Sandomierz Voivodeship (1939)

Sandomierz Voivodeship (Polish: wojewodztwo sandomierskie) was a proposed voivodeship of the Second Polish Republic, which was never created because of the Nazi and Soviet invasion of Poland in September 1939. The idea of the creation of this unit was the brainchild of the Minister of Industry and Trade Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski, and it was directly linked with creation of one of the biggest economic projects of interbellum Poland, Central Industrial Region. It was intended to cover south-central Poland and be created in late 1939. Its projected size was 24,500 square kilometers, and it was to incorporate 20 or 21 powiats.

The historic Polish city of Sandomierz was one of the major urban centers of the Kingdom of Poland, and later the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The capital of a large Sandomierz Voivodeship, Sandomierz’s importance declined after the Partitions of Poland. In the 19th century it turned into a little town, located right on the border between Austria-Hungary, and the Russian Empire.

After World War I, when Poland regained its independence, Sandomierz remained a historically important but economically non-existent location on the map of the newly restored country. The war destroyed a large part of the city, and its population decreased to some 6,000. Sandomierz, located in the Kielce Voivodeship was the capital of a county, but it was not among eight biggest municipalities of the Kielce Voivodeship.

The situation began to change in 1937 after Minister Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski publicly stated on February 5: “...today, we are declaring a new slogan in the program of industrialization, which will be granted a symbolic and shortened name: Central Area - Sandomierz...”. According to other sources, Kwiatkowski announced Sandomierz as capital of the Central Industrial Region as early as 1935.

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