Kowale Pańskie

Kowale Pańskie
Village
River Kiełbaska running through northern part of Kowale Pańskie
Kowale Pańskie
Coordinates: 51°56′N 18°32′E / 51.933°N 18.533°E / 51.933; 18.533
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Greater Poland
County	Turek
Gmina	Kawęczyn
Population	190

Kowale Pańskie pronounced [kɔˈvalɛ ˈpaɲskʲɛ] is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Kawęczyn, within Turek County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland. It lies approximately 4 kilometres (2 mi) north of Kawęczyn, 10 km (6 mi) south of Turek, and 122 km (76 mi) south-east of the regional capital Poznań.

The village has a population of 190.

Village Kowale existed already in the 13th century. Bought by Archbishop Jakub Świnka around 1280 it remained the property of the Gniezno Archdiocese until the 18th century. The name Kowale appeared in the 17th century, in reference to a community of blacksmiths (kowale in Polish) servicing local market. The church, founded by Antoni Czarnecki, was built in 1847; the church's parish included 12 villages. In mid 19th century, during the Partitions of Poland, the population of Kowale Pańskie (and the adjacent Wola Kowalska) was only 323 people, half of whom lived and worked around the local historic manor (built in 1750), owned by industrialist Robert Schultz who run a steam-powered mill. Kowale Pańskie consisted of 30 farms. The inhabitants was predominantly Polish, with some German and even fewer Jewish families. Following Poland's return to independence Kowale became the county seat (gmina) in 1928 consisting of 59 settlements. Volunteer fire station was built, a school complex (1933), and a community bank (Gminna Kasa Pożyczkowo-Oszczędnościowa).

With the German invasion of Poland at the onset of World War II, Kowale became part of Turek Kreis in Reichsgau Wartheland territory annexed directly to Nazi Germany. Kowale county was chosen as the location of a transit ghetto for Polish Jews from the entire region spanning 16 settlements including Turek. The ghetto – centred around Czachulec – was known in German as Heidemühle in reference to an old windmill standing there; all Polish families were expelled from the zone with younger Poles taken to Germany for slave labour. The Nazis ordered the creation of a single Judenrat council for all Jewish communities together. The ghetto held 3,700 Jews; up to 18 families per each farmhouse living anywhere they could including in barnyards.