Wieluń

Medieval defensive walls

In the early Middle Ages, the village of Ruda, located some 4 km (2 mi) from Wieluń, was the seat of a castellan and a Roman Catholic archdeacon, which made it the center of local administration. In the mid-13th century, however, the importance of Ruda diminished, at the expense of Wieluń, which was located in a more convenient spot. In 1281, the castellan's office was moved to Wieluń, and by 1299, the term Land of Ruda (Ziemia rudzka) had been replaced in documents by Land of Wieluń (Ziemia wieluńska).

The settlement of Wieluń was founded probably in c. 1220 by Duke Władysław Odonic. It was first mentioned in documents in 1282, and probably in the same year it received a town charter. In the mid-14th century King Casimir III the Great built a castle here, which was part of defensive system protecting the border between the Kingdom of Poland and Czech-ruled Silesia. The castle itself was remodelled several times, due to frequent fires and wars. Currently, there is a Classicistic palace in its location.

Royal privilege regarding salt trade, granted by King Władysław II Jagiełło in 1402

In 1370, following the last will of Casimir the Great, King Louis I of Hungary handed the Land of Wieluń to Duke of Opole, Władysław Opolczyk. In the same period, the Archbishop of Gniezno, Jarosław of Bogoria and Skotnik built a manor house in Wieluń. The town remained in the hands of Władysław Opolczyk until 1395, when it was returned to Poland. Wieluń quickly developed, in the 1390s a Paulists church together with an abbey were built, and in 1413, Archbishop Mikołaj Trąba moved the ancient collegiate church from Ruda to Wieluń. In the 1440s and 1450s, Wieluń was frequently destroyed in raids of Silesian dukes. By that time, it had already been an important center of commerce and government.

Wieluń prospered in the 16th century, the so-called Polish Golden Age. It was a royal city of Poland and capital of the Land of Wieluń, part of the Sieradz Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province of the Polish Crown. The town was devastated in the War of the Polish Succession, as the Battle of Byczyna took place near Wieluń. Good times ended in the catastrophic Swedish invasion (1655–1660), when the town was ransacked and burned both by the Swedish invaders, and by Polish troops, who took revenge on its Protestant residents for their support of the Lutheran Swedes. Finally, in 1707–1711, Wieluń's population was decimated by a plague (see miasma theory), which killed 2,000. Following the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, Wieluń briefly belonged to the Kingdom of Prussia, in 1807 it became part of the newly formed, but short-lived, Polish Duchy of Warsaw, and in 1815 it became part of Russian-controlled Congress Poland, where it remained until World War I. The town burned twice (1791, 1858), and after the second fire, it was rebuilt in a new shape. After World War I, Poland regained independence in 1918, and in the interbellum Wieluń was a county seat in the Łódź Voivodeship.

Wieluń just after Luftwaffe bombing on 1 September 1939

On 1 September 1939, the city was bombed by the German Luftwaffe in the first action of World War II (apart from the Jabłonków Incident on 25/26 August). In the Bombing of Wieluń, German planes destroyed most of the town centre, including a clearly marked hospital, a synagogue, and the historic Gothic church, and killed at least 127 civilians.[2] According to Norman Davies, the bombings destroyed three-quarters of the town.[3] Thousands were injured and many fled. No Polish military units were present in Wieluń at that time (31 August - 1 September 1939).[2]

Monument to local teachers fallen or murdered during World War II

On September 6–8, 1939 the Einsatzgruppe II entered the town, and mass searches of Polish offices and organizations were carried out.[4] Already on September 8, 1939, inhabitants of Wieluń were among 30 Poles massacred by German troops in Chechło near Pabianice.[5] Wieluń was annexed to Nazi Germany on 8 October 1939 and placed under the administration of Reichsgau Wartheland. The Germans instigated a reign of terror against the Jewish population of Wieluń, a population that had lived in the city since the 1500s and amounted to around 4,000 people at the beginning of the war. Jews were kidnapped for forced labor with little pay.

