page_title: Wieluń
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Wieluń / History
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Wieluń, mury obronne (fragment z basztą Swawola), ok. 1350 This is a photo of a monument in Poland identified by the ID 614832
context_page_description: Wieluń is a city in central Poland with 22,973 inhabitants. Situated in the Łódź Voivodeship, it was previously in Sieradz Voivodeship.
  Wieluń has a long and rich history. In the past, it used to be an important urban trade centre of the Polish Kingdom because of its proximity to the old German border. Several Polish kings and notables visited the town, but following the catastrophic Swedish invasion, Wieluń declined and never regained its status. In September 1939, during the Invasion of Poland, it was heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe. The Bombing of Wieluń is considered to be the first World War II bombing in Europe. It killed at least 127 civilians, injured hundreds more and destroyed the majority of the town.
  Wieluń is an important road junction, the town also has a sports club WKS Wieluń, established in 1957 after a merger of two earlier clubs. In the past, WKS Wieluń had several departments, such as track and field, basketball, table tennis, handball and association football. Currently, the only remaining department is football.
context_section_description: In the early Middle Ages, the village of Ruda, located some 4 km (2 mi) from Wieluń, was the seat of a castellan and a Roman Catholic archdeacon, which made it the center of local administration. In the mid-13th century, however, the importance of Ruda diminished, at the expense of Wieluń, which was located in a more convenient spot. In 1281, the castellan's office was moved to Wieluń, and by 1299, the term Land of Ruda (Ziemia rudzka) had been replaced in documents by Land of Wieluń (Ziemia wieluńska).
  The settlement of Wieluń was founded probably in c. 1220 by Duke Władysław Odonic. It was first mentioned in documents in 1282, and probably in the same year it received a town charter. In the mid-14th century King Casimir III the Great built a castle here, which was part of defensive system protecting the border between the Kingdom of Poland and Czech-ruled Silesia. The castle itself was remodelled several times, due to frequent fires and wars. Currently, there is a Classicistic palace in its location.
  In 1370, following the last will of Casimir the Great, King Louis I of Hungary handed the Land of Wieluń to Duke of Opole, Władysław Opolczyk. In the same period, the Archbishop of Gniezno, Jarosław of Bogoria and Skotnik built a manor house in Wieluń. The town remained in the hands of Władysław Opolczyk until 1395, when it was returned to Poland. Wieluń quickly developed, in the 1390s a Paulists church together with an abbey were built, and in 1413, Archbishop Mikołaj Trąba moved the ancient collegiate church from Ruda to Wieluń. In the 1440s and 1450s, Wieluń was frequently destroyed in raids of Silesian dukes. By that time, it had already been an important center of commerce and government. It was also destroyed in the War of the Polish Succession, as the Battle of Byczyna took place near Wieluń.
  Wieluń prospered in the 16th century, the so-called Polish Golden Age. It was the capital of the Land of Wieluń, part of  Greater Poland Sieradz Voivodeship. Good times ended in the catastrophic Swedish invasion (1655 - 1660), when the town was ransacked and burned both by the Swedish invaders, and by Polish troops, who took revenge on its Protestant residents for their support of the Lutheran Swedes. Finally, in 1707–1711, Wieluń's population was decimated by a plague (see miasma theory), which killed 2,000. Following the Partitions of Poland, Wieluń briefly belonged to the Kingdom of Prussia, and in 1815 it became part of Russian-controlled Congress Poland, where it remained until World War I. The town burned twice (1791, 1858), and after the second fire, it was rebuilt in a new shape.
  On 1 September 1939, the city was bombed by the German Luftwaffe in the first action of World War II (apart from the Jabłonków Incident on 25/26 August). In the Bombing of Wieluń, German planes destroyed most of the town centre, including a clearly marked hospital,  a synagogue, and the historic Gothic church, and killed at least 127 civilians. According to Norman Davies, the bombings destroyed three-quarters of the town. Thousands were injured and many fled.  No Polish military units were present in Wieluń at that time (31 August - 1 September 1939).
  Wieluń was annexed to Nazi Germany on 8 October 1939 and placed under the administration of Reichsgau Wartheland.  The Germans instigated a reign of terror against the Jewish population of Wielun, a population that had lived in the city since the 1500s and amounted to around 4000 people at the beginning of the war.  Jews were kidnapped for forced labor with little pay.  In 1941, they were forced into a ghetto.  Many were then sent away to labor camps.  In January 1942, the German publicly hung ten Jews.  Later in the year, the 2000 Jews still remaining in the city plus others brought to Wieluń were rounded up and confined for several days in a church building without food or whater.  Several died there of exhaustion, others were murdered.  Nine hundred were then selected and sent to the Lodz ghetto.  The rest were sent to the killing site, Chelmno, where they were immediately gassed.  Seventy to o
caption: Medieval defensive walls
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