Turek is a town in central

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 31,282 inhabitants . It is the capital of

Turek County Turek is a town in central Poland with 31,282 inhabitants . It is the capital of Turek County in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. History Turek is first mentioned in the historical record 1136, when it was listed as belonging to the archbisho ...

in the

Greater Poland Voivodeship Greater Poland Voivodeship ( pl, Województwo wielkopolskie; ), also known as Wielkopolska Voivodeship, Wielkopolska Province, or Greater Poland Province, is a voivodeship, or province A province is almost always an administrative division ...

History

Turek is first mentioned in the historical record 1136, when it was listed as belonging to the

archbishops of Gniezno In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdio ...

. It received its city rights in 1341. Administratively it was located in the Sieradz Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province of the Kingdom of Poland. Turek 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 ...

in 1793 in the

Second Partition of Poland The 1793 Second Partition of Poland was the second of three partitions (or partial annexations) that ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The second partition occurred in the aftermath of the Polish–Russian ...

, regained by Poles and included within the short-lived

Duchy of Warsaw The Duchy of Warsaw ( pl, Księstwo Warszawskie, french: Duché de Varsovie, german: Herzogtum Warschau), also known as the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and Napoleonic Poland, was a French client state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807, during ...

in 1807, and included within so-called

Congress Poland Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It ...

in 1815, soon forcibly integrated with the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

. It was then capital of a district within the

Kalisz Governorate Kalisz Governorate ( pl, gubernia kaliska, russian: Калишская губерния) was an administrative unit (a governorate) of Congress Poland. History It was created in 1837 from the Kalisz Voivodeship, and had the same borders and cent ...

. During the

January Uprising The January Uprising ( pl, powstanie styczniowe; lt, 1863 metų sukilimas; ua, Січневе повстання; russian: Польское восстание; ) was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at ...

, it was the site of clashes between Polish insurgents and Russian troops on August 20 and December 28, 1863. Following the end of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

in 1918, Turek became part of the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of the First World ...

as the country regained independence. With the German

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 ...

and the outbreak of the

Second World War 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, Turek was occupied by the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previou ...

and annexed 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 ...

. It was administered as part of the county or district (''kreis'') of Turek within newly formed province of

Reichsgau Wartheland The ''Reichsgau Wartheland'' (initially ''Reichsgau Posen'', also: ''Warthegau'') was a Nazi German '' Reichsgau'' formed from parts of Polish territory annexed in 1939 during World War II. It comprised the region of Greater Poland and adjacent ...

. The Polish population was subjected to expulsions, confiscation of property, deportations to

Nazi 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 concen ...

and murder (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 ...

''). In autumn of 1939, the '' Einsatzgruppe VI'' carried out a number of executions of Poles at the local market. Teachers from Turek were among Polish teachers murdered in the

Mauthausen concentration camp Mauthausen was a Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with nearly 100 further subcamps located throughout Austria and southern Germany ...

. The first expulsion of 160 Poles was carried out in December 1939, and the expellees' shops, workshops and houses 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 Impe ...

'' policy. A transit camp for Poles expelled from the region was operated in the town. During the German occupation, the nearly 3,000 Jews in Turek were brutalized, forced into an overcrowded

ghetto A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished ...

in 1940, starved, and robbed of all their possessions. In 1941, some men were sent to forced labour camps near

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 Joh ...

, but the majority of Turek's Jews were sent to a rural ghetto in

Kowale Pańskie Kowale Pańskie () is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Kawęczyn, within Turek County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland. It lies approximately north of Kawęczyn, south of Turek, and south-east of the regio ...

. In July 1942, most of them were sent to the

Chełmno extermination camp Chełmno or Kulmhof was the first of Nazi Germany's extermination camps and was situated north of Łódź, near the village of Chełmno nad Nerem. Following the invasion of Poland in 1939, Germany annexed the area into the new territory of Re ...

where they were gassed immediately. Only around 30 Turek Jews survived the war. With the arrival of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

in 1945 and the end of the war, Turek was integrated into the

People's Republic of Poland The Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million nea ...

. From 1975 to 1998, it was administratively located in the

Konin Voivodeship Konin Voivodeship () - a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland from 1975 to 1998, superseded by Greater Poland Voivodeship. Its capital city was Konin. Major cities and towns (population in 1995) * Konin (82,700) * Turek ...

