Editing Radom (section)

===World War II===
On September 1, 1939, the first day of the German [[invasion of Poland]] and [[World War II]], the Germans air raided the city.<ref name=szte/> On September 8, 1939, Radom was captured by the [[Wehrmacht]], and was afterwards [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|occupied by Germany]]. On September 21, 1939, the German ''[[Einsatzgruppen|Einsatzgruppe II]]'' entered the city to commit various [[Nazi crimes against the Polish nation|crimes against the population]], and afterwards its members co-formed the local German police and security forces.<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=58}}</ref> The Germans immediately confiscated the food stored in warehouses in Radom and nearby settlements, and carried out requisitions in the city council.<ref>Wardzyńska, p. 118</ref> The occupiers established a special court in Radom,<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Grabowski|first=Waldemar|year=2009|title=Polacy na ziemiach II RP włączonych do III Rzeszy|magazine=Biuletyn Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej|language=pl|publisher=IPN|issue=8–9 (103–104)|page=62|issn=1641-9561}}</ref> and two temporary [[German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II|prisoner-of-war camps]] for captured Polish soldiers, one in the pre-war military barracks and one in the [[Tadeusz Kościuszko]] Park.<ref>''Radomskie miejsca pamięci II wojny światowej'', p. 14, 28</ref> There were poor conditions in the camp in the barracks, and hunger and diseases were common.<ref>''Radomskie miejsca pamięci II wojny światowej'', p. 15</ref> The local civilian population helped many POWs escape from the camp.<ref>''Radomskie miejsca pamięci II wojny światowej'', p. 17</ref>

From 1939 to 1945, Radom was the seat of the Radom District in the [[General Government]].

[[File:Radom była siedziba NKWD.JPG|thumb|Former seat of the [[Gestapo]] and [[NKVD]] during the occupation]]
From October 1939 to January 1940, the Germans carried out several public executions of Polish civilians in various locations in Radom, killing 111 people.<ref>Wardzyńska, p. 250-251</ref> The Germans also operated a heavy prison in the city,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=100000622|title=Schweres NS-Gefängnis Radom|website=Bundesarchiv.de|accessdate=8 May 2021|language=de}}</ref> and carried mass arrests of hundreds of Poles, who were then held in the prison.<ref>Wardzyńska, p. 252</ref> Many Poles [[Expulsion of Poles by Nazi Germany|expelled]] from [[Gdynia]] in 1939 were placed in a temporary transit camp in a local church, before they were sent to nearby settlements.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Tomkiewicz|first=Monika|year=2003|title=Wysiedlenia z Gdyni w 1939 roku|magazine=Biuletyn Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej|language=pl|publisher=IPN|issue=12–1 (35–36)|page=36|issn=1641-9561}}</ref>

The occupiers liquidated local cultural and social life.<ref name=rmp2>''Radomskie miejsca pamięci II wojny światowej'', p. 2</ref> All sports clubs and high schools were closed, and teaching of literature, geography and history in the remaining schools was prohibited.<ref>''Radomskie miejsca pamięci II wojny światowej'', p. 2, 9</ref>

In March and May 1940, the Germans carried out massacres of 210 Poles, including teenagers, from Radom and nearby settlements in the city's [[Firlej, Radom|Firlej]] district.<ref>Wardzyńska, p. 252-253</ref> Around 100 Poles from Radom were murdered by the Russians in the large [[Katyn massacre]] in April–May 1940.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://radioplus.com.pl/radom/37307-polegli-na-golgocie-wschodu|title=Polegli na Golgocie Wschodu...|website=Radio Plus Radom|author=Weronika Chochoł|accessdate=8 May 2021|language=pl}}</ref> In July, August and November 1940, the Germans carried out deportations of Poles from the local prison to the [[Auschwitz concentration camp]].<ref>Wardzyńska, p. 261</ref> Deportations to [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camps]] continued throughout the war, and 18,000 people passed through the local prison, mostly Polish political activists, resistance members and innocent people, plus ordinary criminals.<ref name=rmp13>''Radomskie miejsca pamięci II wojny światowej'', p. 13</ref> At the large massacre sites in the present-day districts of Firlej and Kosów, the Germans murdered around 15,000 and 1,500 people, respectively.<ref>''Radomskie miejsca pamięci II wojny światowej'', p. 20</ref>

