Wiskitki is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

Żyrardów County __NOTOC__ Żyrardów County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Masovian Voivodeship, east-central Poland. It came into being on 1 January 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 19 ...

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

, 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 ...

. It is the seat of the

gmina The gmina (Polish: , plural ''gminy'' ) is the basic unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. , there were 2,479 gminy throughout the country, encompassing over 43,000 villages. 940 gminy include cities and tow ...

(administrative district) called

Gmina Wiskitki __NOTOC__ Gmina Wiskitki is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Żyrardów County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. Its seat is the village of Wiskitki, which lies approximately north-west of Żyrardów and west of Warsaw. T ...

. It is located approximately north-west of

Żyrardów Żyrardów is a town and former industrial hub in central Poland with approximately 41,400 inhabitants (2006). It is the capital of Żyrardów County in the Masovian Voivodeship, west of Warsaw. Etymology Żyrardów, initially a textile settleme ...

and west of

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 ...

. The town has a population of 1,420.

History

The settlement dates back to the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, and was first mentioned in 1221, when it was part of fragmented

Piast The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I (–992). The Piasts' royal rule in Poland ended in 1370 with the death of King Casimir III the Great. Branches of ...

-ruled

. It was granted

town rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

by Polish 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 ...

in 1593 or 1595. It was a royal town of Poland, administratively located in the

Rawa Voivodeship Rawa Voivodeship () was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Kingdom of Poland since 15th century until the partitions of Poland in 1795. It was part of the Greater Poland Province. Together with the Plock and Masovian V ...

in the

Greater Poland Province of the Polish Crown Greater Poland Province () was an administrative division of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland from 1569 until 1795. The name of the province comes from the historic land of Greater Poland. The Greater Poland Province consisted initially of twel ...

. In the 16th century Polish philosopher and bishop

Wawrzyniec Grzymała Goślicki Wawrzyniec is a Polish masculine given name, corresponding to the English name Lawrence. Notable people with the name include: * Wawrzyniec Cyl (1900-1974), Polish footballer * Wawrzyniec Grzymała Goślicki (circa 1530-1607), Polish nobleman * ...

funded the construction of the All Saints church, which remains the greatest historic landmark of the town. 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, it was occupied by Germany until 1945. At least three

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

from Wiskitki were murdered by the Russians in the large

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.

Notable residents

Rudolf Gundlach Rudolf Gundlach (1892–1957) was a Polish military engineer, inventor and tank designer. He headed the design division of the Armored Weapons Technical Research Bureau (''Biuro Badań Technicznych Broni Pancernych''). He held the military rank ...

(1892–1957), military engineer, inventor and tank designer

References

External links

*
Jewish Community in Wiskitki
on Virtual Shtetl Cities and towns in Masovian Voivodeship Żyrardów County Historic Jewish communities in Poland {{Żyrardów-geo-stub