Faith , Hope , Love

The coat of Arms of Zagórz was created basing on the pattern of the Seal " Communal Suzerainty - Zagórz, District of Sanok " impressed on the documents of feudal estate. Before the II World War and after 1956 scouts wore on their uniforms? sleeves the coat of arms designed by the scoutmaster Michał Smulski; the scouting instructor and soldier of Polish Legions. Colors of the coat of arms have symbolized: red - heart - Love, blue - Crucifix - Faith, green - anchor - Hope. Those three divine virtues - Faith, Hope, Love are expressed on the arms of Zagórz. Agriculture, railway and industry formed the development of the town. People working in Zagórz: railway employees, farmers, workpeople - christians of Zagórz - have beacons and strength to live in those timeless virtues.
Zagórz is a town with a great historical certificate- it is almost 600 years old. It has already existed in 1412 as an estate of the Tarnawski family. Zagórz, which we know today, was founded equally with the opening of railway line Przemyśl - Budapest. It has opened a new chapter of Zagórz development, where a small village transformed into a full of movement junction and a railway housing estate. Zagórz was given the civil rights in 1977 becoming one of the youngest towns in Poland.

Outline of the history

The bonfires founded below an old cementary in Zasław / at present a part of Zagórz/
are the oldest evidence of human presence in the area of Zagórz. The discovery dates back to the post ? glacial era. Other traces of primitive settlements are: hatchets one stony, and the other made of antler. There are also much younger archaeological exhibits discovered in the area of Zagórz, such as: bangles, necklaces and a hatchet- all derive from the Bronze Age. All of mentioned exhibits are currently a part of a collection in Museum of History in Sanok. During the reign of Mieszko I the area of today?s Zagórz together with the area of Sanok were the border territory between west Slavic State of Mieszko I and East Slavic - Ruś Kijowska. Regular nationality of Zagórz area to Polish State has begun in 1340, when king Kazimierz the Great took the first campaign on Lvov.
The beginning of XV century was the time of intensive settlement in Podkarpacie. A lot of new villages have risen. Among them also Zagórz, that in 1412 together with the Osława river, Wielopole, Serednie and Poraż were in possession of Nicolas from Tarnawa.
For the next time Zagórz was mentioned in annals just dozens years later. That was in 1467, when a part of Zagórz, so called Osława then / the area of today?s Wielopole /, was founded on German law.
According to the tradition based on the legend written in XVII century, King Kazimierz the Great founded the chapel in 1343. The chapel at first was probably supposed to belong to the parish of close Poraż. The first written information about the parish in Zagórz came from 1697, when a parish priest of Poraż - father Peter Głoski founded and equipped the parish church in Zagórz. Until XVI century Zagórz had been in possession of the Tarnawski family from Poraż. The next century, the Stadnicki family had inherited the town of Zagórz. In XVIII century the town was in possession of: the Stadnicki family, the Ossoliński family and the Krasicki family. In 1772, as a result of the first partition of Poland, the area of Zagórz, together with the other lands of Ruś Czerwona, Silesia and Podolia were enclosed to Austria. The lands captured by Austrians were called Galicia. The great chance to liven Zagórz economically was the investment of railway line building. Railway has been functioning here since 1872. Two years later, when a tunnel of Łupków was opened to public currency, there raised so called "The First Hungarian - Glacial Iron Railway": Przemyśl - Chyrów - Zagórz - Łupków - Medzilaborce - Koszyce - Budapest. In 1884 the investment of Glacial Transversal Railway: Stróże - Biecz - Jasło - Krosno - Sanok - New Zagórz was brought to the end. Together with it, Zagórz has been joined with Carol Louis Railway / Cracov - Lvov /. That's how the town got a connection with the railway line joining lands of the former Polish Republic in its entirety.
In XIX century Zagórz was in possession of the Truskolaski and Łubaczewski family. In 1867 Zagórz obtained the status of an unitary parish. During the time of 1872 - 1880 in the area of the railway station in Zagórz there has been raised a railway housing estate. A lot of Zagórz citizens were employed also in petroleum research and mining works.
On the turn of XIX century the town numbered about 205 homesteads. Out of 1639 Zagórz citizens, about 1200 of them were Polish and 370 of them were of Ruthenian origin, there were also some citizens of other nationalities: the Germans, Jews and even the English.
Along with the World War coming up, an area of Austrian partition there were formed different patriotic organizations and associations. In this time Zagórz was an important railway junction, where together about 300 people were employed. That was a time of a very smart cultural development of Zagórz, and the greatest part in it had the Gymnastic Society "Sokół" /"Falcon" /. In May of 1911 the first scout?s squad initiated its activity. Next year at the " Sokół" society there was formed a special squad - scouts of the line. On 10th August 1914 scouts from the special squad received an order to go to Lvov, where under the command of Józef Haller the Eastern Legions were begin formed. From that time many of scouts from Zagórz squad actively participated in war operations. Few of them on 14th August 1914 went to Lvov to boost there the ranks of so called ?Sokole squads" /"Falcon squads" /. Many of them organized in those squads joined up the Polish Military Organization. The railway employees working in Zagórz showed the great courage and devotion to the cause of reviving mother country. In the engine - house they built up two armored trains "Gromobój" and " Kozak" using common wagons. Thanks to a very brave attitude of both trains? staff, the military operation of putting Ukrainian nationalistic squads out of action, was engineered very efficiently.
During the September Campaign in 1939 the area of Zagórz was being defended by the army detachment "Carpathians ", that comprised 3rd Mountain Brigade under the command of Col. J. Kotowicz. The war operations reached Zagórz on 9th September and just then the German air force was bombing the railway junction and bridge. As a result, the Polish Army retreated to the line of Uherce - Ustrzyki on 10th September.
With the day of setting the Soviet - German border on the San river - Zagórz became a part of the Sanok district, in the province of German - occupied Poland. During the Hitler?s occupation, Zagórz was one of the most active conspirational military center. Hitlerites arrested about 30 citizens of Zagórz area; some of them were placed in concentration camps and about 50 of them were transported to forced labour in Germany. The situation of Polish Jews was particularly tragic. In autumn of 1940 a labour camp was organized in buildings of cellulose factory (Zasław) with the prediction to imprison mainly the Jews. The prisoners numbered from 14 to 17 K were mainly from the district of Sanok. 10 K of them were murdered and the rest of them were transported to the camp in Bełżec. The labour camp in Zasław was liquidated in 1943. The Soldier of partisans? division "South" (OP-23 ) under the command of Capt. A. Winogrodzki (Home Army "AK" -pseudonym "Ordon", "Korwin", "Węgrzynowski") have liberated Zagórz on 11th september 1944.
In 1972 Zagórz together with: Zasław, Wielopole, Zahutyń, Dolina and Olchowce was joined to the city of Sanok limits. Four years later Zagórz, Dolina and Zahutyń were separated from the area of Sanok and established as a separate administrative unit named a Town and Commune of Zagórz. Finally on the 1st January 1977 Zagórz has obtained the status of a town, with the Dolina, Wielopole and Zasław districts. Nowadays the town and commune of Zagórz are a part of the Sanok district in the Podkarpacki region.

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