Grójec is a town in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, located in the Masovian Voivodeship, about south of

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

. It is the capital of the urban-rural administrative district

Grójec Grójec is a town in Poland, located in the Masovian Voivodeship, about south of Warsaw. It is the capital of the urban-rural administrative district Grójec and Grójec County. It has 16,674 inhabitants (2017). Grójec surroundings are consid ...

and Grójec County. It has 16,674 inhabitants (2017). Grójec surroundings are considered to be the biggest apple-growing area of Poland. It is said that the region makes up also for the biggest apple orchard of Europe. Statistically, every third apple sold in Poland is grown in Grójec – a unique local

microclimate A microclimate (or micro-climate) is a local set of atmospheric conditions that differ from those in the surrounding areas, often with a slight difference but sometimes with a substantial one. The term may refer to areas as small as a few squ ...

provides for their beautiful red colour.Michał Mackiewicz
"Okolice Grójca." Mazowiecki Urząd Wojewódzki w Warszawie.

History

In the 11th and 12th centuries, Grójec was the seat of a

castellan A castellan is the title used in Medieval Europe for an appointed official, a governor of a castle and its surrounding territory referred to as the castellany. The title of ''governor'' is retained in the English prison system, as a remnant o ...

y, which was then moved to Czersk. It was granted town rights in 1419 by Duke

Janusz I of Warsaw Janusz I of Warsaw (pl: ''Janusz I warszawski''), also known as Janusz I the Old (pl: ''Janusz I Starszy'') (c. 1347/52 – 8 December 1429), was a Polish prince member of the House of Piast in the Masovian branch, from 1373/74 Duke of Warsaw and ...

from the

Piast dynasty The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I (c. 930–992). The Piasts' royal rule in Poland ended in 1370 with the death of king Casimir III the Great. Branch ...

World War II

In September 1939, during the joint German-Soviet

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

which started

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the town was bombed by the ''

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

'' and afterwards captured by Germany. In November 1940, during the Nazi occupation of Poland, German authorities established a

Jewish ghetto In the Jewish diaspora, a Jewish quarter (also known as jewry, ''juiverie'', ''Judengasse'', Jewynstreet, Jewtown, or proto-ghetto) is the area of a city traditionally inhabited by Jews. Jewish quarters, like the Jewish ghettos in Europe, were ...

in Grójec, in order to confine its Jewish population for the purpose of persecution and exploitation. The ghetto was liquidated in February 1941, when almost all of its inhabitants (5,200–6,000) were transported on trains used for cattle to Warsaw Ghetto, the largest ghetto in all of Nazi occupied Europe with over 400,000 Jews crammed into an area of . From there, most inmates were sent to Treblinka extermination camp.Warsaw Ghetto

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust hi ...

(USHMM),

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Richard C. Lukas Richard Conrad Lukas (born 1937) is an American historian and author of books and articles on military, diplomatic, Polish, and Polish-American history. He specializes in the history of Poland during World War II. Lukas is best known for '' Th ...

, ''Out of the Inferno: Poles Remember the Holocaust'', University Press of Kentucky 1989 - 201 pages. Page 13; also in Richard C. Lukas, ''The Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles Under German Occupation, 1939-1944'', University Press of Kentucky, 1986
Google Print, p.13

Gunnar S. Paulsson Gunnar Svante Paulsson (also known as Steve Paulsson) is a Swedish-born Canadian historian, university lecturer, and author who has taught in Britain, Canada, Germany, and Italy. He specializes in history of The Holocaust and has been described a ...

, "The Rescue of Jews by Non-Jews in Nazi-Occupied Poland," ''Journal of Holocaust Education'', Vol.7, Nos.1&2, 1998, pp.19-44. Published by Frank Cass, London.Edward Victor
"Ghettos and Other Jewish Communities."
''Judaica Philatelic''. Accessed June 20, 2011. Only a group of Jewish craftsmen was left in Grójec, however, they were also annihilated in a mass execution in Dębówka, near

Góra Kalwaria Góra Kalwaria (; "Calvary Mountain", yi, גער, ''Ger'') is a town on the Vistula River in the Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It is situated approximately southeast of Warsaw and has a population of around 12,109 (as of 2019). ...

. German occupation of Grójec ended in January 1945.

