SUWALKI

city, provincial capital of Suwalki wojewdztwo (province), extreme northeastern Poland. First chronicled as a village having a hermitage of the Camaldolese monks (168290), Suwalki received its town rights in 1715. In 1796 it came under Prussian influence and became a Russian garrison in 1897. The city, located on the banks of the Czarna Hancza River, was heavily damaged by German bombing in 1939. In 1940 it became the site of a Nazi concentration camp and headquarters for the German Gestapo in eastern Poland. After World War II the city was rebuilt, including the restoration of private homes and historical buildings. Suwalki has a regional museum containing religious articles dating from the 16th and 17th centuries. The city's economy is based on food processing, lumber milling, textile weaving, and the production of building materials. Pop. (1982 est.) 42,100.