History of Piotrkow Trybunalski

e town became the seat of the highest court of Poland, the Royal Tribunal, and trials were held there from 1578-1793; the highest Lithuanian court was held in Hrodna (Grodno). Piotrkow's Jewish population was expelled in 1578 and only allowed back a century later. The town became a post station in 1684. Ca. 1705, German settlers (often Swabians) arrived in the town's vicinity and founded villages; they largely retained their customs and language until 1945.

While the importance of Piotrkow in the political life of the country had contributed to its development in the 16th century, the city declined in the 17th and 18th centuries, due to fires, epidemics, wars against Sweden, and finally the Partitions of Poland.

During the invasion of Poland at the beginning of World War II, Piotrkow was the setting for fierce fighting between the Polish 19th Infantry Division and the 16th Panzer Corps of the German Wehrmacht on September 5 1939. The town was occupied by Nazi Germany for the following six years.

Piotrkow had the first ghetto for Jews in occupied Poland, built as early as October 1939. Approximately 25,000 people from Piotrków and the nearby towns and villages were imprisoned there. 22,000 were sent to the Treblinka extermination camp, while 3,000 were imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps.

On 18th January, 1945 the Soviet Red Army entered the city, dislodging the German troops. Anti-communist partisans continued to fight in the vicinity in the following years. From 1949-70, Piotrkow was built into an industrial center.

Piotrkow was the capital of the district, within the Lodzkie voivodeship, until 1975. Then, following the changes in the administrative division of the country, the city became the capital of the new Piotrkow Voivodeship, thus regaining the status of an important administrative, educational and cultural centre of Poland. In 1999 the