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25-673: Alter was born in Magnuszew , Austrian Poland , in late 1799. He came from a very distinguished family of rabbis, among the most prominent in Germany and Poland. He was a descendant of Rashi and of the Tosafist , Rabbi Meir ben Baruch of Rothenburg . He married Feigele Lipszyc, daughter of Moshe 'Halfon' Lipszyc, in 1811, and settled in Warsaw. They had fourteen children, according to most published sources, most of whom died in infancy. Alter became known as

50-507: A Talmudic gaon . At first, he was close to the rebbes of Kozhnitz , however after some years, he was drawn to Rebbe Simcha Bunim of Peshischa , whose close adherent he became. After the demise of Simcha Bunim, Alter became a disciple of Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk , also known as the Kotzker Rebbe, who was famous for his acerbic wit and Talmudic brilliance. He was soon followed by a large number of Simcha Bunim's followers. Alter and

75-644: A defining characteristic of the Polish Romanticist movement. Poland briefly regained semi-autonomy in 1807 when Napoleon created the Duchy of Warsaw , but this effectively ended with the Congress of Vienna in 1815. The Congress created the Kingdom of Poland, sometimes called Congress Poland , as a Russian puppet state. Even this, however, came to an end after a Polish insurrection in 1831 , at which point Russia ended most of

100-628: A large portion of Greater Poland to Prussia and all of Poland's eastern provinces from Moldavia to Livonia to Russia, reducing Poland to one-third of her original size before the First Partition. Outraged with the further humiliation of Poland by her neighbors and the betrayal by the Polish nobility, and emboldened by the French Revolution unfolding in France, the Polish masses quickly turned against

125-537: A series of reforms to enhance Poland's military, political system, economy, and society. These reforms reached their climax with the enactment of the May Constitution in 1791, which established a constitutional monarchy with separation into three branches of government, strengthened the bourgeoisie and abolished many of the nobility 's privileges as well as many of the old laws of serfdom. In addition, to strengthen Poland's international standings, King Stanislaus signed

150-542: A treaty to divide the region on 26 January 1797. This gave the Habsburg monarchy control of the Western Galicia and Southern Mazovia territories, with approximately 1.2 million people; Prussia received Podlachia , the remainder of Masovia, and Warsaw , with 1 million people; and Russia received the remaining land, including Vilnius and 1.2 million people. Unlike previous partitions, no Polish representative

175-795: The Ger Hasidic dynasty, Yitzchak Meir Alter . On 1 June 1869, under the ukase of Emperor Alexander II of Russia , Magnuszew lost its town rights. In World War I , the Tsarist army deported the German and Polish inhabitants of Magnuszew to the River Volga and other remote areas of Russia . As a result of the deportations and other losses the village's population decreased heavily between 1913 (3,206) and 1921 (1,568). The Polish-Catholic and Jewish populations were roughly equal in numbers over time until World War II . Together they accounted for 80-90 percent of

200-664: The Habsburg monarchy , and the Russian Empire which effectively ended Polish–Lithuanian national sovereignty until 1918 . The partition was the result of the Kościuszko Uprising and was followed by a number of Polish–Lithuanian uprisings during the period. Following the First Partition of Poland in 1772, in an attempt to strengthen the significantly weakened Commonwealth, King Stanisław August Poniatowski put into effect

225-687: The Polish-Prussian Pact of 1790. Angered by what was seen as dangerous, Jacobin -style reforms, Russia invaded Poland in 1792, beginning the War in Defense of the Constitution . Abandoned by her Prussian allies and betrayed by Polish nobles who desired to restore the privileges they had lost under the May Constitution, Poland was forced to sign the Second Partition in 1793, which ceded Dobrzyn, Kujavia, and

250-607: The Vistula river and lies approximately 23 kilometres (14 mi) north-west of Kozienice and 59 km (37 mi) south-east of Warsaw . In 2012 it had a population of 800 (2012). It was the site of a major battle in August 1944 during World War II , when the Soviet army established a strategic bridgehead in its vicinity, on the west bank of the Vistula. The oldest settlement dates from

275-615: The Zamoyski family . In 1655 during the Swedish Deluge , the village was burned down by the soldiers of King Charles X Gustav of Sweden . It was rebuilt, but physically moved in 1774, possibly because of changes in the course of the River Vistula . In 1776 the new owner, Andrzej Zamoyski , restored the rank of the settlement as a town, due to a privilege granted by King Stanisław August Poniatowski . However, only two years later, in 1778,

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300-488: The 12th century when the village, then called Magnussewo, was founded by one of the early Dukes of Masovia . In 1377, when the village was owned by Świętosław, it received Magdeburg town rights from Duke Siemowit IV . In 1576, as a result of war damage and fires that destroyed numerous wooden buildings, Magnuszew was demoted to the rank of a village. Later owners of Magnuszew were the Potocki family and - particularly powerful -

