Ratne is mentioned in
old Ruthenian documents at the end of 12th - beginning of 13th centuries. It served as a border town where Great Prince kept his garrison (
rat). The town was devastated during the Mongol invasion. In the 13th century the town housed the Ratne monastery whose
hegumen was
Peter of Moscow. After the
Galicia-Volhynia Wars, in 14th century the territory around Ratne was annexed by the
Kingdom of Poland. Ratne was granted
Magdeburg city rights by Polish King
Władysław III in the 15th century. From 1366 until the
partitions of Poland it was part of the
Chełm Land. It was a
royal city of the
Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. From 1921 to 1939 it was part of the
Volhynian Voivodeship of
Poland. The city had a significant Jewish population before World War II. During the war, the Jewish community suffered many attacks. The biggest massacre was on August 25, 1942. Some 1,300 persons were taken to the quarry outside the town and there fire was opened on them. A few dozen artisans remained in the town but by March 1943 these had been gradually killed off. Of those who had fled some 30 families gathered in the forest. They succeeded in obtaining a few arms and they set up a sort of camp. During the next three months nearly all of them were slaughtered. A handful from Ratne and the surrounding villages joined various Soviet partisan units. Until 26 January 2024, Ratne was designated
urban-type settlement. On this day, a new law entered into force which abolished this status, and Ratne became a rural settlement. ==Notable people==