| Szczerców | |
| Settlement Type: | Village |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Type1: | Voivodeship |
| Subdivision Name1: | Łódź |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Bełchatów |
| Subdivision Type3: | Gmina |
| Subdivision Name3: | Szczerców |
| Coordinates: | 51.3333°N 26°W |
| Pushpin Map: | Poland |
| Pushpin Label Position: | bottom |
| Area Total Km2: | 129 |
| Population Total: | 3300 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Timezone: | CET |
| Utc Offset: | +1 |
| Timezone Dst: | CEST |
| Utc Offset Dst: | +2 |
| Registration Plate: | EBE |
| Area Code Type: | Area Code |
| Area Code: | (+48) 44 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal Code |
| Postal Code: | 97-420 |
Szczerców is a village in Bełchatów County, Łódź Voivodeship, in central Poland.[1] It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Szczerców. It lies approximately 18km (11miles) west of Bełchatów and 560NaN0 south-west of the regional capital Łódź. It is located in the Sieradz Land.
Szczerców was a royal town of the Kingdom of Poland, administratively located in the Sieradz County in the Sieradz Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province.[2]
The town had a history of Jewish migration and settlement, with 35 percent of the population claiming Jewish ancestry at the start of World War II.[3] Shortly after Hitler's forces invaded Poland in 1939, German troops arrived in the town at September 3, 1939. Polish and German troops fought bitterly between September 4 and 5, resulting in the near destruction of the town. The synagogue was burned, and its ruins dismantled after the war, while the majority of Jewish residents took shelter in nearby towns Zelów and Bełchatów.[4]
Among the soldiers to perish in the fighting at Szczerców was Prince Oskar of Prussia (1915–39),[5] a lieutenant with Nazi German Infantry Regiment 51 and a grandson of deposed Kaiser Wilhelm II, through his son Prince Oskar (1888-1958).