Boczków (German 1939-1945 ''Maternhof'') is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

in the administrative district of Gmina Nowe Skalmierzyce, within Ostrów Wielkopolski County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland. It lies approximately north of Skalmierzyce, north-east of

Ostrów Wielkopolski Ostrów Wielkopolski () (often abbreviated ''Ostrów Wlkp.'', formerly called simply ''Ostrów'', german: Ostrowo, Latin: ''Ostrovia'') is a city in west-central Poland with 70,982 inhabitants (2021), situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship; ...

, and south-east of the regional capital

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...

. The village dates back to the

Late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the Periodization, period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Eur ...

. It was part of the Kingdom of Poland until the late-18th century

Partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place toward the end of the 18th century and ended the existence of the state, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland and Lithuania for 12 ...

, when it was annexed by

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

. On December 27, 1918, was killed in Boczków as the first fallen participant of the Greater Poland Uprising, aimed at reuniting the region with the just re-established Polish state.''Gmina i Miasto Nowe Skalmierzyce. 55 lat praw miejskich (1962-2017)'', p. 18 (in Polish, English and German)
/ref> In response, the Polish insurgents captured the village, which became the first fully liberated village of the region during the uprising. There is a monument dedicated to Jan Mertka in Boczków. He is buried in

References

Villages in Ostrów Wielkopolski County {{OstrówWielkopolski-geo-stub