Piastów is a town in 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 ...

in the

Masovian Voivodship Masovian Voivodeship or Mazowieckie Province (, ) and any variation thereof, is a voivodeship (province) in east-central Poland, containing Poland's capital Warsaw. Masovian Voivodeship has an area of and had a 2019 population of 5,411,446, m ...

, within the

Warsaw metropolitan area The Warsaw metropolitan area (known in Polish language, Polish as: or ) is the metropolitan area of Warsaw, the capital of Poland. The metropolitan area covers ten List of counties in Poland, counties in the Masovian Voivodeship, with an area ...

, with 23,331 inhabitants (2006 est). With 3963 persons/km², it is the second most

densely populated Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

township in Poland (after

Świętochłowice Świętochłowice (; ; ) is a city with powiat rights in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. It is also one of the central cities of the Metropolis GZM, with a population of 2 million, and is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Rawa ...

Geography

History

In the Middle Ages, the villages of Żdżary and Utrata existed in the place of today's Piastów. Following the joint German-Soviet

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 ...

, which started

World War II 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, Piastów was occupied by Germany until January 1945. In early 1940, 100 expelled Poles from

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

were deported to Piastów. The local branch of the

Polish Red Cross Polish Red Cross (, abbr. PCK) is the Polish member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Its 19th-century roots may be found in the Russian and Austrian Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. On regaining its ind ...

looked after Polish displaced persons, treated the wounded, organised food parcels for local Poles held in German prisoner-of-war camps and conducted secret sanitary and rescue training. The last pre-war chief of the Piastów police station was murdered by the Russians in

Tver Tver (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative centre of Tver Oblast, Russia. It is situated at the confluence of the Volga and Tvertsa rivers. Tver is located northwest of Moscow. Population: The city is ...

in the

Katyn massacre The Katyn massacre was a series of mass killings under Communist regimes, mass executions of nearly 22,000 Polish people, Polish military officer, military and police officers, border guards, and intelligentsia prisoners of war carried out by t ...

in 1940. During the Warsaw Uprising, in August 1944, Poles expelled by the Germans from

Wola Wola () is a district in western Warsaw, Poland. An industrial area with traditions reaching back to the early 19th century, it underwent a transformation into a major financial district, featuring various landmarks and some of the tallest offi ...

came to Piastów. From October 1944 to March 1945, the Poles ran an infectious disease hospital where Polish refugees from Warsaw and Jews hid, as the Germans were afraid to enter the hospital. From 1975 to 1998, it was administratively located in the Warsaw Voivodship.

Sights

There are several memorials to victims and

partisans Partisan(s) or The Partisan(s) may refer to: Military * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line ** Francs-tireurs et partisans, communist-led French anti-fascist resistance against Nazi Germany during WWII ** Itali ...

Transport

Piastów is served by

Piastów railway station Piastów railway station is a railway station in Piastów, Poland. The station is served by Koleje Mazowieckie, who run trains from Skierniewice railway station, Skierniewice to Warszawa Wschodnia railway station, Warszawa Wschodnia, and Szybka ...

References

Cities and towns in Masovian Voivodeship Pruszków County World War II sites in Poland {{Pruszków-geo-stub