Jarocin

Town Hall

Coat of arms

Jarocin

Country

Established

13th century

Town rights

1257

Government

• Mayor

Adam Pawlicki

Area

• Total

14.44 km² (5.58 sq mi)

Population (2006)

• Total

25,834

• Density

1,800/km² (4,600/sq mi)

• Summer (DST)

Postal code

63-200

+48 62

PJA

Website

Jarocin ([jaˈrɔt͡ɕin]) (German: Jarotschin) is a town in central Poland with 25,700 inhabitants (1995), the administrative capital of Jarocin County. Since 1999 Jarocin has been located in Greater Poland Voivodeship, prior to that it was located in the Kalisz Voivodeship (1975–1998).

The lordship of Jarocin was first mentioned in a 1257 deed issued by Duke Bolesław the Pious of Greater Poland. The town was conveniently located at the intersection of the trade routes from Wrocław to Toruń and from Poznań to Kalisz.

Jarocin was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in the 1793 Second Partition of Poland and administered within South Prussia. It was part of the Duchy of Warsaw from 1807–13 during the Napoleonic Wars, but was restored to Prussia afterwards. The town was included within the Grand Duchy of Posen from 1815 and the Province of Posen from 1848. It became part of the German Empire in 1871. In 1889 it was included within the newly created Jarotschin District of the Province of Posen.

Jarocin participated in the Greater Poland Uprising (1918–1919) and had the first soldiers' council in the Province of Posen. It was subsequently included in the Second Polish Republic. The West German Minister and former SS officer Waldemar Kraft was born here at Brzustow in 1898.