Poland's forgotten east — Renaissance Old Town, Jewish heritage, and pierogi ruskie
Lublin is eastern Poland's largest city and one of the country's most undervisited historic centres — a compact Old Town of Renaissance townhouses, a Gothic castle, and a tangle of baroque churches built when the city was a major hub of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Lublin was also one of the most significant Jewish centres in pre-war Europe: the historic Kazimierz district and the nearby Majdanek death camp (2km from the city centre, the most intact extermination camp in Poland) make Lublin a place of profound historical weight. The food is hearty Polish eastern: pierogi ruskie stuffed…
Lublin has been continuously settled since at least the 7th century CE. In 1569 the Lublin Union was signed here, creating the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth — then the largest state in Europe. Jewish settlement began in earnest in the 16th century; by 1939 Jews comprised one-third of the city's population and Lublin was known as the 'Jewish Oxford' for its renowned Yeshiva. The Nazi occupation from 1939 to 1944 destroyed virtually the entire Jewish population through mass shootings and the Majdanek camp; the city itself survived the war largely structurally intact. Today Lublin is a regional…