Nature

Forest Inspectorate Reserves

There are as many as nine nature reserves in the forest inspectorate. Their total area exceeds 1 thousand ha. DĄBROWA RADZIEJOWSKA Partial forest reserve with an area of 52.50 ha, situated in a large forest complex in the Radziejowice commune. It was created in 1984 in order to preserve and protect one of the most beautiful types of forests in our country - luminous oak wood. OSUCHOWSKIE GRĄDY Partial forest reserve established in 1982. Its area is 99,25 ha. It is located in the highest point of the Mazowiecka lowland. SKULSKI LAS A partial forest reserve of the area of 311.75 ha established in 1984. It includes the major part of the Skuły Wschód range, situated in the Skuły-Wschód forestry unit. SKULSKIE OAKS A partial forest reserve of the area of 30,07 ha established in 1996. It covers the north-western part of the Skuły-Western range belonging to the Grójec Forest Inspectorate. ŁĘGACZ NAD JEZIORKA The reserve is situated by the Jeziorka River, several hundred metres to the north-west of Głuchów village. Protection covers a fragment of the river valley and a riparian forest growing on its right bank and marshy bottom of the valley. The area of the reserve is 37.31 ha. LAKES OF OLSZYNA Nature reserve "Lakes of Olszyny" - established by the order of the Ministry of the Environment of the Republic of Poland (M.O.Ś.Z.N.iL. of 25 January 1995. The forest reserve is located in the southern part of the lake district on the Jeziorkka River. The total area is 5.83 ha, including 4.99 ha of forest. MODRZEWINA Forest reserve established in 1959 on the grounds of the village of Mała Wieś in the commune of Belsk Duży. The reserve is located in the Grójec Forest Inspectorate. The aim of protection is preservation of the northernmost site of Polish larch in the Highland. Larches grow here to a height of 40 metres and reach a breast height of even 120 cm. TOMCZYCE A landscape reserve of the area of 57.99 ha, established in 1968, located between the villages of Gostomia and Tomczyce to the east of Nowe Miasto. The reserve protects the steep slope of the Pilica valley, cut by several ravines and overgrown by an old pine-oak forest. The slope of the valley, 20 metres high, retains its steepness thanks to the lively side erosion of the river, whose bed runs at the foot of the slope, undercutting it from time to time. SOKÓŁ A forest reserve established in 1995 in the commune of Wyśmierzyce. The object of protection is the area of forests, meadows and marshes of natural character, while the aim is to preserve for scientific and didactic reasons the plant complexes with the dominant mountain ash. Within the territorial range of Grójec Forest Inspectorate there are four areas of protected landscape created along picturesque and extremely valuable in nature river valleys: Landscape Protection Areas "Jeziorka River Valley", Landscape Protection Areas "Pilica and Drzewiczka River Valley", Landscape Protection Areas "Bolimowsko Radziejowicki with the Central Rawka River Valley" and Landscape Protection Areas "Chojnatka River Valley".

Sports

The local

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team is . It competes in the lower leagues.

Notable people

* Piotr Skarga (1536–1612),

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

, preacher, hagiographer and polemicist. *

Asher Rabinowicz of Przedbórz Asher ben Elhanan Rabinowicz of Przedbórz (Yiddish: אשר ראבינאוויטש פון פשעדבאָרז; – January 20, 1798) also known as the Maggid of Przedbórz was an 18th-century Hasidic Judaism, Hasidic Maggid (preacher). Born in Groj ...

(ca.1720–1798) an 18th-century

Hasidic Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...

Maggid (preacher). *

Jan Jagmin-Sadowski Jan Jagmin-Sadowski (24 April 1895 in Grójec – 5 October 1977 in Warsaw), was a general of the Polish Army, having served in World War I as a member of Józef Piłsudski's legions, as well as commanding Polish forces during the invasion of Po ...

(1895–1977), a general of the Polish Army * Marek Suski (born 1958), a Polish politician * Justyna Kozdryk (born 1980, a Polish Paralympic powerlifter *

Bartłomiej Niedziela Bartłomiej Niedziela (born 7 May 1985) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Career Club In July 2011, he joined Arka Gdynia Morski Związkowy Klub Sportowy Arka Gdynia () is a Polish professional football ...

(born 1985), a Polish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

with over 250 club caps

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Grójec is twinned with: *

Spišská Nová Ves Spišská Nová Ves (; hu, Igló; german: (Zipser) Neu(en)dorf) is a town in the Košice Region of Slovakia. The town is located southeast of the High Tatras in the Spiš region, and lies on both banks of the Hornád River. It is the biggest tow ...

, Slovakia *

Strumica Strumica ( mk, Струмица, ) is the largest city2002 census results
in English and Macedon ...

, North Macedonia * Canosa di Puglia, Italy *

Horki Horki ( be, Горкі, , pl, Horki) or Gorki (russian: Горки) is a town in the Mogilev Region of Belarus, an administrative center of Horki District. As of 2009, its population was 32,777. History For the first time Horki was mentioned ...

, Belarus

Notes and references

Grójec city government webpage

Jewish Community in Grójec
on Virtual Shtetl {{DEFAULTSORT:Grojec Cities and towns in Masovian Voivodeship Grójec County Masovia Masovian Voivodeship (1526–1795) Warsaw Governorate Warsaw Voivodeship (1919–1939) Holocaust locations in Poland