Sieradz | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Market Square | |
 Flag  Coat of arms | |
  Sieradz | |
| Coordinates:51°36′N18°45′E / 51.600°N 18.750°E /51.600; 18.750 | |
| Country |  Poland |
| Voivodeship |  Łódź |
| County | Sieradz |
| Gmina | Sieradz(urban gmina) |
| Established | 11th century |
| First mentioned | 1136 |
| City rights | 1247 |
| Government | |
| • City mayor | Paweł Osiewała |
| Area | |
• Total | 51.22 km2 (19.78 sq mi) |
| Population (31 December 2021) | |
• Total | 40,891 [1] |
| • Density | 798.3/km2 (2,068/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Postal code | 98-200 |
| Area code | +48 043 |
| Car plates | ESI |
| Highways |  |
| National roads |   |
| Website | www |
Sieradz[ˈɕɛrat͡s] ⓘ (Latin:Siradia,German:1941-45 Schieratz)[2] is a city on theWarta river in centralPoland[3] with 40,891 inhabitants (2021).[1] It is the seat of theSieradz County, situated in theŁódź Voivodeship. Sieradz is a capital of the historicalSieradz Land.
Sieradz is one of the oldest cities in Poland. It was an important city ofmedieval Poland, thrice being a location for the election of thePolish monarchs. Polish Kings chaired six assemblies from here. Historically, it was the capital of theDuchy of Sieradz (1263-1339),Sieradz Voivodeship (1339–1793), andSieradz Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is located on theRoute of the Heroes of the Battle of Warsaw 1920, the main highway connectingWrocław withŁódź,Warsaw andBiałystok.
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The oldest settlements can be roughly traced back to the 6th century. The oldest known mention of Sieradz comes from theBull of Gniezno from 1136. In the mid-13th century it was conferred with municipal rights by DukeCasimir I of Kuyavia. It had also welcomed many settlers fromScotland and theNetherlands after the 13th century. During thefragmentation of Poland, Sieradz was initially part of theSeniorate Province, and then from 1263 it was the capital of theDuchy of Sieradz, which in 1339 was transformed into theSieradz Voivodeship of Poland. Polish kingCasimir III the Great erected a castle in Sieradz. In theMiddle Ages the town was attacked by theMongols during all three Mongol invasions of Poland,Bohemians andTeutonic Knights.
Sieradz was a significantroyal town of Poland. In 1445 the election of KingCasimir IV Jagiellon took place in Sieradz. Until the 16th century the town used to be an important trade centre. Merchants fromSpain andPortugal were frequently visiting the town for trade and commerce. In the 17th century due to theSwedish invasions, plagues, fires and floods the town lost its trading importance and fell from its prime. In the 18th century the reconstruction of town commenced. The residents during that time were only approximately 1,500.
Sieradz was annexed byPrussia in theSecond Partition of Poland in 1793. On 13 November 1806 a Polish uprising against the Prussians took place in Sieradz, and in 1807 it was included in the short-lived PolishDuchy of Warsaw. After the duchy's dissolution, in 1815, it became part of so-calledCongress Poland within theRussian Partition of Poland. It was the capital of a district within theKalisz Governorate of theRussian Empire.[4] During theJanuary Uprising, on 18 September 1863, Polish insurgents attacked Russian troops stationed in the town.[5] Further clashes between Polish insurgents and Russian troops took place on 24 January and 18 June 1864.[6] AfterWorld War I, in 1918, Poland regained independence and control of the town.
With the joint German-Sovietinvasion of Poland and the outbreak of theSecond World War in 1939, Sieradz was attacked on 9 September and occupied by theWehrmacht. Annexed byNazi Germany, it was renamedSchieratz and administered as part of the county or district (kreis) of the same name withinReichsgau Wartheland. Estimates are that at least 40% of the population of Sieradz was Jewish prior to the German occupation.[7] Today, Sieradz commemorates a Day of Judaism each year in January.
