Służewo [swuˈʐɛvɔ] is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Aleksandrów Kujawski, within Aleksandrów County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland.[1] It lies 4 kilometres (2 mi) south-west of Aleksandrów Kujawski and 21 km (13 mi) south of Toruń. It is located in Kuyavia.
Służewo | |
|---|---|
Village | |
 St. John the Baptist's church, built AD 1560. | |
  Służewo | |
| Coordinates: 52°51′N 18°39′E / 52.850°N 18.650°E | |
| Country |  Poland |
| Voivodeship | Kuyavian-Pomeranian |
| County | Aleksandrów |
| Gmina | Aleksandrów Kujawski |
| Population | 1,180 |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Vehicle registration | CAL |
| Voivodeship roads |   |
History
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Służewo was located on a trade route connecting Toruń and Warsaw.
Several Poles from Służewo were among the victims of a massacre committed by German troops in nearby Koneck during the German invasion of Poland at the start of World War II in September 1939 (see also: Nazi crimes against the Polish nation).[2] During the subsequent German occupation, in 1939–1940, the occupiers carried out expulsions of Poles, whose houses and farms were then handed over to Germans as part of the Lebensraum policy.[3] Expelled Poles were either deported to the General Government in the more eastern part of German-occupied Poland or enslaved as forced labour of new German colonists in the area.[3]
Before the war, the village had a Jewish population of about 250. After several years of persecution during the German occupation, including many sent to slave labor camps, the remaining Jews in the town were rounded up in April 1942, held in a local church for several days, then deported to the Chełmno extermination camp where they were gassed.[4] There were only two Jewish survivors from Służewo.
Sights
editSights of Służewo include the Gothic-Renaissance St. John the Baptist's church, a Baroque park, a preserved old hand pump, historic tenements houses and monuments to composer Fryderyk Chopin and Pope John Paul II.
Notable people
edit- Maria Wodzińska (1819–1896), Polish painter who was once engaged to composer Fryderyk Chopin
- Józef Kościelski (1845–1911), poetand politician, member in German Reichstag
References
edit- ^ "Central Statistical Office (GUS) – TERYT (National Register of Territorial Land Apportionment Journal)" (in Polish). 2008-06-01.
- ^ Wardzyńska, Maria (2009). Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion (in Polish). Warsaw: IPN. p. 95.
- ^ a b Wardzyńska, Maria (2017). Wysiedlenia ludności polskiej z okupowanych ziem polskich włączonych do III Rzeszy w latach 1939-1945 (in Polish). Warsaw: IPN. p. 177. ISBN 978-83-8098-174-4.
- ^ Megargee, Geoffrey (2012). Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos. Bloomington, Indiana: University of Indiana Press. p. Volume II, 103. ISBN 978-0-253-35599-7.
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