Around 40 Poles from Wieluń were murdered by the Russians in the large Katyn massacre in April–May 1940.[6] In June 1940, the Germans expelled around 200 Poles, owners of villas, which then were either handed over to new German officials or converted to German offices.[7] During the German occupation, a transit camp was operated in the town for Poles expelled from the region, who were then either deported to the so-called General Government (German-occupied central Poland) or to forced labor in Germany and German-occupied France or sent as slave laborers to new German colonists in the town's vicinity.[8] The Germans also established and operated a Nazi prison in the town,[9] and looted the local historical numismatic collection, which they sent to a newly established German museum in occupied Poznań.[10] In 1941, Jews were forced into a ghetto. Many were then sent away to labor camps. In January 1942, the German publicly hung ten Jews. Later in the year, the 2,000 Jews still remaining in the city plus others brought to Wieluń were rounded up and confined for several days in a church building without food or whater. Several died there of exhaustion, others were murdered. 900 were then selected and sent to the Łódź ghetto. The rest were sent to the Chełmno extermination camp, where they were immediately gassed. Seventy to one hundred Wieluń Jews survived the war and many returned to the city, although most left soon afterward.[11]

The city was liberated on 19 January 1945 by troops of the Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front in the course of the Sandomierz–Silesian Offensive.

Wieluń is an important transportation hub. Main roads stemming from Wieluń include connection with Warsaw (to the north-east) and Wrocław (to the west), via the National Road DK 74. There are also two national roads: number DK 43 to Częstochowa and DK 45 to Opole and Łódź. Furthermore, there are two voivodeship (local) roads starting from Wieluń: road number 481 (going north-east) to Łask and road number 486 (going south-east) to Radomsko. The biggest communication problem in Wieluń is huge traffic (including transit) in the center of the town, due to lack of bypasses. A bypass of National Road DK 74 was fully completed and opened in March 2017, later additional bypasses will be built. The first section of the eastern bypass has already been finished. In the area of Wieluń there is also expressway S8 (it is located near the northern outskirts of the town). Additionally, there is a plan to build the 70 km-long Kalisz-Wieluń Road in the future.

National road 43 in Wieluń

Rail connection links Wieluń to Poznań and Katowice. The line was built in the 1920s, as the junction of Kluczbork remained within borders of Weimar Germany and direct rail communication between Polish part of Upper Silesia and Poznań was impossible. Therefore, it was crucial to construct a brand new line, which runs from Herby Nowe to Kępno. The line was one of the most important connections in the Second Polish Republic, but after World War II, when Kluczbork was annexed by Poland, it lost its importance.

Also, until the end of the 1980s, there was a narrow gauge railroad, which connected Wieluń with nearby Praszka. Currently, the town has two operating railway stations: Wieluń Dąbrowa and Wieluń Miasto. Wieluń is directly connected by rail with such cities as Tarnowskie Góry, Katowice, Poznań, Szczecin and Kępno. Once there was also a direct connection to Częstochowa and Lubliniec. Another means of communication with the surroundings and the entire country are buses. There is a modern (though built in 1976) bus station, which also handles international communication.

Wieluń, like most cities, has a municipal communications. In Wieluń runs 8 lines operated by a local transport company - PKS Wieluń. Public transportation has existed since 1988.

• Line A: Wieluń-Dąbrowa Railway Station – Rychłowice
• Line B: Gas bottling plant – Ruda
• Line C: Wieluń-Dąbrowa Railway Station – Olewin
• Line D: Kurów – Wierzchlas
• Line D – BIS: Wieluń-Dąbrowa Railway Station – POW street
• Line E: Gas bottling plant – Stare Sady housing estate
• Line G: Gas bottling plant – Częstochowska street
• Line H: Masłowice – Stare Sady housing estate

Pl. Legionów (Old Square)

Wieluń is twinned with:[17]

• Adelebsen, Germany[17]
• Osterburg, Germany[17]
• Ochtrup, Germany[17]