In mid-September 1939, the Germans organized a temporaryprisoner-of-war camp in the local prison, in which they held nearly 3,000Polish soldiers, despite the prison capacity being 1,100.[8] During theGerman occupation, the population was subjected tovarious atrocities. Already on 15 September 1939, the Germans carried out the first public execution of seven Poles in Sieradz. In early November 1939, the Germans arrested 62 members of the local elite in order to terrorize the population before thePolish Independence Day (11 November), and then on 14 November they forced localJews to dig pits for the victims, and afterwards murdered 20 hostages.[9] Among the victims were activists, teachers, school principals, craftsmen, policemen, pre-war mayor Ignacy Mąkowski, local officials, judges, and aboy scout.[9] 522 Poles, families of teachers, officials, policemen, merchants, craftsmen and shop owners, wereexpelled in late 1939.[10]
The town was subjected to severeGermanisation, and the Nazisdestroyed traces of Polish culture, destroying historical records, monuments, and buildings. Street names were changed in an effort to wipe out any connection with a Polish identity. In 1941, the German gendarmerie carried out further expulsions of Poles from the present-day districts of Jeziory, Monice and Zapusta Mała, mostly due to the establishment of a military training ground, with the victims either deported toforced labour in Germany or to theRadom District in the more-eastern part of occupied Poland.[11]
The local prison was one of the most important German prisons in theReichsgau Wartheland.[12] Its prisoners, predominantly Poles and Jews, were subjected to insults, beatings,forced labour, tortures and executions.[13] Prisoners were given very low food rations, and meals were even prepared from rotten vegetables, spoiled fish and dead dogs.[14] Many prisoners died of exhaustion,starvation or torture.[14] After the war, Polish historian Antoni Galiński was able to identify 968 people who died or were shot in the prison and its subcamps in 1940–1945, however the overall number of deaths is certainly higher.[15] Despite such circumstances, thePolish resistance movement still operated in the area. The last executed prisoner was Antonina Chrystkowa, a female member of theHome Army resistance organization, who wasbeheaded with anaxe on 18 January 1945.[16] Another German prison was operated in the present-day district of Chabie; it was subordinate to the main prison in Sieradz.[17]
Bombed by the Soviets, more than 100 residents were killed. After an assault lasting three days, theRed Army arrived on 23 January 1945. The day before the retreat of the Germans, the historic Danielewicz Palace was burned down. The town was restored to Poland, although with aSoviet-installedcommunist regime, which remained in power until theFall of Communism in the 1980s.
In 1947, local Polish youth established a secretanti-communist resistance organization, initially called the Union of Patriotic Youth (Związek Młodzieży Patriotycznej), and in 1949 renamed toKatyń to commemorate theKatyn massacre in which the Soviets murdered nearly 22,000 Poles in 1940.[18] Its activity extended to the nearby cities ofZduńska Wola,Warta,Łódź and evenWłocławek, and included collecting weapons, secret training, intelligence, and publishing and distribution of independent Polish press and leaflets.[19] Its leader was Zbigniew Tur, a native of pre-wareastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union, who as a teenager was arrested and deported to forced labour by both the Germans (twice) and the Soviets, before returning to Poland in 1946.[19] The organization was eventually crushed by the communists, who sentenced its members to 1.5 to 10 years in prison in 1951.[20] During the court hearings, the townspeople gathered near the courthouse and demonstrated their sympathy and support for the arrested youth.[20]
At the turn of the 1940s and 1950s, a hoard of 18 coins from the 17th and 18th centuries was found in the present-day neighbourhood of Monice.[21] The coins are part of the collection of the Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum in Łódź.[21]
Post-war economic activities included clothing manufacture, cereal-milling, spirit distillery, potato-farming and other agricultural activities. In 1957 the knitting plant "Sira" was founded. From 1975 to 1998 Sieradz was the capital of theSieradz Voivodeship. In 1979, town limits were greatly expanded by including Męka-Jamy, Męka Księża, Mokre Wojsławskie, Woźniki-Kolonia, Zapusta Mała, and parts of the settlements ofDzigorzew, Herby, Jeziory,Kłocko,Męcka Wola, Męka, Monice,Smardzew, Wola Dzierlińska, Woźniki and Zapusta Wielka as new districts.[22]
Members of Parliament (Sejm) elected from Sieradz constituency
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TheRynek (town square) filled with historic architecture makes a perfect tourism place with local shops selling various products of good quality and brands. Chief cultural institutions include the City Theatre and Regional Museum with archaeological, historical, ethnographic and art collections, with two additional branches: the Sieradz Ethnographic Park and Walewski Museum inTubądzin. The medieval churches in Sieradz carry historical significance and are well restored with preservedBaroque interior and art by 19th-century painterWojciech Gerson. There are several memorials to victims of German occupation in World War II, and three preserved war bunkers.
The natural forests on the banks of river Warta makes an ideal place for mushroom pickers.
Sieradz has a fully equipped municipal sports centre, with three properfootball pitches, running track, two sports grounds, hotel, restaurant,tennis courts, sauna, health club, games, swimming pool and well guarded river side swim area. The localfootball club isWarta Sieradz. It competes in the lower leagues.
Sieradz dramatically developed since 2007 with new residential projects and townships. Sieradz has some attractive shopping malls, such as Galeria sieradzka, Dekada, Rondo and several open markets. Its attracts residents from nearby villages and towns as well and makes Sieradz a prime shopping destination. The Sieradz City administration successfully holds Open Hair Festival every year and the town is very much well known for this event.
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