offer.
• 1939 ~ October 27,1939 The Germans invaded and expelled the 200 Jews who had remained in town and sent them to the Lithuanian border. But Lithuania did not permit them to cross the border. The Jews camped in a field nearby for about two weeks until they were able to sneak across the border. During the war, most perished.