Editing Radomsko (section)

===World War II===
[[File:Wrzesień 1939 – centrum Radomska po niemieckim bombardowaniu.jpg|thumb|left|Destruction after the German bombing of the town in 1939]]
On 1 September 1939, the first day of the German [[invasion of Poland]] that started [[World War II]], the Germans air raided the town.<ref name="RMu"/> Dozens of civilians were killed in the bombings. Radomsko was taken over by the [[Wehrmacht]] on 3 September 1939.<ref name="muzeum">{{cite web |url=http://muzeum.radomsko.pl/muzeum-regionalne/areszt-miejski/ |title=Areszt Miejski |year=2016 |author=Muzeum Regionalne w Radomsku |publisher=Muzeum Regionalne w Radomsku}}</ref> The next day, the Germans carried out executions of [[Polish people|Poles]] in the present-day districts of Bartodzieje, Folwarki and Stobiecko Miejskie.<ref name="radomsko.pl"/> On 6–8 September 1939, the ''[[Einsatzgruppen|Einsatzgruppe II]]'' entered the town, and then carried out mass arrests of Poles, and searched Polish offices and organizations.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wardzyńska|first=Maria|year=2009|title=Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=[[Institute of National Remembrance|IPN]]|page=118}}</ref> [[Polish resistance movement in World War II|Polish underground resistance]] was organized already in October 1939.<ref name="RMu"/> There was also [[Education in Poland during World War II|secret Polish schooling]].<ref name="radomsko.pl"/>

In March 1940, the Germans carried out mass arrests of 60 Poles in the town and county.<ref>Wardzyńska, p. 252</ref> In April 1940 a [[Nazi ghetto]] was set up in the Przedborze district for local [[Polish Jews]]. Over 120 Poles from Radomsko and the area were murdered by the Russians in the large [[Katyn massacre]] in April–May 1940.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lodz.tvp.pl/47567217/radomsko-w-holdzie-ofiarom-zbrodni-katynskiej|title=Radomsko: w hołdzie ofiarom zbrodni katyńskiej|website=TVP3 Łódź|accessdate=25 April 2021|language=pl}}</ref> During the [[German AB-Aktion in Poland|German AB-Aktion]], 53 Polish teachers and school principals were arrested on 11 June 1940, and further mass arrests of Poles were carried out in August 1940<ref>Wardzyńska, p. 266</ref> and in 1941.<ref name="radomsko.pl"/> The victims were interrogated by the [[Gestapo]], deported to [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camps]] or murdered in the forests near [[Olsztyn, Silesian Voivodeship|Olsztyn]] during large massacres carried out in June, July and October 1940<ref>Wardzyńska, p. 266-267</ref> or in the Kopiec district and nearby villages.<ref name="radomsko.pl"/> In September 1942, the German ''Kreishauptmann'' (district administrator) issued a document stating that Poles in the city and county were [[Rescue of Jews by Poles during the Holocaust|hiding Jews]] who had escaped from the ghetto, and reminded of the death penalty imposed on Poles for giving shelter to Jews or supplying them with food.<ref>{{cite book|last=Datner|first=Szymon|year=1968|title=Las sprawiedliwych|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=Książka i Wiedza|page=22}}</ref> The ghetto was liquidated in two stages during [[The Holocaust in occupied Poland|the Holocaust]]. The first deportation action took place in early October 1942 with prisoners sent aboard [[Holocaust trains|freight trains]] to the [[Treblinka extermination camp]]. On 12 October, approximately 9,000 Jews were deported. A small group of Jewish [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|slave laborers]] was allowed to stay. They were sent to Treblinka in January 1943. Radomsko was declared ''[[Judenfrei]]''. In retaliation, the unit of [[Armia Krajowa]] ambushed and shot the Chief of Gestapo Willy Berger and his deputy Johann Wagner on 27 May 1943. The German pacification action took place on 3 August 1943 in [[Rejowice]]. The settlement was levelled; some AK soldiers were captured and brought to Radomsko. The Nazi prison in Radomsko, located at the historic [[Ratusz]], was attacked by AK on the night of 7–8 August 1943; and the prisoners were rescued. The attack was led by ''[[Porucznik]]'' Stanisław "Zbigniew" Sojczyński.<ref name="RMu">{{cite web |title=Historia regionu w datach - lata 1939-1945 |publisher=Radomsko.pl |year=2012 |author=Radomsko Museum |url=http://www.radomsko24.pl/historia-regionu-w-datach-lata-1939-1945-3558}}</ref> There are multiple known cases of local Poles, who were persecuted by the Germans for [[Rescue of Jews by Poles during the Holocaust|rescuing Jews]].<ref>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Rejestr faktów represji na obywatelach polskich za pomoc ludności żydowskiej w okresie II wojny światowej|year=2014|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=IPN|pages=73, 127, 177}}</ref>

[[File:Egzekucja Polaków w Radomsku.jpg|thumb|German execution of Poles in Radomsko in 1943]]
To eliminate the "Polish bandits" in the vicinity of Radomsko, some 1,000 [[SS]] and Wehrmacht soldiers were called in by the German administration. The battle was fought on 1 June 1944 near Krzętów, against about 80 AK partisans led by Florian "Andrzej" Budniak. The German army, unfamiliar with the local forest, lost 250 men and retreated. The second battle was launched on 12 September 1944 near Ewina. It was one of the biggest battles of the [[Polish underground]] in World War II, fought for several hours. The 3rd Brigade of [[Polish People's Army PAL|Armia Ludowa]] (PAL) with 600 partisans, stood against the German force ten times larger. The losses of the enemy were estimated at 100 killed and 200 wounded. The Polish losses amounted to 12 killed partisans, 11 wounded, and several missing. The battles earned Radomsko the Nazi German nickname of 'Banditenstadt', meaning 'the City of Bandits'.<ref name="radomsko.pl">{{Cite web |url=http://radomsko.pl/historia,m,mg,1,10,40 |title=Historia - Strona Miasta Radomska |access-date=2016-09-16 |archive-date=2020-10-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201007123554/https://radomsko.pl/historia,m,mg,1,10,40 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1944, during and following the [[Warsaw Uprising]], the Germans carried out deportations of Varsovians from the [[Dulag 121 camp in Pruszków|Dulag 121 camp]] in [[Pruszków]], where they were initially imprisoned, to Radomsko.<ref name=dul>{{cite web|url=http://dulag121.pl/encyklopediaa/transporty-z-obozu-dulag-121/|title=Transporty z obozu Dulag 121|website=Muzeum Dulag 121|accessdate=4 April 2021|language=pl}}</ref> Those Poles were mainly old people, ill people and women with children.<ref name=dul/> In 1945, the German occupation ended and the town was restored to Poland, although with a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]]-installed communist regime, which then stayed in power until the [[Fall of Communism]] in the 1980s.