Turek is a town in central

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 populou ...

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, in west-central Poland. It was created on 1 January 1999 ...

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 archdioc ...

. 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 W ...

, 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 in 1815, soon forcibly integrated with the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the 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 the Great Northern War. ...

. 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, 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 fightin ...

in 1918, Turek became part of the Second Polish Republic 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 aft ...

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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

in September 1939, Turek was

occupied ' (Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 October ...

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 previo ...

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 con ...

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 of ...

''). In autumn of 1939, the '' Einsatzgruppe VI'' carried out a number of executions of

Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in C ...

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, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 further ...

. The first

expulsion Expulsion or expelled may refer to: General * Deportation * Ejection (sports) * Eviction * Exile * Expeller pressing * Expulsion (education) * Expulsion from the United States Congress * Extradition * Forced migration * Ostracism * Persona non ...

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 **Ge ...

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 Imper ...

'' 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 t ...

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

Chełmno extermination camp , known for = , location = Near Chełmno nad Nerem, ''Reichsgau Wartheland'' (German-occupied Poland) , built by = , operated by = , commandant = Herbert Lange, Christian Wirth , original use = , construction = , in operatio ...

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: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

in 1945 and the end of the war, Turek was integrated into the People's Republic of Poland. From 1975 to 1998, it was administratively located in the Konin Voivodeship.

Sports

The local football club is Tur Turek. It competes in the lower leagues.

International relations

Twin towns — sister cities

Turek is twinned 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. Rein ...

, Ukraine * Turhal, Turkey *

Rovinari Rovinari () is a town in Gorj County, Oltenia, Romania. A large coal burning electric power plant it is located near the town. Surface and underground lignite coal mines operate in the surrounding area. It officially became a town in 1981, as a ...

, 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 bo ...

, Poland

Notable people

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

(1869–1946), Polish painter and decorative artist * Henryk (Henoch) Glicenstein (1870–1942) was a Polish-American sculptor * Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski (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 (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 Włodzimierz Pietrzak (; 7 July 1913 – 22 August 1944) was a Polish poet and literary critic. He was active in the underground cultural life in occupied Poland, editing underground magazines. He took part and died in the Warsaw Uprising. A lite ...

(1913–1944), Polish poet, member of the Polish resistance movement in World War II, 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 (born 1974), Polish bobsledder

References

External links

Official town webpage
Cities and towns in Greater Poland Voivodeship Turek Sieradz Voivodeship (1339–1793) Kalisz Governorate Łódź Voivodeship (1919–1939) Poznań Voivodeship (1921–1939) {{Turek-geo-stub