Łask | |
|---|---|
 Collegiate Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Archangel Michael | |
 Coat of arms | |
  Łask | |
| Coordinates:51°35′25″N19°8′0″E / 51.59028°N 19.13333°E /51.59028; 19.13333 | |
| Country |  Poland |
| Voivodeship | Łódź |
| County | Łask |
| Gmina | Łask |
| Established | 11th century |
| First mentioned | 1356 |
| Town rights | 1422 |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Gabriel Szkudlarek |
| Area | |
• Total | 15.33 km2 (5.92 sq mi) |
| Population (31 December 2020) | |
• Total | 16,925 [1] |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Postal code | 98-100 |
| Vehicle registration | ELA |
| Primary airport | Łódź Władysław Reymont Airport |
| Website | www |
Łask ([wask]) is a town in centralPoland with 16,925 inhabitants (2020).[1] It is the capital ofŁask County, and is situated inŁódź Voivodeship. It is located in theSieradz Land.
A town with some 1,000 years of history, Łask is a former residential town of the Łaski noble family under whose patronage it was developed into a notable regional center of trade and crafts. It contains heritageGothic andBaroque churches and a local historical museum. It is located near theRoute of the Heroes of the Battle of Warsaw 1920, the main highway connectingWrocław withŁódź,Warsaw andBiałystok. ThePolish Air Force's32nd Air Base is located nearby.
Łask was founded in the 11th century, and from the 14th century it was the seat of the powerful Łaskinoble family.[2]Korab, the family's coat of arms, remains the town's coat of arms to this day. The first mention of Łask comes from 1356. A church was built in 1366, and in 1498 Polish prince and Primate of PolandFrederick Jagiellon founded a hospital for the poor.[3] In 1422 it was grantedtown rights modeled onŚroda Śląska by virtue of a document issued by Polish kingWładysław II Jagiełło inMielno.[2] The king also set up an annualfair and a weekly market.[2] In 1504, KingAlexander Jagiellon confirmed and extended the privileges.[4] Crafts soon developed and in 1517–1523, the town's landmarkGothic collegiate church was erected under the patronage of the Primate of PolandJan Łaski.[2] It was partially rebuilt inBaroque style in the 18th century.[2] Thanks to the efforts ofHieronymus Łaski, KingSigismund III Vasa granted four new fairs in 1613.[4] After the Łaski family, from 1660 until thePartitions of Poland the town was owned by Nadolski, Wierzbowski and Załuski families.[2] Łask was aprivate town, administratively located in the Szadek County in theSieradz Voivodeship in theGreater Poland Province of the Kingdom of Poland.[5]
Jews began to settle in the town at the close of the 16th century. From that time forward, the Jewish population of the town averaged between 50% and 65% of the total, typical of smallshtetls of the region. The primary industries wereleather tanning,textiles, and food.[6] The surnamesŁaski (Laski) andLasker derive from the name of the town, many of those with the former surname are ofPolish descent, while often those with the latter are of Jewish descent.
In 1793 Łask was annexed by theKingdom of Prussia in theSecond Partition of Poland, in 1807 it became part of the short-lived PolishDuchy of Warsaw, and in 1815 it was designated as part ofCongress Poland, later forcibly incorporated intoRussia. The Polish population took part in 19th-century Polish uprisings and patriotic manifestations.[2] At the same time, Łask saw an influx of Jewish people fleeing persecution in Russia (seePale of Settlement).[2]
In 1903 the town was connected to the railway line and industrial plants were built. DuringWorld War I, the town was occupied byGermany, and after the war, in 1918 it was re-integrated with Poland, as Poland regained independence. In 1919, Łask became a county seat within theŁódź Voivodeship.[2] By 1939, "there were 3,864 Jews out of a total population of 6,000 people living in the town."[7]
With theinvasion of Poland and the outbreak of theSecond World War in September 1939, Łask wasoccupied by theWehrmacht and annexed byNazi Germany. The town was then administered as part of the county or district (kreis) ofLask within the newly formed provinceReichsgau Wartheland, and the Jewish half of the population and the Polishintelligentsia were systematically targeted and annihilated under theracial policy of Nazi Germany. Some Poles from Łask were among the victims of large massacres of Poles committed by Nazi Germany in nearby Łagiewniki (present-day district of Łódź) in December 1939 during theIntelligenzaktion.[8]
In January 1940, it was reported by theJewish Telegraphic Agency that 100 Jewish citizens of Łask had been summarily executed en masse without trial because house-to-house searches by the Nazis revealed that they were armed and were planning to resist. The town'ssynagogue was then surrounded by the Nazis and "hundreds more" Jews were shot and killed as they tried to defend the building. With their deaths, the Nazis put the structure to the torch and it was consumed in fire.[9] By December 1940, 3,467 Jews from the town who had survived thesemass murders were confined to aghetto.
In 1941, hundreds of other Jews were brought to the area from surrounding regions. At the same time, the Germans destroyed the old Jewish cemetery in the town, and paved the sidewalks of the town with its gravestones. A year later, on August 24, 1942, a "liquidation" of the ghetto was carried out. Those who were infirm or ill were murdered outright, and all the other Jews were taken to a church outside the town. There they were examined, and 760 selected Jews were transferred to theŁódź Ghetto, some of the ill were killed on the spot, and the remainder of the 3,500 Jews were transported to theChełmno extermination camp, where they were killed. Later, the Germans hunted down the remnant Jews hiding in the town and killed them all.[10] A wall plaque in Łask commemorates "the 3,517 Lasker Jews exterminated by the Nazis during August, 1942."[11] Only about 20 Lask Jews survived the war, one hidden by a Christian farmer.[12]
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Following the arrival of theRed Army and the subsequent end of the war in 1945, Łask became part of thePeople's Republic of Poland. As of 2004, "Łask has 18,948 inhabitants [...] and there are no known Jewish inhabitants."[7]
It was administratively located in theSieradz Voivodeship from 1975 to 1998.
A detachment of theUS Air Force has been permanently stationed atŁask Air Base since November, 2012.[13]
Łask istwinned with:
Dannenberg, Germany
Lahoysk, BelarusJan Laski, the elder (1456–1531),
Hieronymus Jaroslaw Laski (1496–1542),
Jan Laski, the younger (1499–1560),
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