Already in the mid-9th century, on the Tarnów's St. Martin Mount (Góra sw. Marcina, 2.5 kilometers from the centre of today's city), a
Slavic gord was established, probably by the
Vistulans. Due to efforts of local archaeologists, we know that the size of the gord was almost 16
hectares, and it was surrounded by a
rampart. The settlement was probably destroyed in the 1030s or the 1050s, during either a popular rebellion against Christianity (see
Baptism of Poland), or Czech invasion of
Lesser Poland. In the mid-11th century, a new gord was established on the Biała river. It was a royal property, which in the late 11th or early 12th century was handed over to the
Tyniec Benedictine Abbey. The name Tarnów, with a different spelling, was for the first time mentioned in a document of
Papal legate, Cardinal
Gilles de Paris (1124). Tarnów remained in the hands of the Leliwa family, out of which in the 15th century the
Tarnowski family emerged. In the 14th century, numerous
German settlers immigrated from
Kraków and
Nowy Sącz (see
Walddeutsche,
Ostsiedlung). During the 17th century
Scottish immigrants began to come in large numbers. In 1528 the exiled
King of Hungary János Szapolyai lived in the town. The town prospered during the
Polish Golden Age, when it belonged to
Hetman Jan Tarnowski (1488–1561). In the mid-16th century, its population was app. 1,200, with 200 houses located within town's
defensive wall (the wall itself had been built in the mid-15th century, and expanded in the early 16th century). In 1467, the waterworks and sewage systems were completed, with large cisterns filled with drinking water built in the main market square. In the 16th century, during the period known as the
Polish Golden Age, Tarnów had a school, a synagogue, a
Calvinist prayer house, Roman Catholic churches, and up to twelve
guilds.
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth features one of the finest Renaissance and
Mannerist tomb monuments in Poland. After the death of Jan Tarnowski (16 May 1561),
Italian sculptor Jan Maria Padovano began creating one of the most beautiful examples of
Renaissance headstones in the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The monument of hetman Tarnowski is almost 14 meters tall, and stands in St. Anne Chapel, which is located in northern
nave of the
Tarnów Cathedral. Padovano completed his work in 1573; furthermore, he designed the
Renaissance town hall, and oversaw its remodelling in the 1560s. At that time, in 28
niches of the town hall were portraits of members of the
Tarnowski family – from Spicymir Leliwita to
Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski, who died in 1567. In 1570 Tarnów became property of the
Ostrogski family, after
Zofia Tarnowska, the daughter of the hetman, married prince
Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski. In 1588, after Konstanty's death, the town changed hands several times, belonging to different families, which slowed its development. Until the
Partitions of Poland, Tarnów belonged to the County of
Pilzno,
Sandomierz Voivodeship. The town, like almost all locations of Lesser Poland, was devastated in October 1655, during the
Swedish invasion of Poland, and as a result, its population declined from 2,000 to 768. In 1723, the town became the property of the
Sanguszko family, which purchased it from the
Lubomirski family.
Habsburg Empire After the
first partition of Poland (1772), Tarnów was annexed by the
Habsburg Empire, and remained in Austrian
Galicia until late 1918. Austrian subjugation brought changes, as the town ceased to be private property, became the seat of a county (German: kreis), and of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Tarnów (1783). On 14 March 1794,
Józef Bem was born in Tarnów. In the 1830s, under the influence of events in
Congress Poland (see
November Uprising), Tarnów emerged as a center of Polish conspiratorial organizations. Plans for a national uprising in Galicia failed in early 1846, when local peasants began murdering the nobility in the
Galician slaughter. The massacre, led by
Jakub Szela (born in
Smarżowa), began on 18 February 1846. Szela's peasant units surrounded and attacked manor houses and settlements located in three counties –
Sanok,
Jasło, and Tarnów. According to Austrians, the revolt got out of hand and the Austrians had to put it down as they were subjugating a previously free people. Tarnów went through the period of quick development in the second half of the 19th century, due to the program of construction of the railway system. In 1852, the town received rail connection with
Kraków, due to the
Galician Railway of Archduke Charles Louis, and in 1870, its population was 21,779. In 1878,
gas lighting was introduced, and three years later, the first daily newspaper appeared. In 1888, the Diocese Museum was founded by Rev. Jozef Baba, and in 1910, Tarnów received modern waterworks, a power plant and a new complex of the main rail station. The city remained a hotspot of Polish conspirational activities, with up to 20% of all members of the
Polish Legions in World War I coming from Tarnów and its area. On 10 November 1914, units of the
Russian Imperial Army captured Tarnów, and remained in the city until 6 May 1915 (see
Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive). In the early stages of the offensive, Tarnów was shelled by German-Austrian heavy artillery, which brought destruction to some of its districts.
