Until the Partitions of Poland, Parczew belonged to Lesser Poland’s Lublin Voivodeship, and since 1815, it was part of Russian-controlled Congress Poland. In 1898, the rail line from Lublin, via Parczew, to Łuków was built, and in the Second Polish Republic, the town had the population of 10,000. During World War II, Parczew was a center of anti-German resistance. In local forests, numerous Home Army and Armia Ludowa units operated. On July 22, 1944, Parczew was freed by the Home Army, and in the summer 1945, anti-Communist unit of Leon Taraszkiewicz attacked local Urzad Bezpieczenstwa prison.