Błonie

Błonie Main Square

Coat of arms

Błonie

Coordinates: 52°12′N 20°37′E / 52.200°N 20.617°E

Country

Poland

Established

11th century

Town rights

1337

Government

• Mayor

Zenon Reszka

Area

• Total

9.12 km² (3.52 sq mi)

Population (2006)

• Total

12,259

• Density

1,300/km² (3,500/sq mi)

Time zone

CET (UTC+1)

• Summer (DST)

CEST (UTC+2)

Postal code

05-870

Area code(s)

+48 22

Car plates

Website

http://www.blonie.pl/

Błonie [ˈbwɔɲe] is a town in Warsaw West County, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland, with 12,191 inhabitants (2004).

The town of Błonie was first mentioned in the 11th century, and already in the 12th century constituted a sizeable settlement with the first church founded in 1257 by the Prince Konrad II of Masovia. The church built in the Early Gothic style exists to this day, although rebuilt several times. The city rights were granted to Błonie by Prince Władysław of Krakow on 2 May 1338.

During the Nazi German invasion of Poland at the onset of World War II, the unit of Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler murdered 50 civilians (mostly Jews) on the outskirts of Błonie in a single mass execution, on of September 18, 1939. German authorities established a Jewish ghetto in Błonie in December 1940, in order to confine the Jewish population of the town for the purpose of persecution, terror, and exploitation. The ghetto was liquidated in February 1941, when all its remaining 2,100 Jewish inhabitants were transported aboard the Holocaust train to the Warsaw Ghetto, the largest ghetto in all of Nazi occupied Europe with over 400,000 Jews crammed into an area of 1.3 square miles (3.4 km²), or 7.2 persons per room. By the time Nazi-occupied Poland was liberated, not a single Jewish ghetto remained.

Błonie railway station, opened in 1902 on the Warsaw–Kalisz Railway, is served by Koleje Mazowieckie, who run services between Kutno and Warszawa Wschodnia.

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Wikipedia