Ożarów

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Ożarów is a town in southern Poland, in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, Opatów County, and the Gmina of Ożarów. It covers about 7.8 square kilometers and has around 10,400 residents (2021). The town sits about 15 kilometers west of the Vistula River and is a road hub where National Road 79 meets Local Road 755. Its coat of arms is the Rawa, a symbol linked to the Ozarowski family.

History in brief: Ożarów was founded in 1569 by Józef Ożarowski on land from Wyszmontów. It received town rights from King Zygmunt August and was part of Sandomierz Voivodeship until Poland’s partitions. A major fire in 1767 destroyed the center, which was rebuilt nearby. By 1787 the Jewish population reached about 1,000. In 1869, after the January Uprising, Ożarów lost its town rights. In the early 20th century it was part of the Ostrowiec Republic, an anti-Russian movement. Józef Piłsudski visited in 1915, and fighting nearby occurred; the town was burned by the Russians and rebuilt by 1920. The construction of a cement plant later became the town’s main employer. The plant was privatized in 1995 and is now owned by the Irish company CRH plc. Ożarów regained town status officially in 1988 (the decision was made in 1987).

World War II and after: During World War II, the Nazis set up a Jewish ghetto in Ożarów with about 4,500 inmates; in 1942 they were sent to Treblinka and murdered. The town lost a large portion of its population in the Holocaust. After the war, the cement plant continued to develop, bringing housing and jobs to the area.