Sports

The local football club is

Tur Turek Tur Turek () is a Polish football club based in Turek, 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 ...

. It competes in the lower leagues.

International relations

Twin towns — sister cities

Turek is

twinned Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to: * In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so; * Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning * Twinning inst ...

with: * Wiesmoor, Germany *

Dunaivtsi Dunaivtsi (, , pl, Dunajowce) is a city in Kamianets-Podilskyi Raion, Khmelnytskyi Oblast (province), Ukraine. It is located on the river Ternavka, 22 km away from the railway station Dunaivtsi and 68 km from the Khmelnytskyi. Rei ...

, Ukraine *

Turhal Turhal is a town and a district of Tokat Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is 48 km in the west of Tokat Province. Turhal is situated on a fertile plain fragmented by the Yeşil Irmak river. It has an elevation of approximately 5 ...

, Turkey * Rovinari, Romania *

Uniejów Uniejów is a spa town in Poddębice County, Łódź Voivodeship in central Poland, with 2,957 inhabitants (2020). It is the seat of the local government of Gmina Uniejów. The town lies in northwestern corner of Poddębice County, near the bor ...

, Poland

Notable people

* Roch Rupniewski (1802/04–1876), Polish poet and activist, participant in the

November Uprising The November Uprising (1830–31), also known as the Polish–Russian War 1830–31 or the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The uprising began on 29 November 1830 in ...

, born in Turek * Ludwik Grossman (1835–1915), Polish musician, composer and conductor, born in Turek *

Józef Mehoffer Józef Mehoffer (19 March 1869 – 8 July 1946) was a Polish painter and decorative artist, one of the leading artists of the Young Poland movement and one of the most revered Polish artists of his time. Life Mehoffer was born in Ropczyce, s ...

(1869–1946), Polish painter and decorative artist * Henryk (Henoch) Glicenstein (1870–1942) was a Polish-American sculptor *

Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski (; 9 June 1885, Gąbin – 31 August 1962 London) was a Polish physician,Waclaw Jedrzejewicz ''Piłsudski: A Life for Poland'' Hippocrene, 1982 Page 246 general, freemason and politician who served as Minister of ...

(1885–1962), Polish physician, general, politician,

Prime Minister of Poland The President of the Council of Ministers ( pl, Prezes Rady Ministrów, lit=Chairman of the Council of Ministers), colloquially referred to as the prime minister (), is the head of the cabinet and the head of government of Poland. The responsibi ...

Marian Cieplak Marian Bogdan Cieplak (9 January 1893, Tarnopol, Austrian Poland (now Ternopil, Ukraine) - 19 July 1996 in Ocala, Florida, United States) was a Polish diplomat and statesman, recipient of many awards and decorations.Małgorzata Smogorzewska, ...

(1893–1996), Polish diplomat, statesman, parliamentarian, director of the gymnasium in Turek before World War IIMałgorzata Smogorzewska: Posłowie i senatorowie Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej 1919-1939. Słownik biograficzny, tom I: A-D, Wydawnictwo Sejmowe Warszawa 1998 * Mieczysław Smorawiński (1893–1940), Polish general, 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 ...

* Włodzimierz Pietrzak (1913–1944), Polish poet, member of the

Polish resistance movement in World War II The Polish resistance movement in World War II (''Polski ruch oporu w czasie II wojny światowej''), with the Polish Home Army at its forefront, was the largest underground resistance movement in all of occupied Europe, covering both German ...

, fallen in the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occurred in the summer of 1944, and it was led ...

Tomasz Gatka Tomasz Gatka (born 27 June 1974) is a Polish bobsledder. He competed at the 1998 Winter Olympics and the 2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, ...

(born 1974), Polish bobsledder

References

External links

Official town webpage
Cities and towns in Greater Poland Voivodeship

Turek Turek is a town in central Poland with 31,282 inhabitants . It is the capital of Turek County in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. History Turek is first mentioned in the historical record 1136, when it was listed as belonging to the archbishop ...

Sieradz Voivodeship (1339–1793) Kalisz Governorate Łódź Voivodeship (1919–1939) Poznań Voivodeship (1921–1939) {{Turek-geo-stub