Raszków is a town in Ostrów Wielkopolski County, Greater Poland Voivodeship,

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 ...

, with 2,080 inhabitants (2010).

History

Raszków was granted

town rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

in 1444. It was a private town, administratively located in the Kalisz County in the

Kalisz Voivodeship Kalisz Voivodeship may also refer to: *Kalisz Voivodeship (1314–1793) *Kalisz Voivodeship (1816–1837) The Kalisz Voivodeship was a voivodeship of the Congress Poland, that existed from 1816 to 1837. Its capital was Kalisz. It was established o ...

in the Greater Poland Province of the Kingdom of Poland. After the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, the town was annexed by the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Re ...

, within which it became part of the newly formed province of South Prussia. Regained by Poles after the successful Greater Poland uprising of 1806, it was included in the short-lived Polish Duchy of Warsaw, and in 1815 it was re-annexed by Prussia, within which it was part of the initially semi-autonomous

Grand Duchy of Poznań The Grand Duchy of Posen (german: Großherzogtum Posen; pl, Wielkie Księstwo Poznańskie) was part of the Kingdom of Prussia, created from territories annexed by Prussia after the Partitions of Poland, and formally established following th ...

and later of the

Province of Posen The Province of Posen (german: Provinz Posen, pl, Prowincja Poznańska) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1848 to 1920. Posen was established in 1848 following the Greater Poland Uprising as a successor to the Grand Duchy of Posen, w ...

. The Jewish population of the town was 214 people in 1839, but by 1905 it had dropped to 84 people, comprising 5% of the total population of 1,658. After the end of the First World War, Raszków became part of

Poznań Voivodeship Poznań Voivodeship was the name of several former administrative regions (''województwo'', rendered as ''voivodeship'' and usually translated as "province") in Poland, centered on the city of Poznań, although the exact boundaries changed over t ...

, in reborn Poland. Following 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 ...

in September 1939, the town was occupied by Germany until 1945. In October and December 1939, the occupiers carried out the first expulsions of Poles, families of officials and owners of larger houses and workshops, which were then handed over to

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

colonists as part of the ''

Lebensraum (, ''living space'') is a German concept of settler colonialism, the philosophy and policies of which were common to German politics from the 1890s to the 1940s. First popularized around 1901, '' lso in:' became a geopolitical goal of Imperi ...

'' policy. Expelled Poles were deported to transit camps in Nowe Skalmierzyce and

Mikstat Mikstat (german: Mixstadt) is a town in Ostrzeszów County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships ...

, and then to the

General Government The General Government (german: Generalgouvernement, pl, Generalne Gubernatorstwo, uk, Генеральна губернія), also referred to as the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (german: Generalgouvernement für die be ...

in the more-eastern part of German-occupied Poland. The Polish resistance was active in Raszków. In November 1944, the commander of the Przygodzice unit of the

Home Army The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) esta ...

, was arrested by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

in Raszków. From 1975 to 1998, Raszków belonged to the

Demographics

Notable residents

Berthold Kempinski Berthold Kempinski (10 October 1843 – 14 March 1910) was a Polish, German wine merchant, restaurateur and hotelier. Biography Kempinski was born in Raschkow, Province of Posen, Kingdom of Prussia (Raszków, Poland), he became a travelling ...

(1843-1910), German hotelier *

Anna Jasińska Anna Jasińska (10 July 1867 – 7 October 1957) was a washerwoman, Polonia activist connected with Wrocław (Breslau). She was born in Raszków, where she finished school. At the end of 19th century she moved to Wrocław and soon, at the beginn ...

(1867-1957), Polish activist * (1888-1940), Polish gynaecologist, military officer, victim of the

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 ...

during

* (1921-2009), Polish artist, scenic designer, prisoner of

Nazi German concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as con ...

during World War II * (born 1995), Polish cyclist

References

{{Authority control Cities and towns in Greater Poland Voivodeship Ostrów Wielkopolski County