Złoczew is a town in
Sieradz County
__NOTOC__
Sieradz County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Łódź Voivodeship, central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its ...
,
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 ...
, in central Poland, with 3,340 inhabitants (2020).
It is located in the historic
Sieradz Land
Sieradz Land (; Latin: ''Terra Siradiae'') is a historical region in central Poland, a part of Łęczyca-Sieradz Land ().
Its traditional capital is Sieradz, while other bigger cities are Piotrków Trybunalski (another historically important ...
, south of
Sieradz
Sieradz (,) is a city on the Warta river in central Poland with 40,891 inhabitants (2021). It is the seat of the Sieradz County, situated in the Łódź Voivodeship. Sieradz is a capital of the historical Sieradz Land.
Sieradz is one of the olde ...
and north of
Wieluń
Wieluń () is a town in south-central Poland with 21,624 inhabitants (2021). The town is the seat of the Gmina Wieluń and Wieluń County, and is located within the Łódź Voivodeship. Wieluń is a capital of the historical Wieluń Land.
W ...
.
Złoczew is a relatively young town in the region, dating back to the
Late Middle Ages
The late Middle Ages or late medieval period was the Periodization, period of History of Europe, European history lasting from 1300 to 1500 AD. The late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period ( ...
, with a preserved palace and park ensemble and
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
churches. It is located on the
Route of the Heroes of the Battle of Warsaw 1920, the main highway connecting
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 ...
with
Łódź
Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...
,
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
Białystok
Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the List of cities and towns in Poland, tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area.
Biał ...
.
History
16th to 18th centuries

In the mid-16th century, the feudal lord of the area was Stanisław Ruszkowski (1529–1597) whose son, Andrzej Ruszkowski (1563–1619) brought the Order of Cistercians to Złoczew in 1600, building their church and monastery, and in 1601 funded the construction of the parish church for Złoczew. On 14 December 1605, King
Sigismund III Vasa
Sigismund III Vasa (, ; 20 June 1566 – 30 April 1632
N.S.) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1587 to 1632 and, as Sigismund, King of Sweden from 1592 to 1599. He was the first Polish sovereign from the House of Vasa. Re ...
issued the charter for the new town of Złoczew.
In the 18th century the first
synagogue
A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...
was built in Złoczew.
19th and early 20th centuries
After the
Partitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...
and
Napoleonic Wars
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Napoleonic Wars
, partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
, image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg
, caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
, from 1815 the town was part of the
Congress Poland
Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...
within the
Russian Partition
The Russian Partition (), 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 Poland. The Russian ac ...
of Poland.
The last
Battle of Złoczew was fought on 22 August 1863 by a unit of pro-independence General
Edmund Taczanowski on the fields between Złoczew and
Kamionka. The defeat of the Polish forces ended the independence movement in the area.
Poland restored 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 ...
in 1918 and in 1919 Złoczew's municipal rights were restored by the Polish administration. In the interwar period, it was administratively located in 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 ...
of Poland. According to the 1921 census, the town had a population of 4,904, of which 73.5% declared
Polish nationality and 26.5% declared
Jewish
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 ...
nationality.
World War II
The German
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 ...
, began on 1 September 1939 and 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 ...
entered Złoczew on 4 September 1939, when German soldiers from the ''
Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler
The 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler or SS Division Leibstandarte, abbreviated as LSSAH (), began as Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard unit, responsible for guarding the Führer's person, offices, and residences. Initially th ...
'' (LSSAH), together with the soldiers of the 17th Wehrmacht Infantry Division, killed about 200 residents of the city, both Christians and Jews. Eighty percent of the city, around 240 houses, businesses, and government buildings, were subsequently burned, and imagery of Złoczew's burning by the Wehrmacht was used in
Nazi
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
war films displayed in the first week of the war in the cinemas of the
Third Reich
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...
. The victims included both residents of Złoczew and refugees from the neighboring village. After the war, investigators identified 71 victims, of which 58 came from Złoczew.
The Germans began to terrorize the Jews, kidnapping them for
forced labor
Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...