[[File:Radom, Pomnik Ofiar Faszyzmu - fotopolska.eu (305799).jpg|thumb|left|Monument and cemetery in [[Firlej, Radom|Firlej]] where the Germans murdered around 15,000 Poles and Jews]]
In October 1940, the German occupiers established a [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labour]] camp for [[Jews]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=100000623|title=Zwangsarbeitslager für Juden Radom|website=Bundesarchiv.de|accessdate=8 May 2021|language=de}}</ref> and in 1941, they formed the [[Radom Ghetto]], with a population of 34,000 Jews, most of whom perished at the [[Treblinka extermination camp]].<ref name=szte>{{cite news|url=https://sztetl.org.pl/pl/miejscowosci/r/601-radom/96-historia-miejscowosci/67672-historia-miejscowosci |title=Historia miejscowości|access-date=6 April 2020}}</ref> According to German regulations, sheltering Jews outside the ghetto was punishable by death.<ref>{{cite book|last=Datner|first=Szymon|year=1968|title=Las sprawiedliwych|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=Książka i Wiedza|page=23}}</ref> The secret [[Żegota|Polish Council to Aid Jews "Żegota"]], established by the [[Polish resistance movement in World War II|Polish resistance movement]] operated in the city.<ref>Datner, p. 69</ref>

Radom was a center of Polish resistance, with various organizations, such as [[Service for Poland's Victory]], {{ill|Independent Poland|pl|Polska Niepodległa}}, [[Union of Armed Struggle]], [[Bataliony Chłopskie]], [[Gray Ranks|Grey Ranks]] and numerous [[Home Army]] units operating in the area.<ref name=rmp2/> The resistance carried out various actions, which included sabotage, stealing weapons, [[Education in Poland during World War II|secret education]], etc.<ref name=rmp2/> Poles were even able to produce weapons for Polish partisans in the local arms factory, even though it was seized by the Germans. In 1942, the Germans discovered the activity, and then publicly [[Hanging|hanged]] 50 Poles, including 26 employees of the arms factory, and a pregnant woman.<ref>''Radomskie miejsca pamięci II wojny światowej'', p. 6-7, 17</ref> Scouts from the [[Gray Ranks]] who worked at the local post office stole and destroyed anonymous letters to the [[Gestapo]], thus possibly saving many lives.<ref name=rmp13/> Two German doctors from a local hospital helped the Polish resistance, for which one was even arrested and sent to a concentration camp.<ref name=rmp13/> In April 1943, the resistance successfully assassinated the chief of the local German police.<ref>''Radomskie miejsca pamięci II wojny światowej'', p. 14</ref>

In 1944, following the Polish [[Warsaw Uprising]], the Germans deported thousands of Varsovians from the [[Dulag 121 camp in Pruszków|Dulag 121 camp]] in [[Pruszków]], where they were initially imprisoned, to Radom.<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=8 May 2021|language=pl}}</ref> Those Poles were mainly old people, ill people and women with children.<ref name=dul/> 3,500 Poles [[Expulsion of Poles by Nazi Germany|expelled]] from [[Warsaw]] stayed in the city, as of November 1, 1944.<ref name=dul/>

In January 1945, the occupiers sent the last transport of prisoners from Radom to Auschwitz, but it only reached [[Częstochowa]], while the remaining prisoners were massacred in Firlej.<ref name=rmp13/>

On January 16, 1945, the city was captured by the [[Red Army]], and then restored to Poland, although with a Soviet-installed communist regime, which then stayed in power until the [[Fall of Communism]] in the 1980s. Fallen Red Army soldiers rest at the local cemetery at Warszawska Street. The communists held Polish resistance members in the former German prison.<ref name=rmp13/> In September 1945, the [[Anti-communist resistance in Poland (1944–1946)|resistance movement]] attacked the communist prison and liberated nearly 500 prisoners.<ref name=rmp13/>

Up to the [[Second World War]], like many other cities in [[interwar Poland]], Radom had a large Jewish population. According to the [[Russian census of 1897|Imperial 1897 census]], out of the total population of 28,700, Jews constituted {{awrap|11,200 (~39%).<ref>Joshua D. Zimmerman, ''Poles, Jews, and the politics of nationality'', Univ of Wisconsin Press, 2004, {{ISBN|0-299-19464-7}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=6sbr9cZyw_4C&dq=population+Brest+Poles+Jews&pg=PA16 Google Print, p.16]</ref><ref>See also: Alfred Lipson, ed. and comp., The Book of Radom: The Story of a Jewish Community in Poland Destroyed by the Nazis (New York, 1963), based on Sefer Radom, ed. Yitsḥak Perlov (Tel Aviv, 1961); Sebastian Piątkowski, Dni życia, dni śmierci: Ludność żydowska w Radomiu w latach 1918–1950 (Warsaw, 2006).</ref>}}