History of Lublin

rule. At the beginning of the 19th century new squares, streets and public buildings were built. In 1877 a railway connection to Warsaw and Kovel and Lublin Station were constructed, spurring industrial development. Lublin's population grew from 28,900 in 1873 to 50,150 in 1897 (including 24,000 Jews).

Russian rule ended in 1915, when the city was occupied by German and Austro-Hungarian armies. After the defeat of the Central Powers in 1918, the first government of independent Poland operated in Lublin for a short time. In the interwar years, the city continued to modernise and its population grew; important industrial enterprises were established, including the first aviation factory in Poland, the Plage i Laśkiewicz works, later nationalised as the LWS factory. The Catholic University of Lublin was founded in 1918. The city also contained a vibrant Jewish community that comprised nearly half of Lublin's population.

After the 1939 German invasion of Poland the city found itself in the General Government. During the German occupation the city's population was a target of severe Nazi oppression focusing on Jews. Germans aimed to "Germanise" the city with an influx of ethnic Germans growing toward 20%-25%, compared with 10%-15% in 1939. Near Lublin, a reservation for Jews was built on the Nisko Plan, also known as the "Lublin Plan".

The city served as a headquarters for Operation Reinhardt, the main German effort to exterminate the Jews in occupied Poland. The Jewish population was forced into a ghetto near Podzamcze. The majority of the ghetto's inhabitants, about 26,000 people, was deported to the Bełżec extermination camp between 17 March and 11 April 1942. The remainder was moved to facilities around the Majdanek concentration camp established at the outskirts of the city. Most