Włodawa belongs to the group of the oldes settlements at the middle Bug river. The first written document regarding the town appears as early as in the first half of the I 3th century. In “Kronika Halicko-Wołyńska” (“The Halico- Wołyńska Chronicle”) under the year 1242 there is a mention of the destruction of Włodawa by the Tartars. At that time Włodawa was one of the settlements of the Halicko-Włodzimierskie Duchy.
In the second half of the 15 century Włodawa became part of the Great Lithuanian Duchy, being one of the borderland castles In 1534, Włodawa received its civic rights and became one of the main residences of the Sanguszki , who built a castle there and town fortifications, among other things. During the Cossacs wars of 1648 Włodawa was almost completely burnt and its Jewish population annihilated In lateryears (1776, 1826, 1915) thetown was a few times destroyed by great fires. In 1692 Włodawa along with the neighbouring properties was sold to Ludwik Konstanty Pociej who was later known as the Great Command er-in-Chief of Lithuania. In 1698 he brought Paułites from Jasna Góra and founded monastery by the rebuilt parish church The Paulites stayed in Włodawa until the year 1864, when the properties of the Order underwent liquidation under an order by the Tsar After Ludwik Pociej’s death ( 1730), the Włodawa estate went to Antoni Pociej.Due to the huge debts he was forced to sell it to the Lithuanian treasurer Jerzy Fleming Thanks to him Włodawa became the focal point of the trade between the Bug and the Vistula rivers.
That period in Włodawa’s past can be regarded as the time of development and reorganisation. In the town centre the so called “czworobok” was built, which is a complex of brick stalls and constitutes the town’s commercial and service centre. Also the construction of the parish church was completed. The synagogue, which holds a leading position in the Jewish 18th cent architecture was raised around 1764. Since it regained independence (1918).
Włodawa still remained the capital of the county. Without economic standing and destroyed by the war, the town had no prospects of development. In 1939 the town had a population of 9293, 30 percent of which being poor Jewish people. A garrison of considerable size, including heavy and horse artilleries, was stationed in the town. Beginning from the first days of September 1939 they were involved in the defence and includedin the military corps of “Pomorze”, “Modlin” and ,,Łódz”. On September 3 1939 Włodawa’s bridges and the railway station were hit by air bombing. During the German occupation Włodawa lost more than a half of its inhabitants, including the whole Jewish population, who were annihilated in the nearby Nazi extermination camp in Sobibór.
Today’s Włodawa has 15000 inhabitants. It has a well-developed municipal infrastructure and it is a commercial, service and administrative centre.
