Вьелюнь: Қайғылы тарих және соғыс жылдары

Wieluń (Velun) is a town in south central Poland with 21,624 inhabitants (2021). Thousands were injured and many fled. No Polish military units were present in Wieluń at that time (31 August – 1 September 1939). By decision from September 5, 1939, one of the first three German special courts in occupied Poland was established in the town; it was eventually moved to Piotrków Trybunalski on September 22, 1939. On September 6–8, 1939 the Einsatzgruppe II entered the town, and mass searches of Polish offices and organizations were carried out. Already on September 8, 1939, inhabitants of Wieluń were among the 30 Poles massacred by German troops in Chechło near Pabianice. Wieluń was annexed to Nazi Germany on 8 October 1939 and placed under the administration of Reichsgau Wartheland. The Germans instigated a reign of terror against the Jewish population of Wieluń, which had lived there since the 1500s and amounted to around 4,000 people at the beginning of the war. Jews were kidnapped for forced labour with little pay. Around 40 Poles from Wieluń were murdered by the Soviets in the large Katyn massacre in April to May 1940. In June 1940, the Germans expelled around 200 Poles, owners of villas, which were handed over to new German officials or converted to German offices. During the German occupation, a transit camp was operated in the town for Poles expelled from the region, who were then either deported to the so called General Government in the eastern part of German occupied Poland or to forced labour in Germany and German occupied France or sent as slave laborers to new German colonists in the town's vicinity. The Germans also established and operated a Nazi prison in the town, and looted the local historical numismatic collection, which they sent to a newly established German museum in occupied Poznań. In 1941, Jews were forced into a ghetto. Many were then sent away to labour camps. In January 1942, the German publicly hanged ten Jews. Later that year, the 2,000 Jews still remaining in the city and others brought to Wieluń were rounded up and confined for several days in a church building without food or water. Several died there of exhaustion, others were murdered and 900 were then selected and sent to the Łódź ghetto. The rest were sent to the Chełmno extermination camp, where they were immediately gassed. Seventy to one hundred Wieluń Jews survived the war, and many returned to the city although most left soon afterward. The city was liberated on 19 January 1945 by troops of the Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front in the course of the Sandomierz–Silesian Offensive.

Wieluń has an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfb) using the 3 °C (27 °F) isotherm or a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification: Dfb) using the 0 °C (32 °F) isotherm.

Wieluń is an important transportation hub. Main roads stemming from Wieluń include connection with Warsaw (to the north east) and Wrocław (to the west), via the National Road There are also two national roads: number to Częstochowa and to Opole and Łódź. Furthermore, there are two voivodeship (local) roads starting from Wieluń: road number 481 (going north east) to Łask and road number 486 (going south east) to Radomsko. The biggest communication problem in Wieluń is huge traffic (including transit) in the center of the town, due to lack of bypasses. A bypass of National Road was fully completed and opened in March 2017, later additional bypasses will be built. The first section of the eastern bypass has already been finished. In the area of Wieluń there is also expressway S8 (it is located near the northern outskirts of the town). Additionally, there is a plan to build the 70 km long Kalisz Wieluń Road in the future.

Rail connection links Wieluń to Poznań and Katowice. The line was built in the 1920s, as the junction of Kluczbork remained within borders of Weimar Germany and direct rail communication between Polish part of Upper Silesia and Poznań was impossible. Therefore, it was crucial to construct a brand new line, which runs from Herby Nowe to Kępno. The line was one of the most important connections in the Second Polish Republic, but after World War II, when Kluczbork was annexed by Poland, it lost its importance. Also, until the end of the 1980s, there was a narrow gauge railroad, which connected Wieluń with nearby Praszka. Currently, the town has two operating railway stations: Wieluń Dąbrowa and Wieluń Miasto. Wieluń is directly connected by rail with such cities as Tarnowskie Góry, Katowice, Poznań, Szczecin and Kępno. Once there was also a direct connection to Częstochowa and Lubliniec. Another means of communication with the surroundings and the entire country are buses. There is a modern (though built in 1976) bus station, which also handles international communication.

The town has a sports club WKS Wieluń, established in 1957 after a merger of two earlier clubs. In the past, WKS Wieluń had several departments, such as track and field, basketball, table tennis, handball and association football. Currently, the only remaining department is football. Another notable club is Siatkarz Wieluń [pl], volleyball team, which competes in the lower leagues, but in the past played in the PlusLiga, Poland's top division, most recently in the 2010–11 season.