Mszczonów ( Yiddish: אַמשינאָוו ''Amshinov'') is a town in

Żyrardów County __NOTOC__ Żyrardów County ( pl, powiat żyrardowski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Masovian Voivodeship, east-central Poland. It came into being on 1 January 1999, as a result of the Polish local govern ...

Masovian Voivodeship The Masovian Voivodeship, also known as the Mazovia Province ( pl, województwo mazowieckie ) is a voivodeship (province) in east-central Poland, with its capital located in the city of Warsaw, which also serves as the capital of the country. The ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

, with 6,231 inhabitants as of the 2006 census. It is situated just outside the Warsaw metropolitan area, approximately 45 km from

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 official ...

city centre.

History

Kościół św Jana Chrzciciela w Mszczonowie

The oldest known mention of Mszczonów comes from a document of Duke

Konrad I of Masovia Konrad I of Masovia (ca. 1187/88 – 31 August 1247), from the Polish Piast dynasty, was the sixth Duke of Masovia and Kuyavia from 1194 until his death as well as High Duke of Poland from 1229 to 1232 and again from 1241 to 1243. Life Konrad w ...

from 1245, when it was part of fragmented Piast-ruled

. Mszczonów was granted town rights in 1377 or earlier. It was a royal town of Poland, administratively located in the Rawa Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province. One of two main routes connecting

and

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

ran through the town in the 18th century and Kings Augustus II the Strong and Augustus III of Poland often traveled that route. The town possessed a vibrant

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish community, and it was once the center of the

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 ...

Amshinov dynasty (Mszczonów being pronounced as "Amshinov" in Yiddish.) During the

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 af ...

, 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

in September 1939, the town was invaded by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. On September 8, 1939, German troops murdered 11

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 ...

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

in the town, and on September 11, 1939, the Germans carried out a mass execution of 20 local Poles, including mayor Aleksander Tański, two priests and a doctor (see ''

Nazi crimes against the Polish nation Crimes against the Polish nation committed by Nazi Germany and Axis collaborationist forces during the invasion of Poland, along with auxiliary battalions during the subsequent occupation of Poland in World War II, consisted of the murder ...

''). At least five Poles from Mszczonów were murdered by the Russians in the large

Katyn massacre The Katyn massacre, "Katyń crime"; russian: link=yes, Катынская резня ''Katynskaya reznya'', "Katyn massacre", or russian: link=no, Катынский расстрел, ''Katynsky rasstrel'', "Katyn execution" was a series of m ...

in 1940.

Sports and recreation

Deepspot, the second deepest swimming pool in the world, is located in the town. The local football team is KS Mszczonowianka. It competes in the lower leagues.

Notable people

Jan Adam Maklakiewicz Jan Adam Maklakiewicz (24 November 1899, Chojnata, Congress Poland – 8 February 1954, Warsaw) was a Polish composer, conductor, critic, and music educator. His most known compositions belong to the choral music. Selected filmography * ''Pan ...

(1899–1954), Polish composer and conductor, whose former home houses a museum *

Mieczysław Zdzienicki Mieczysław Zdzienicki, ''Siekiel-Zdzienicki'' (15 February 1892 – 16 October 1953) was a Polish social activist, lawyer and Bibliophilia, bibliophile. He was the President of "Friends Book Society" in Kalisz. Biography Zdzienicki was born on 1 ...

(1892–1953), Polish social activist, lawyer and bibliophile

References

External links

Jewish Community in Mszczonów
on Virtual Shtetl {{DEFAULTSORT:Mszczonow Cities and towns in Masovian Voivodeship Żyrardów County Historic Jewish communities in Poland Nazi war crimes in Poland World War II prisoner of war massacres by Nazi Germany Shtetls