Szczerców 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 ...

Bełchatów County __NOTOC__ Bełchatów County ( pl, powiat bełchatowski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Łódź Voivodeship, central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government ...

Łódź Voivodeship Łódź Voivodeship (also known as Lodz Province, or by its Polish name ''Województwo łódzkie'' ) is a province- voivodeship in central Poland. It was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Łódź Voivodeship (1975–1999) and the Sier ...

, in central Poland. It is the seat of the

gmina The gmina (Polish: , plural ''gminy'' , from German ''Gemeinde'' meaning ''commune'') is the principal unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. , there were 2,477 gminas throughout the country, encompassing over 4 ...

(administrative district) called

Gmina Szczerców __NOTOC__ Gmina Szczerców is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Bełchatów County, Łódź Voivodeship, in central Poland. Its seat is the village of Szczerców, which lies approximately west of Bełchatów and south-west of the regiona ...

. It lies approximately west of

Bełchatów Bełchatów () is a city in central Poland with a population of 55,583 as of December 2021. It is located in Łódź Voivodeship, from Warsaw. The Elektrownia Bełchatów, located in Bełchatów, is the largest coal fueled power plant in ...

and south-west of the regional capital

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of canti ...

. It is located in the

Sieradz Land Sieradz Land or Siradia ( pl, Ziemia Sieradzka) is a historical region of Poland, the southeastern part of Greater Poland. It has been also the name of the administrative unit from 14th-18th centuries (former Duchy of Sieradz) of the same border ...

History

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. 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. 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 Zelów ( cs, Zelov; german: 1943–45 Sellau) is a town in Bełchatów County, Łódź Voivodeship, Poland, with 7,459 inhabitants (2020). History Zelów was probably founded in the 13th century, when it was part of fragmented Piast-ruled Pola ...

and

. Among the soldiers to perish in the fighting at Szczerców was Prince Oskar of Prussia (1915–39), a lieutenant with Nazi German Infantry Regiment 51 and a grandson of deposed

Kaiser Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and List of monarchs of Prussia, King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until Abdication of Wilhelm II, his abdication on 9 ...

, through his son Prince Oskar (1888-1958).

References

Villages in Bełchatów County Sieradz Voivodeship (1339–1793) Piotrków Governorate Łódź Voivodeship (1919–1939) {{Bełchatów-geo-stub