325-732: The Jewish population was imprisoned in a ghetto in Magnuszew. In 1942 the ghetto was liquidated, and the Jews were either shot on the spot or transported to the Treblinka extermination camp where they were killed by gassing. In 1944, as part of Operation Bagration , the Red Army established a bridgehead at Magnuszew (at times also called the Warka bridgehead). Heavy fighting between Soviet and German forces occurred when

350-734: The Kotzker Rebbe eventually became brothers-in-law, when the latter married Chaya Lipszyc, the sister of Alter's wife Feigele. In 1830, he was forced to change his name to Alter because of his support towards the Poles during the November Uprising . Alter was temporarily succeeded as the Rebbe of the Ger hasidim by his colleague and disciple, Rabbi Chanoch Henoch of Aleksander . One of his sons, Avraham Mordechai, and three daughters, Cyna Pesia, Leah Hudes, and Esther, survived to adulthood and married. However, by

375-559: The Polish victory in the Austro-Polish War of 1809, it became part of the short-lived Polish Duchy of Warsaw . After the duchy's dissolution in 1815, it passed to the Russian Partition of Poland. In around 1800 German and Jewish immigrants arrived in Magnuszew. The German settlers built farmhouses on higher ground along the banks of the Vistula . The alluvial flats near the river remained uninhabited because of flooding that hit

400-474: The area at least twice a year, until levees were built in the late 19th century. Historical and linguistic research indicates that the Germans arrived from similar settlements further downstream along the Vistula . The origin of the Jewish population settling in Magnuszew is unknown. They formed a congregation that had 330 members in 1827. The most well-known of the congregation was the founder and first Rebbe of

425-577: The bridgehead was established, and even more fighting occurred in January 1945 when the Red Army broke out of the bridgehead heading for Berlin . The town was almost completely destroyed. Third Partition of Poland The Third Partition of Poland (1795) was the last in a series of the Partitions of Poland–Lithuania and the land of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth among Prussia ,

450-532: The high contracting parties are agreed and undertake never to include in their titles ... the name or designation of the Kingdom of Poland, which shall remain suppressed as from the present and forever ... The Third Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth ended the existence of an independent Polish and Lithuanian state for the next 123 years. Immediately following the Third Partition,

475-574: The local population (until 1942). Aside from a very few exceptions, the Poles were Catholics, and spoke Polish , the Germans were Lutherans and talked a Low German dialect, and the Jews were Jewish and spoke Yiddish . A second wave of deportations , accompanied by ethnic cleansing , hit Magnuszew in World War II , when the German occupants deported its Polish inhabitants to Germany as slave workers , while

500-469: The occupying forces of Prussia and Russia. Following a series of nationwide riots, on 24 March 1794, Polish patriot Tadeusz Kościuszko took command of the Polish armed forces and declared a nationwide uprising against Poland's foreign occupiers, marking the beginning of the Kościuszko Uprising . Catherine II and Frederick William II were quick to respond and, despite initial successes by Kosciuszko's forces,

525-536: The occupying powers forced many Polish politicians, intellectuals, and revolutionaries to emigrate across Europe, in what was later known as the Great Emigration . These Polish nationalists participated in uprisings against Austria , Prussia, and Russia in former Polish lands, and many would serve France as part of the Polish Legions . In addition, Polish poets and artists would make the desire for national freedom

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550-507: The time of Alter's death on 23 Adar 5626 (1866), only one child (Esther) remained alive. Rabbi Alter is still well known for his talmudic commentary, though he wrote on many other areas. Extant published works are: Magnuszew Magnuszew [maɡˈnuʂɛf] is a town in Kozienice County , Masovian Voivodeship , in east-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Magnuszew . It located near

575-498: The uprising was crushed by November 1794. According to legend, when Kosciuszko fell off of his horse at the Battle of Maciejowice , shortly before he was captured, he said "Finis Poloniae", meaning in Latin "[This is] the end of Poland." Austrian, Prussian, and Russian representatives met on 24 October 1795 to dissolve the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, with the three conquering powers signing

600-465: The village was again destroyed by a large fire. In the following years the town experienced numerous fires and floods, and the population declined dramatically due to epidemics such as cholera and smallpox . These various disasters left Magnuszew impoverished and once more the settlement lost its status as a town. With the Third Partition of Poland in 1795, the town was annexed by Austria . After

625-409: Was party to the treaty. The Habsburgs, Russia, and Prussia forced King Stanislaus to abdicate and retire to St. Petersburg, where he died as a trophy prisoner in 1798. The victors also agreed to erase the country's name: In view of the necessity to abolish everything which could revive the memory of the existence of the Kingdom of Poland, now that the annulment of this body politic has been effected ...

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