Koźle 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 ...

in the administrative district of

Gmina Szamotuły __NOTOC__ Gmina Szamotuły is an urban-rural gmina (administrative district) in Szamotuły County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland. Its seat is the town of Szamotuły, which lies approximately north-west of the regional capit ...

, within

Szamotuły County __NOTOC__ Szamotuły County ( pl, powiat szamotulski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Greater Poland Voivodeship, west-central Poland. It came into existence on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish lo ...

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 ...

, in west-central Poland. It lies approximately west of Szamotuły and north-west of the regional capital

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 ...

History

Koźle was a private village of Polish nobility, administratively located in the Poznań County in the

Poznań Voivodeship Poznań Voivodeship was the name of several former administrative regions (''województwo'', rendered as ''voivodeship'' and usually translated as "province") in Poland, centered on the city of Poznań, although the exact boundaries changed over t ...

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 ...

. During the

German occupation of Poland 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 ...

(

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 ...

), inhabitants of Koźle were among

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 ...

massacred by the Germans on November 9, 1939, in

Mędzisko Mędzisko is a settlement in the administrative district of Gmina Obrzycko, within Szamotuły County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland. During the Occupation of Poland (1939–1945), German occupation of Poland (World War II), M� ...

and on December 8, 1939, in Bukowiec, as part of the ''

Intelligenzaktion The ''Intelligenzaktion'' (), or the Intelligentsia mass shootings, was a series of mass murders which was committed against the Polish intelligentsia (teachers, priests, physicians, and other prominent members of Polish society) early in the ...

''. In 1939 and 1942, the occupiers carried out expulsions of Poles, whose farms were then handed over to ethnic

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

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. Poles expelled in 1939 were briefly held in a transit camp in

Wronki Wronki (german: Wronke) is a town in the Szamotuły County, western-central Poland, situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. It is located close to the Warta River to the northwest of Poznań on the edge of Noteć Forest, and has a population ...

, where they were stripped of any valuables, and then deported to the Radom District of the General Government (German-occupied central Poland), while those expelled in 1942 were enslaved as forced labour and sent either to Germany or to new German colonists in the county.

References

Villages in Szamotuły County {{Szamotuły-geo-stub