Part of the English Park

The photograph depicts a fragment of Kościuszko street and the former English Park belonging to the ordination and located in Kościuszko street in Łańcut, vis-à-vis the castle park /between the Glorietta and the Little Castle/. In the south-western corner of the English Park a stone crucifix was erected at the end of the 19th century, as visible in the photograph, with a cast metal Christ crucified; the cross stands at the same location until today, and it is commonly called the “Black Lord Jesus” in Łańcut. The English Park is recorded in the tragic history of World War II. In its beginnings, from September 24th onwards, the Germans kept twenty-five thousand soldiers from Army Kraków in it, with further Polish prisoners of war brought there between September and October 24th. As cold and rainy October came, the conditions at this temporary prisoner camp became unbearable – the soldiers were kept in the open, directly on the ground. Beside, the Germans abandoned any provisions for the camp and transferred them to the city – beside the locals, who had limited means to help them, the prisoners were helped by the city officials and ordinary Alfred Potocki. The camp remained in operation until the end of October. Aldona Cholewianka-Kruszyńska