Krośniewice is a town in

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

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 ...

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 4,258 inhabitants (2020).

Transport

The European routes E30 and E75 used to intersect in the town until a bypass was built around the town in 2010. The main railway between

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 officia ...

and

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 ...

passes through it. It also serves as an important depot of a narrow gauge railway line operating in the area.

History

The town was first mentioned in historical documents from 1387 or 1388, and was apparently owned by a particular knight at the time, from the clan Awdaniec (or Abdank). The town's Coat of Arms is derived from the heraldry of that clan. It was granted town rights in 1442 or earlier. It was a

private town A private town is a town owned by a private person or a family. History of Private Towns in Poland In the history of Poland, private towns (''miasta prywatne'') were towns within the lands owned by magnates, bishops, knights, princes, etc. ...

of Polish nobility, administratively located in the

Łęczyca Voivodeship Łęczyca Voivodeship ( pl, Województwo łęczyckie) was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland from the 14th century until the partitions of Poland in 1772–1795. It was part of Province of Greater Poland, and its capit ...

in the

Greater Poland Province of the Polish Crown , subdivision = Province , nation = Poland , year_start = , event_end = Third Partition of Poland , year_end = , image_map = Prowincje I RP.svg , image_map_capt ...

. 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 ...

, in 1793, it 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 1807 it was regained by Poles and included in 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 ...

, and after its dissolution, in 1815, it became part of Congress Poland in the

Russian Partition The Russian Partition ( pl, zabór rosyjski), sometimes called Russian Poland, constituted the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that were annexed by the Russian Empire in the course of late-18th-century Partitions of Po ...

of Poland. Many inhabitants took part in the Polish January Uprising of 1863–1864. As punishment for the uprising, the tsarist administration deprived Krośniewice of its town rights, however, the settlement still developed. In 1918 Poland regained independence and the settlement was reintegrated with Poland. Town rights were restored in 1926. The town had 3,500 residents in 1926. During 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 ...

, 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 opposing ...

, Krośniewice was occupied by the German Army on 16 September 1939, and then the '' SS-Totenkopf-Standarte Brandenburg'' entered the town to commit various atrocities against the Polish population. In 1940, the Germans expelled 888

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 ...

from the town, and further expulsions were carried out in 1941–1943. Homes of expelled Poles were handed over to German colonists in accordance with 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. The Poles were either deported to the General Government (German-occupied central Poland) or to forced labour in Germany, or sent as slave labour to new German colonists in the area. Like many cities and towns in

German-occupied Poland German-occupied Poland during World War II consisted of two major parts with different types of administration. The Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany following the invasion of Poland at the beginning of World War II—nearly a quarter of the ...

, it was the site of a German-run

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 ...

, where the

Jewish 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""The ...

population of the town was confined before being sent to the death camps. German occupation ended in 1945.

Culture

Muzeum im jerzego dunin borkowskiego w krosniewicach

There is a museum in central Krośniewice, called the Jerzy Dunin Borkowski Museum, which was named after the "

Hetman ( uk, гетьман, translit=het'man) is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders. Used by the Czechs in Bohemia since the 15th century. It was the title of the second-highest military co ...

of the Polish Collectors", Jerzy Dunin-Borkowski.www.kolekcjonerstwo.pl
This museum contains various important historical artifacts connected to such historical figures as

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

and

Ignacy Jan Paderewski Ignacy Jan Paderewski (; – 29 June 1941) was a Polish pianist and composer who became a spokesman for Polish independence. In 1919, he was the new nation's Prime Minister and foreign minister during which he signed the Treaty of Versaill ...

References

External links

Official town webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Krosniewice Cities and towns in Łódź Voivodeship Kutno County Łódź Voivodeship (1919–1939) Holocaust locations in Poland