Włodawa

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Coordinates: 51°33′N, 23°33′E

Włodawa
Coat of arms of Włodawa
Coat of arms
Włodawa (Poland)
Włodawa
Włodawa
Coordinates: 51°33′N 23°33′E / 51.55, 23.55
Country Flag of Poland Poland
Voivodeship Lublin
County Włodawa County
Gmina Włodawa (urban gmina)
Government
 - Mayor Jerzy Wrzesień
Area
 - Total 17.97 km² (6.9 sq mi)
Population (2006)
 - Total 13,630
 - Density 758.5/km² (1,964.5/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 - Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 22-200
Car plates LWL
Website: http://www.um.wlodawa.pl
The church in Włodawa
The church in Włodawa

Włodawa [vwɔˈdava] is a town in eastern Poland on the Bug river, close to the borders with Belarus and Ukraine. It has 14,800 inhabitants (2001).

Situated in the Lublin Voivodeship (since 1999). It is the capital of Włodawa County.

Wlodawa is first mentioned in historical records in 1242. Founded by Jewish immigrants from Germany, Wlodawa was over 70% Jewish before WWII and the Holocaust. Situated next to the Sobibór Concentration and Death Camp, Wlodawa's Jews were mostly rounded up and killed in Sobibor or one of its arbeitslagers (workcamps) like Adampol. A memorial to the Jews from Wlodawa who were killed there is at Adampol on the road to Wlodawa.

The remaining synagogue was converted to a museum and the Jewish cemetery was demolished by the Germans who used the headstones as road building material. A Wlodawa landsmenschafte (society) was founded in America for survivors and descendants of Wlodawa's Jewish Community and has members scattered throughout the US, Canada, Australia, England, Israel and elsewhere.

There are several monuments and tourist attractions worth seeing in Włodawa:
• Saint Ludwik church and baroque monastery founded by Pauline Monks in XVIII century.
• Czworobok built in XVIII century in the shape of a rectangle. It was used by merchants to sell their goods.
• Jewish synagogue that is currently used to host exhibitions about Włodawa Jews as well as local folklore.
• Russian Orthodox church that was erected in XIX century and it used by local Russian orthodox community.

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