Pruszków

Infobox Settlement
name = Pruszków
motto = Kolej na Pruszków!
It's Pruszków's turn!


imagesize = 250px
image_caption = Museum of Ancient Masovian Metalurgy in Pruszków

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image_shield = POL Pruszków COA.svg
pushpin_

pushpin_label_position = bottom
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = POL
subdivision_type1 = Voivodeship
subdivision_name1 = Masovian
subdivision_name2 = Pruszków County
subdivision_type2 = County
subdivision_type3 = Gmina
subdivision_name3 = Pruszków (urban gmina)
leader_title = Mayor
leader_name = Jan Starzyński
established_title = Established
established_date = 16th century
established_title3 = Town rights
established_date3 = 1916
area_total_km2 = 19.15
population_as_of = 2006
population_total = 55387
population_density_km2 = auto
timezone = CET
utc_offset = +1
timezone_DST = CEST
utc_offset_DST = +2
latd = 52 | latm = 10 | lats = | latNS = N | longd = 20 | longm = 48 | longs = | longEW = E
postal_code_type = Postal code
postal_code = 05-800, 05-803, 05-804
area_code = +48 22
blank_name = Car plates
blank_info = WPR
website = http://www.pruszkow.pl/ Pruszków Audio-IPA-pl|Pruszkow.ogg|'|p|r|u|sz|k|u|f is a town in central Poland. According to the 2004 census the town had population of 54,893.

Pruszków is situated in the Masovian Voivodeship (since 1999); it was previously in Warszawa Voivodeship (1975-1998). It is the capital of Pruszków County.

History

A village has existed here since the 16th century and Pruszków became incorporated as a town in 1916. The development of the town was aided by the construction of the Warsaw-Vienna Railway in the 19th Century and the construction of the Elektryczna Kolej Dojazdowa, Poland’s first electrified commuter train line, in 1928. A large psychiatric hospital opened in the outlying village of Tworki in 1891 and is still operating to this day.

The city had a large Jewish population before World War II, however on January 31st 1941 about 3000 Jewish deportees, mostly from the Polish town of Pruszków, arrived at the Warsaw Ghetto.

During World War II a large Nazi transit camp ("Durchgangslager") was constructed in the Train Repair Shops (Zakłady Naprawcze Taboru Kolejowego) to house the evacuees expelled from Warsaw by the Nazis. In the course of the Warsaw Uprising and its suppression, the Germans deported approximately 550,000 of the city’s residents and approximately 100,000 civilians from its outskirts, sending them to Durchgangslager 121 (Dulag 121), a transit camp in Pruszków set up especially for this purpose. The security police and the SS segregated the deportees and decided their fate. Approximately 650,000 people passed through the Pruszków camp in August, September, and October. Approximately 55,000 were sent to concentration camps, including 13,000 to Auschwitz. They included people from a variety of social classes and occupations (government officials, scholars, artists, physicians, merchants, and blue-collar workers), in varying physical condition (the injured, the sick, invalids, and pregnant women), and of various ages, from infants only a few weeks old to the elderly, aged 86 or more. In a few cases, these were also people of different ethnic backgrounds, including Jews living on “Aryan papers.” [1] On the 26th of March 1945 the 16 members of the Polish Underground Government were invited by the Soviets for discussions to a house on Armii Krajowej Street. They were arrested by the NKWD, imprisoned and sentenced in Moscow during so called Trial of the Sixteen.

After World War II Pruszków became one of Mazovia’s largest industrial centers. Due to its proximity to Warsaw, it now is home to several factories and companies, including Herbapol, Daewoo Electronics, Loreal Cosmetics as well as logistic centers. It also is an important sports center, with a sports gymnasium, soccer stadium and a cycling course.

[1] Księga Pamięci. Transporty Polaków z Warszawy do KL Auschwitz 1940-1944 [Memorial Book: Transports of Poles from Warsaw to Auschwitz Concentration Camp 1940-1944]

Tourism

* The Museum of Ancient Mazovian Steel Works
* Nineteenth century manor with landscaped gardens.
* Pruszków Indoor Velodrome (under construction)

Education

* Physical Culture and Tourism High School (Wyższa Szkoła Kultury Fizycznej i Turystyki)

External links

*pl icon [http://www.pruszkow.pl/ Pruszków official website]
*pl icon [http://www.alleypiast.waw.pl Alleycat races in Pruszków]