Second Polish Republic Tarnów was one of the first Polish cities to be freed during the rebirth of Poland following World War I. The Polish Legions liberated the city on the night of 30–31 October 1918. In the
Second Polish Republic, Tarnów belonged to
Kraków Voivodeship, and gave the newly established country many outstanding figures, such as
Franciszek Latinik and
Wincenty Witos. In early 1927, construction of a large chemical plant was initiated in the suburban village of , which is now a part of the industrial borough of
Mościce, a district of the city. Before the outbreak of
World War II, the population of Tarnów was 40,000, of which almost half were Jewish. On 28 August 1939, a German Nazi saboteur conducted the
Tarnów rail station bomb attack killing 20 civilians and wounding 35, four days before the
invasion of Poland by
Nazi Germany and the outbreak of
World War II in Europe.
World War II deported from Tarnów to
Auschwitz concentration camp during
German AB-Aktion in Poland, June 1940 During the German invasion of Poland, the city was overrun by the
German forces on 7 September 1939. Under
German occupation, Tarnów was incorporated into the
General Government territory as the seat of the
Kreishauptmanschaft Tarnow administrative unit in the
Kraków District on 26 October 1939. In September 1939, the
Einsatzgruppe I entered the city to commit
atrocities against Poles, and the
Einsatzgruppe zbV entered to take over the Polish industry. Poles
expelled in December 1939 from various places in German-annexed western Poland were deported in
freight trains to Tarnów. On 14 June 1940,
the first mass transport left the Tarnów station to
Auschwitz concentration camp, with 728 Polish political prisoners, including at least 67 underage boys. All throughout the
German occupation of Poland Tarnów was an important center of the
Armia Krajowa (AK) and other resistance organizations. In mid-1944 AK's 16th Infantry Regiment "Barbara" took part in
Operation Tempest. After the
Warsaw Uprising, in October 1944, the Germans deported 3,000 Varsovians from the
Dulag 121 camp in
Pruszków, where they were initially imprisoned, to Tarnów. Those Poles were mainly old people, ill people and women with children. Immediately following the German occupation of the city on 8 September 1939, the persecution of the Jews began. German units burned down most of the city's synagogues on 9 September and drafted Jews for forced-labor projects. According to a document from Michal Borawski born in 1926, featured at the entry of the Bimah as part of the panel offered by the Batory Foundation, the street stairs ("małe schody" or little stairs) from the town-center to the Bernardynski street (where the Bernardine Monastery is located), had to be cleaned of the blood by the local fire brigade for three days. Poles gave shelter to several Jewish escapees from the ghetto, however, several Poles were eventually captured and murdered by the Germans for
rescuing Jews. Many Poles were imprisoned by the Germans in the local prison for rescuing and helping Jews and then often deported to
Auschwitz and other
concentration camps, in which some died, while some fortunately survived until the end of the war. After the June deportations, the Germans forced the surviving Jews of Tarnów, along with thousands of Jews from neighboring towns, into the new
Tarnów Ghetto. The ghetto was surrounded by a high wooden fence. Living conditions in the ghetto were deplorable, marked by severe food shortages, a lack of sanitary facilities, and a forced-labor regimen in factories and workshops producing goods for the German war industry. In September 1942, the Germans ordered all ghetto residents to report to Targowica Square, where they were subjected to a 'selection' in which those deemed 'non-essential' were singled out for deportation to Belzec. About 8,000 people were deported. Thereafter, deportations from Tarnów to
extermination camps continued sporadically; the Germans deported a group of 2,500 in November 1942.
Property restoration The church of Our Lady of the Scapular in Tarnów was built on a plot that was illegally obtained by the
parish from the descendants of Jewish
Holocaust survivors. In 2016, following a lengthy legal battle, a three judge panel found the church had acted in bad faith and had no legal rights to the property. A year later the case was re-opened after the church appealed to the local district attorney, with the personal involvement of
Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro.
Post-war period Theatre A few months later, the Museum of Tarnów Land was opened, and Tarnów began a postwar recovery. In 1957, State Theatre of
Ludwik Solski was opened. From 1975 to 1998, it was the capital of the
Tarnów Voivodeship. ==Geography==