# Irena <table class="place-meta"> <tr><td>Hebrew / Yiddish</td><td dir="rtl">מאדזשיץ (Modzhitz)</td></tr> <tr><td>Local name(s)</td><td>Irena — the historic settlement adjoining and now part of Dęblin; earlier Modrzyc / Modrzyce</td></tr> <tr><td>Region (today)</td><td>Lublin Voivodeship, Ryki County, Poland (within the town of Dęblin)</td></tr> <tr><td>Coordinates</td><td>51°34′N 21°50′E</td></tr> </table> <table class="place-meta place-eras"> <tr><th>Era</th><th>Town name</th><th>Country / jurisdiction</th></tr> <tr><td>to 1795</td><td>Modrzyce / Irena</td><td>Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth</td></tr> <tr><td>1795–1809</td><td>Irena</td><td>Austrian Empire (West Galicia)</td></tr> <tr><td>1809–1815</td><td>Irena</td><td>Duchy of Warsaw</td></tr> <tr><td>1815–1915</td><td>Irena</td><td>Congress Poland (Russian Empire)</td></tr> <tr><td>1918–1939</td><td>Irena / Dęblin</td><td>Second Polish Republic (Lublin Voivodeship)</td></tr> <tr><td>1939–1944</td><td>Irena / Dęblin</td><td>German occupation (General Government)</td></tr> <tr><td>present</td><td>Dęblin (incl. Irena)</td><td>Poland — Lublin Voivodeship, Ryki County</td></tr> </table> ## Overview Irena is the historic settlement adjoining Dęblin, about 70 km north-west of Lublin at the confluence of the Vistula and Wieprz rivers; "Dęblin-Irena" is often treated as a single town, and Jewish records use the earlier name Modrzyc, Yiddish Modzhitz (מאדזשיץ). By the late 19th century it was a centre of Hasidism and the seat of the **Modzitz Hasidic dynasty** (famed for its niggunim), alongside a Gur following; in 1927 the combined civilian population of Dęblin and Irena was about 4,860, including roughly 3,060 Jews. Under the German occupation an open ghetto was set up in Irena in November 1940; it was liquidated in October 1942 when some 2,500 Jews were deported to Treblinka, while about 1,400 were kept as forced labourers. A Luftwaffe-run labour camp in the town operated until 22 July 1944, days before the Red Army arrived, and was one of the last Jewish labour camps in the Lublin District — enabling several hundred Jews to survive. <small>Sources: Wikipedia — History of the Jews in Dęblin and Irena during World War II, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_D%C4%99blin_and_Irena_during_World_War_II ; Wikipedia — Dęblin, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C4%99blin ; Deblin Yizkor Book, https://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/Deblin/Deb573.html</small> ## People with events here | Person | Event | | --- | --- | | [[Chaja Sura Herbst (b.1883)]] | Born ~1883 | | [[Eliezer Tzvi Cygielman (b.1886)]] | Born 01/08/1886 | | [[Lewek Icek Barbanel (b.1811)]] | Died 09/17/1887 | | [[Josef Stamler (b.1907)]] | Born 10/10/1907 | | [[Hersz Goldfinger]] | Born |