Before the second world war Siedlce had a significant Jewish population, at times being the majority I town. Jews started settling in Siedlce from the mid-16^th century. They were inn keepers, merchants and artisans. In the 18^th century a Jewish hospital, a Beit Midrash and a Jewish cemetery were established. Siedlce came under Austrian rule after the third partition of Poland until 1809 when it was passed to Russian rule in 1815.

In the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, secular political and cultural activity was evident among the Jews in Siedlce. Various political movements and parties such as Zionists, the Bund, and others existed. Between 1911 and 1939, two Yiddish weeklies were published in town.

In 1939, Jews were 37% of the town's population. Germans deported over a thousand Jews from elsewhere in Poland to Siedlce in 1940. In March 1941 a three days pogrom in Siedlce orchestrated by the Germans, killed many of its Jewish inhabitants. In August of the same year the Jews were forced into a Ghetto. In August 1942 some 10,000 Siedlce Jews were deported to Treblinka and murdered there. The town's remaining Jews were sent to extermination on November 25^th, 1942.

The Siedlce Jewish community was not restored after the war.

May this book serve as a memorial to the vibrant community of Siedlce that no longer exists.

Siedlce [Pol], Shedlitz [Yid], Sedlets [Rus], Shedlits, Shedlets, Sedl'tse, Sedlce

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Mokobody 11 miles NW
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Łuków 18 miles SSE
Łosice 18 miles E
Seroczyn 19 miles WSW
Węgrów 20 miles NW
Liw 21 miles NW
Stoczek Łukowski 21 miles SW
Kałuszyn 21 miles W
Drohiczyn 22 miles NE