Tuliszków

Street in Tuliszków with Church of Saint Vitalis in the far background

Coat of arms

Tuliszków

Coordinates: 52°4′36″N 18°17′38″E / 52.07667°N 18.29389°E

Country

Poland

Area

• Total

7.04 km² (2.72 sq mi)

Population (2006)

• Total

3,393

• Density

480/km² (1,200/sq mi)

Postal code

62-740

Website

http://www.tuliszkow.pl

Tuliszków pronounced [tuˈliʂkuf] is a town in Turek County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland, with 3,406 inhabitants (2004). In World War II, Tuliszków was home to one of the first Jewish ghettos in German-occupied Poland following the Nazi German and Soviet invasion of 1939. The ghetto was formed in December 1939 or January 1940.

The oldest mention of Tuliszków in 1320 originates from the Chronicle of Kacper Niesiecki, written three centuries later. Known in Latin as Tviliskow, Tuliscov, or Tuliscovo (meaning, fox grounds), it received town privileges in 1458 after the Battle of Grunwald. Featured in the Tuliszków coat-of-arms is the knight 'Janusz z Tuliszkowa' holding his Grunwald sword. The town grew substantially in the 19th century, although stripped of town privileges by the tsar in 1870 as revenge for the January Uprising against the Russian occupation. Much of the town was consumed by fire in 1881. The population of Tuliszków was approximately 2,000 in the beginning of the 20th century. Following Poland's return to independence the city rights were restored. In the Second Polish Republic the population grew to 2,600 before 1939.

The Jewish community was 250 people in the 1921 census, led by Rabbi Joel Foks, member of Mizrachi. The economic crisis of the 1930s forced some families to leave in search of a better life.

Soon after the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, on October 8, 1939 the first ever ghetto of World War II was set up at Piotrków Trybunalski. There were only 230 Jews in Tuliszków at the onset of war, around 10% of the general population. In December 1939 the invading Germans ordered the creation of a Judenrat and forced all adult Jews to wear the Star of David; the community was stripped of money and valuables. Within weeks the ghetto was formed, and electricity was cut off from it in the dead of winter. Stronger Jews were pressed to forced labour. The ghetto was liquidated in October 1941 and all prisoners – men, women and children – deported to transit ghetto in Kowale Pańskie. From there, they were sent to Chełmno extermination camp.

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Wikipedia