Kępno is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

in south-central

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. Kępno is located in the historical

Wieluń Land Wieluń Land (; Latin: ''Terra Velumensis''), originally known as Ruda Land (Polish language, Polish: ''ziemia rudzka''; Latin: ''terra Rudensis'', ''territorium Rudense''), was a Land (administrative unit of Poland), land of the Kingdom of Polan ...

. It lies on the outskirts of the

Greater Poland Voivodeship Greater Poland Voivodeship ( ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship, or province, in west-central Poland. The province is named after the region called Greater Poland (''Wielkopolska'' ). The modern province includes most of this historic re ...

, bordering the historical region of

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

and the

Łódź Voivodeship Łódź Voivodeship ( ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship (province) of Poland. The province is named after its capital and largest city, Łódź, pronounced . Łódź Voivodeship is bordered by six other voivodeships: Masovian Voivodeship ...

. As of December 31, 2009 Kępno had a population of 14,760. One popular attraction in Kępno is the Rynek (market square).

History

The history of Kępno dates back to a medieval Polish stronghold. The oldest known mention of Kępno comes from 1282, when it was the place of signing of the Treaty of Kępno, between dukes of fragmented Poland,

Przemysł II Przemysł II ( also given in English and Latin language, Latin as ''Premyslas'' or ''Premislaus'' or in Polish as '; 14 October 1257 – 8 February 1296) was the Duke of Poznań from 1257–1279, of Greater Poland from 1279 to 1296, of Kraków fr ...

, Duke of Greater Poland and Mestwin II, Duke of Pomerania. In 1283 it enjoyed town rights. Initially a royal city of Poland, in 1365 it was granted by King

Casimir III the Great Casimir III the Great (; 30 April 1310 – 5 November 1370) reigned as the King of Poland from 1333 to 1370. He also later became King of Ruthenia in 1340, retaining the title throughout the Galicia–Volhynia Wars. He was the last Polish king fr ...

to knight and noble . Administratively located in the Sieradz Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province of the Polish Crown, it became a village again. It regained town rights in 1660, by decision of King John II Casimir of Poland. Protestants from nearby

as well as

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

settled in Kępno in the 17th century. One of two main routes connecting

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

and

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

ran through the town in the 18th century and Kings

Augustus II the Strong Augustus II the Strong (12 May 1670 – 1 February 1733), was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1697 to 1706 and from 1709 until his death in 1733. He belonged to the Albertine branch of the H ...

and

Augustus III of Poland Augustus III (; – "the Saxon"; ; 17 October 1696 5 October 1763) was List of Polish monarchs, King of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1733 until 1763, as well as List of rulers of Saxony, Elector of Saxony i ...

often traveled that route. Kępno was annexed by the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

in the 1793

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

. Administered within South Prussia from 1793 to 1807, it was part of the Napoleonic

Duchy of Warsaw The Duchy of Warsaw (; ; ), also known as the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and Napoleonic Poland, was a First French Empire, French client state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars. It initially comprised the ethnical ...

from 1807 to 1815. As ''Kempen'', it was restored to Prussia in the 1815

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

and administered within the Grand Duchy of Posen (until 1848) and the Province of Posen, within which it was the seat of the district Kempen in Posen. The town was a 19th-century

shtetl or ( ; , ; Grammatical number#Overview, pl. ''shtetelekh'') is a Yiddish term for small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Jewish populations which Eastern European Jewry, existed in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust. The t ...

