Birnbaum

Piotrków
Petrikau
Петроковъ

In the early Middle Ages the Piotrków region was included in the province of Łęczyca.

During World War I, Piotrków was occupied by Austria–Hungary.
From 1915-16, it was a centre for Polish patriotic activity.
The city was a seat of the Military Department of National Committee, and headquarters for the Polish Legions, which were voluntary troops organized by Józef Piłsudski, Władysław Sikorski, and others to fight against Russia. Piotrków was made part of the Second Polish Republic following the defeat of the Central Powers in the war.

Between the two World Wars, Piotrków was the capital of Piotrków County in the Łódź Voivodeship, and it lost its previous importance.
In 1938, the town had 51,000 inhabitants, including 25,000 Jews and 1,500 Germans.
Piotrków had a large Jewish settlement and a thriving Hebrew printing and publishing industry until the Holocaust.

Piotrków had a large Jewish settlement and a thriving Hebrew printing and publishing industry until the Holocaust.
Built in October 1939, Piotrków had the first Jewish ghetto in occupied Poland.
Approximately 25,000 people from Piotrków and the nearby towns and villages were imprisoned there.
During the Holocaust 22,000 were sent to the Treblinka extermination camp, while 3,000 were imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps.