Błonie

The settlement dates back to the 8th century. It was first mentioned in the 11th century, and already in the 12th century constituted a sizeable settlement with the first church founded in 1257 by Duke Konrad II of Masovia. The church built in the Early Gothic style exists to this day, although rebuilt several times. The town rights were granted to Błonie by Duke Władysław of Kraków on 2 May 1338.Gmina Błonie, [http://blonie.pl/p,89,historia The History of Błonie.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191009085525/https://blonie.pl/p,89,historia |date=2019-10-09 }} Oficjalny serwis internetowy Miasta i Gminy Błonie. {{in lang|pl}} Błonie was a royal town of Poland and a county seat in the Masovian Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province. In the 16th century Błonie was a prosperous town, especially known for shoemaking and brewing. Five annual fairs were held in the town. The town was granted new royal privileges in 1580 and 1688. One of two main routes connecting Warsaw and Dresden ran through the town in the 18th century and Kings Augustus II the Strong and Augustus III of Poland often traveled that route.{{cite web|url=http://www.dresden-warszawa.eu/pl/prolog/informacja-historyczna/|title=Informacja historyczna|website=Dresden-Warszawa|accessdate=15 May 2021|language=pl}} In 1794, during the Kościuszko Uprising, Poles led by Stanisław Mokronowski won the Battle of Błonie against Prussia.

In the 1921 census, 91.3% of the population declared Polish nationality and 8.6% declared Jewish nationality.{{cite book|author=|title=Skorowidz miejscowości Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Tom I|year=1925|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=Główny Urząd Statystyczny|page=9}}

File:Pomnik poleglych.jpg]]

During the Nazi German invasion of Poland at the onset of World War II, the unit of Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler murdered 50 civilians (mostly Jews) on the outskirts of Błonie in a single mass execution, on (pl) of 18 September 1939. In 1939, the Germans established a transit camp for Polish prisoners of war in the town, and later also a forced labour camp. The Polish resistance movement was active in the town's vicinity.

German authorities established a Jewish ghetto in Błonie in December 1940,The statistical data compiled on the basis of [http://www.sztetl.org.pl/en/selectcity/ "Glossary of 2,077 Jewish towns in Poland"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160208215116/http://www.sztetl.org.pl/en/selectcity/ |date=2016-02-08 }} by Virtual Shtetl Museum of the History of the Polish Jews  {{in lang|en}}, as well as [http://www.izrael.badacz.org/historia/szoa_getto.html "Getta Żydowskie," by Gedeon],  {{in lang|pl}} and "Ghetto List" by Michael Peters at www.deathcamps.org/occupation/ghettolist.htm  {{in lang|en}}. Accessed July 12, 2011. in order to confine the Jewish population of the town for the purpose of persecution, terror, and exploitation.[http://www.holocaustchronicle.org/staticpages/176.html "The War Against The Jews."] The Holocaust Chronicle, 2009. Chicago, Il. Accessed June 21, 2011. The ghetto was liquidated in February 1941, when all its remaining 2,100 Jewish inhabitants were transported aboard the Holocaust train to the Warsaw Ghetto, the largest ghetto in all of German-occupied Europe, with over 400,000 Jews crammed into an area of {{convert|1.3|sqmi|km2}} (meaning that every person had less than an area 9 feet by 10 feet in which to sleep, eat and walk around the ghetto), or 7.2 persons per room.[http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005069 Warsaw Ghetto], United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), Washington, D.C. By the time Poland was liberated from German occupation, not a single Jewish ghetto remained.Richard C. Lukas, Out of the Inferno: Poles Remember the Holocaust, University Press of Kentucky 1989 - 201 pages. Page 13; also in Richard C. Lukas, The Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles Under German Occupation, 1939-1944, University Press of Kentucky, 1986, [https://books.google.com/books?id=lz9obsxmuW4C&pg=PA13&dq=%22&sig=ACfU3U0SGgyvqSbL4bypepYoO_CbYc_N_w Google Print, p.13].Gunnar S. Paulsson, "The Rescue of Jews by Non-Jews in Nazi-Occupied Poland," Journal of Holocaust Education, Vol.7, Nos.1&2, 1998, pp.19-44. Published by Frank Cass, London.Edward Victor, [http://www.edwardvictor.com/Holocaust/ghetto_home_main.htm "Ghettos and Other Jewish Communities."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608060416/http://www.edwardvictor.com/Holocaust/ghetto_home_main.htm |date=2011-06-08 }} Judaica Philatelic. Accessed June 20, 2011.

Błonie railway station, opened in 1902 on the Warsaw–Kalisz Railway, is served by Koleje Mazowieckie, who run services between Kutno and Warszawa Wschodnia.

The local football club is {{ill|Błonianka Błonie|pl}}. It competes in the lower leagues.

{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in Poland}}

Błonie is twinned with:{{cite web|url=https://blonie.pl/p,90,miasto-partnerskie|title=Miasto partnerskie|website=blonie.pl|publisher=Gmina Błonie|language=pl|access-date=2 October 2022|archive-date=2 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221002104618/https://blonie.pl/p,90,miasto-partnerskie|url-status=dead}}

• {{flagicon|ITA}} Coreno Ausonio, Italy

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{{Commons category|Błonie}}

• [http://www.blonie.pl/ Official website] {{in lang|pl}}
• [http://sztetl.org.pl/en/towns/b/534-blonie Jewish Community of Błonie] on Virtual Shtetl

{{Gmina Błonie}}

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Category:Cities and towns in Masovian Voivodeship

Category:Warsaw West County

Category:Holocaust locations in Poland

Category:Sites of Nazi war crimes during the Invasion of Poland

Category:Populated places established in the 8th century