. The majority of the Jews left the city during the second half of the 19th century because of the epidemics (cholera, etc.) and the poor living conditions. They left mainly for

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

and surroundings,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, and the Americas. Kempen (Kepno) immigrants were the first Jews to settle in

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

, and formed the basis of the German-Jewish community there. In the meantime, the Polish population was subject to Germanisation policies. Since the mid-19th century, to resist Germanisation,

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

founded various organizations, including industrial and cultural societies, printing houses and a local branch of the "Sokół" Polish Gymnastic Society. In the early 20th century local Poles protested against Germanisation policies. In 1918 Poland regained independence after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and the Greater Poland Uprising broke out, the aim of which was to reunite the region with Poland. In response the Germans placed over 1,000 ''Grenzschutz'' troops in the town and persecuted the local Polish population. In January 1919, the Germans interned six leading local Polish activists in Świętoszów. Despite their plans, the Polish insurgents did not try to recapture the town, however, it was still restored to

on 17 January 1920. Following the

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

and the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in September 1939, Kępno was occupied by the

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

and on September 6–7, 1939 the '' Einsatzgruppe III'' entered the town to commit atrocities against Poles. Some

from Kępno were murdered by German troops already on September 7, 1939, in the nearby village of Wylazłów. The town was annexed by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, renamed ''Kempen'' and administered as part of the county or district (''kreis'') of the same name within

Reichsgau Wartheland The Reichsgau Wartheland (initially Reichsgau Posen, also Warthegau) was a Nazi Germany, Nazi German ''Reichsgau'' formed from parts of Second Polish Republic, Polish territory Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, annexed in 1939 during World War ...

. Its population was subject to

segregation Segregation may refer to: Separation of people * Geographical segregation, rates of two or more populations which are not homogenous throughout a defined space * School segregation * Housing segregation * Racial segregation, separation of human ...

, Germanisation, confiscation of property, arrests, expulsions, deportations to forced labour, imprisonment in

concentration camps A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploit ...

and executions. The Germans established and operated a Nazi prison in the town. Polish monuments were destroyed. The Polish resistance movement was organized in Kępno in November 1939.

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

troops took the town on January 21, 1945, and with the end of the war, the town returned to

, although with a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

-installed communist regime, which remained in power until the Fall of Communism in the 1980s. The Polish resistance movement remained active in the town, and in September 1945 it captured the local communist police station and liberated the prisoners.

Cuisine

Kępno is one of the production sites of the Greater Poland liliput cheese (''ser liliput wielkopolski''), a traditional regional Polish

cheese Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk (usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats or sheep). During prod ...

, protected as a

traditional food Traditional foods are foods and Dish (food), dishes that are passed on through generations or which have been consumed for many generations. Traditional foods and dishes are traditional in nature, and may have a historic precedent in a national ...

by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland.

Notable residents

* Wilhelm Freund (1806–1894), philologist * Samuel Holdheim (1806–1860), reform rabbi * Malbim (1809–1879), rabbi * Louis Phillips (1829–1900), wealthy land owner and rancher in Los Angeles, born in Kępno * Hermann Aron (1845–1913), electrical engineer * Gustav Jacob Born (1851–1900), histologist * Eugen Rehfisch (1862–1937), physician * (1865–1925), publicist, writer and member of parliament * Edward Lasker (1885–1981), chess player * Hans Schleger (1898–1976), graphic designer, born in Kempen * Bogdan Baranowski (1927–2014), chemist * Witold Tomczak (born 1957), physician, politician

Education

* Wyższa Szkoła Zarządzania "Edukacja" in

, branch in Kępno

Transport

The intersection of the Polish S8 and S11 highways is located just outside of the town limits, north-east of Kępno. There is also a train station.

Sports

The local

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club is . It competes in the lower leagues.

Gallery

File:SM Kępno Kościół św Marcina (3) ID 741021.jpg , St. Martin's Church File:Church in Kepno.jpg, St. Martin's Church before 1909 File:Kepno Poczta.jpg, The Post Office in Kępno File:SM Kępno Wawrzyniaka20 (1) ID 651426.jpg, A historic bank building on Wawrzyniak Street File:WK15 Kępno (1) Travelarz.jpg, The train station File:SM Kępno Sienkiewicza21 (0) ID 651421.jpg, Primary school No. 1 File:Kepno Wieza cisnien.jpg, A

water tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system, distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towe ...

References

Footnotes

{{Authority control Cities and towns in Greater Poland Voivodeship Kępno County