Warta, Poland Explained

Warta
Pushpin Map:Poland
Pushpin Label Position:bottom
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Type1:Voivodeship
Subdivision Name1:Łódź
Subdivision Type2:County
Subdivision Name2:Sieradz
Subdivision Type3:Gmina
Subdivision Name3:Warta
Leader Title:Mayor
Leader Name:Krystian Krogulecki[1]
Established Title:Town rights
Established Date:1255
Area Total Km2:10.84
Population As Of:31 December 2020
Population Total:3208 [2]
Population Density Km2:auto
Timezone:CET
Utc Offset:+1
Timezone Dst:CEST
Utc Offset Dst:+2
Coordinates:51.7°N 56°W
Postal Code Type:Postal code
Postal Code:98-290
Registration Plate:ESI
Website:http://www.gimwarta.pl

Warta (pronounced as /pl/; Yiddish: דווארט|Dvart) is a town in Sieradz County, Łódź Voivodeship, Poland, with 3,208 inhabitants (2020).[2] It is situated on the Warta River. It is located in the Sieradz Land.

History

Warta was granted town rights in 1255 by Duke Casimir I of Kuyavia of the Piast dynasty. It was a royal town of the Polish Crown, administratively located in the Sieradz County in the Sieradz Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province.[3] In the 17th century, there was a sizeable Scottish community in Warta.[4] One of two main routes connecting Warsaw and Dresden ran through the town in the 18th century and Kings Augustus II the Strong and Augustus III of Poland often traveled that route.[5] At various times, the 2nd Polish National Cavalry Brigade and 4th Polish Vanguard Regiment were stationed in Warta.[6]

Shortly before World War II about 50 percent of the town's population was Jewish. When the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939, they immediately brutalized the population. Some Poles from Warta were murdered by the Wehrmacht already on September 7, 1939 in the nearby village of Wylazłów.[7] During the German occupation, Jews were kidnapped for forced labor, robbed of their possessions, and in early 1940, forced into a ghetto, leaving behind their furniture and other possessions for locals and Germans to take. In April 1940, the Germans murdered 499 patients of the local psychiatric hospital as part of Aktion T4.[8] The next 82 patients were murdered by in June 1941.[8] In both cases, patients were gassed in a gas van.[8] In spring 1942, several Jews, including the rabbi, were hanged, allegedly for sending bread to Jews who had been sent to forced labor camps. In August 1942, all Jews were rounded up and held in a church for three days with nothing to eat. Some died from hunger and thirst, others were shot there. Afterwards, around 1,000 were sent to the Chełmno extermination camp where they were immediately gassed. Another few hundred were sent to the Łódź Ghetto. The number of pre-war Warta Jewish survivors is unclear; at least 50 and perhaps close to 200. More than 40 registered there after the war, but two by the names of Moshe Szajniak and Meir Rozewald were killed by Eugeniusz "Groźny" Kokolski and his group of militant anti-communists (now regarded among Poland's "Cursed Soldiers") who raided the town after the war ended, and the others left the town.[9]

Demographics

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Burmistrz | Gmina Warta, Miasto Warta, Urząd Miejski w Warcie. 2022-05-20. Gmina Warta. pl-PL.
  2. Web site: Local Data Bank. 15 November 2021. Statistics Poland. Data for territorial unit 1014094.
  3. Book: . Atlas historyczny Polski. Województwo sieradzkie i województwo łęczyckie w drugiej połowie XVI wieku. Część I. Mapy, plany. 1998. pl. Warszawa. Instytut Historii Polskiej Akademii Nauk. 3.
  4. Feduszka. Jacek. 2009. Szkoci i Anglicy w Zamościu w XVI-XVIII wieku. Czasy Nowożytne. pl. Zarząd Główny Polskiego Towarzystwa Historycznego. 22. 53. 1428-8982.
  5. Web site: Informacja historyczna. Dresden-Warszawa. 7 November 2020. pl.
  6. Book: Gembarzewski, Bronisław. Rodowody pułków polskich i oddziałów równorzędnych od r. 1717 do r. 1831. 1925. pl. Towarzystwo Wiedzy Wojskowej. Warszawa. 7, 12.
  7. Book: Wardzyńska, Maria. 2009. Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion. pl. Warszawa. IPN. 94.
  8. Web site: Eutanazja – ukryte ludobójstwo pacjentów szpitali psychiatrycznych w Kraju Warty i na Pomorzu w latach 1939 - 1945. Instytut Pamięci Narodowej. Agata Gut. 7 November 2020. pl.
  9. Book: m . Geoffrey . Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos . 2012 . University of Indiana Press . Bloomington, Indiana . 978-0-253-35599-7 . Volume II 112–113.