, and then at the end of 1939, forcing many to leave the town. Most of those who left went to
Lublin
Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...
or Warsaw. Some fled east across the Soviet border. In late 1939, the Germans also
expelled many Poles, including families of the mayor, parish priest, teachers, doctors, notaries, merchants and pharmacy owner. Further expulsions of Poles were carried out in March 1941 and April 1944. In March 1941 hundreds of Poles were expelled and deported to a transit camp in
Łódź
Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...
, where they were held for several weeks and subjected to brutal searches.
[Wardzyńska, p. 303] Poles were then deported to the
General Government
The General Government (, ; ; ), formally the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (), was a German zone of occupation established after the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, Slovak Republic (1939–1945), Slovakia and the Soviet ...
(German-occupied central Poland).
[ In November 1941, in Złoczew Germans conducted segregation of nearly 800 Poles expelled from nearby villages, who were then deported to slave labor either to Germany or to ]German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
colonists in occupied Poland.[ In April 1944, the Germans expelled 184 Poles, who were then deported to forced labor in Germany and ]German-occupied France
The Military Administration in France (; ) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zone in areas of northern and western France. This so-called ' was established in June 19 ...
. Each time the expellees' houses were handed over to German colonists as part of the ''Lebensraum
(, ) is a German concept of expansionism and Völkisch movement, ''Völkisch'' nationalism, the philosophy and policies of which were common to German politics from the 1890s to the 1940s. First popularized around 1901, '' lso in:' beca ...
'' policy. The Germans operated a prison in Złoczew that was subordinate to the prison in Sieradz. In 1940, the Germans forced the remaining Jews into a ghetto
A ghetto is a part of a city in which members of a minority group are concentrated, especially as a result of political, social, legal, religious, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished than other ...
and brought several hundred Jews from neighboring villages there too. In all, about 2,500 Jews lived in the ghetto. Early in 1942, about 100 men and teen aged boys were sent to forced labor camps. In May or June 1942, the remaining residents, probably more than 2000, were assembled in a local church where they were held for several days with minimum food and water. They were forced into trucks and taken to Chełmno extermination camp
Chełmno, or Kulmhof, was the first of Nazi Germany's extermination camps and was situated north of Łódź, near the village of Chełmno nad Nerem. Following the invasion of Poland in 1939, Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, Germany annexed ...
where they were immediately gassed. There were no survivors from this last round up and perhaps 20 Jewish survivors in total from Złoczew.
During the war, Złoczew was extremely damaged and deserted. The center of town has never been rebuilt, and its population has never recovered to prewar numbers.
Architectural monuments
A Bernardine monastery complex was built in 1603-1607. From 1608 to 1864 the only residents of the monastery were Bernardine monks. In 1683-1692 the complex was expanded. The monastery was destroyed twice by fire, in 1719 and in 1808. From 1949 Camaldolese
The Camaldolese Hermits of Mount Corona () are a Catholic Church, Catholic monastic order of pontifical right for men founded by Romuald, St. Romuald. Its name is derived from the Holy Hermitage () in Camaldoli, high in the mountains of Tuscany, ...
nuns lived there. On 6 May 1986 the monastery was officially granted to Camaldolese nuns and became their property.
The Church of St. Cross dates from the late renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
. During the Second World War the Germans rebuilt the building by removing arcades and converted it into a prison. After the war the palace hosted a primary school and secondary school dormitory. After Polish accession to the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
the palace was renovated and is the headquarters of the town and commune of Złoczew.
Złoczew. Brama klasztoru kamedułek z XVII w. 19346.JPG, Entrance gate to the Monastery
Koścół.jpg, Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
Holy Cross Church
Palace in Zloczew front.jpg, Ruszkowski Palace
Kościół Św. Andrzeja Apostoła.jpg, Renaissance St. Andrew Church
Złoczew 2009-04-12 - 024 popiersie Jana Pawła II przy Kościele Św Krzyża.jpg, Monument of Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005.
In his you ...
near the Holy Cross Church
Notable people associated with Złoczew
* Jarosława Lewicka (born 1935), the last living recipient of the Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...
award from Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...
to reside in Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
References
{{Authority control
Cities and towns in Łódź Voivodeship
Sieradz County
Holocaust locations in Poland
Sites of Nazi war crimes during the Invasion of Poland