Wronki Prison

Wronki Prison (Polish: Zakład Karny Wronki) is the largest prison in Poland, holding over 1400 prisoners. It was founded in 1889 in the town of Wronki in Greater Poland (then part of German Empire, Prussian partition of Poland).

Wronki Prison, three four-story buildings in a cross formation, was designed to accommodate 750-800 prisoners, accompanied by buildings housing the guards and other auxiliary personnel, was built in 1889 by the Prussian government in Prussian partition of partitioned Poland and brought into use in 1894. It was modeled on contemporary American prisons (the Philadelphia System). Prisoners were employed in production of stockings and in other tasks.

On 30 December 1918 the prison was taken over by Polish insurgents of the Greater Poland Uprising. The prisoners were set free while the prison became a temporary barracks for the insurgents. The prison resumed operations in late July 1919 as part of the new prison system of the Second Polish Republic. In interwar Poland the prison was used as a site for political prisoners.

During the invasion of Poland, the prisoners were set free. It was then taken over by Nazi Germany, first used as a temporary holding place for prisoners of war and incorporated into the Nazi Germany prison system in Reichsgau Wartheland. Most prisoners at that time were Polish political prisoners; the prison was heavily overpopulated (it was during that time that the highest number of prisoners was reported: 4,358), and prisoners were mistreated. At least 804 people (out of about 20,000 who passed through it at that time) died in the Wronki Prison during German occupation of Poland.

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