History of Tarnow

of Swierczkow, which now bears the name of Moscice, and is a district of the city. Before the outbreak of World War II, the population of Tarnów was 40,000, with a large Jewish minority, which accounted to almost 50%. On August 28, 1939, 1939 the Tarnow rail station bomb attack took place.

On June 14, 1940, first mass transport left the Tarnów station to Auschwitz concentration camp, with 728 Polish political prisoners. All throughout German occupation of Poland Tarnów was an important center of the Armia Krajowa (AK) and other resistance organizations. In the mid-1944, AK’s 16th Infantry Regiment “Barbara” took part in Operation Tempest. The Wehrmacht retreated from Tarnów on January 18, 1945, and the city was captured by the Red Army. A few months later, the Museum of Tarnów Land was opened, and Tarnów began a postwar recovery. In 1957, State Theatre of Ludwik Solski was opened, and in 1975 Tarnów became the capital of a voivodeship