Jarocin

File:Pałac rodziny Radolińskich w Jarocinie, druga połowa XIX wieku.jpg

The lordship of Jarocin was first mentioned in a 1257 deed issued by Duke Bolesław the Pious of Greater Poland. The town was conveniently located at the intersection of the trade routes from Wrocław to Toruń and from Poznań to Kalisz. It was a private town of Polish nobility, administratively located in the Pyzdry County in the Kalisz Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province of the Kingdom of Poland.{{cite book|author= |title=Atlas historyczny Polski. Wielkopolska w drugiej połowie XVI wieku. Część I. Mapy, plany|year=2017|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=Instytut Historii Polskiej Akademii Nauk|page=1b}}

Jarocin was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in the 1793 Second Partition of Poland and administered within the newly formed province of South Prussia. It was part of the Duchy of Warsaw from 1807–13 during the Napoleonic Wars, but was restored to Prussia afterwards. The town was included within the Grand Duchy of Posen from 1815 and the Province of Posen from 1848. It became part of the German Empire in 1871. In 1889 it was included within the newly created Jarotschin District of the Province of Posen.

Jarocin participated in the Greater Poland Uprising (1918–1919) and had the first soldiers' council in the Province of Posen. Polish insurgents captured the local military barracks and rail junction on November 8–9, 1918, just days before Poland declared independence on November 11.{{cite web|url=https://pw.ipn.gov.pl/pwi/pamiec/miejsca-pamieci/8866,JAROCIN-miasto-powiatowe.html|title=Jarocin (miasto powiatowe)|website=Instytut Pamięci Narodowej|access-date=26 December 2020|language=pl}} It was subsequently included in the Second Polish Republic. 42 Polish insurgents from Jarocin and nearby settlements were killed in the uprising. In the interbellum Jarocin was a county seat in the Poznań Voivodeship.

The town was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1939 during World War II and administered within the newly formed province Reichsgau Wartheland as part of the district or county (kreis) of Jarotschin. Poles arrested during the Intelligenzaktion were imprisoned in the local prison.{{cite book|last=Wardzyńska|first=Maria|year=2009|title=Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=IPN|page=117}} Many Polish citizens, especially Jews, were expelled and replaced with ethnic Germans from the Baltic states, Volhynia, and Bukovina in accordance with the German Lebensraum policy. Many inhabitants were also deported to forced labour in Germany. The Germans devastated the memorial at the mass grave of the fallen Polish insurgents of 1918–1919. A forced labor prison operated in the vicinity from January 1941 to January 1945.Zwansarbeit in NS-Staat. German Federal Archive (Bundesarchiv). [https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php.en?action=2.2&tab=7&id=1912] Accessed 9-30-11. Nevertheless, the Polish resistance movement was organized in the town, including the Secret Military Organization and structures of the Polish Underground State.{{cite magazine|last=Pietrowicz|first=Aleksandra|year=2011|title=Konspiracja wielkopolska 1939–1945|magazine=Biuletyn Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej|language=pl|publisher=IPN|issue=5–6 (126–127)|pages=32, 36|issn=1641-9561}} Several resistance members were captured by the Germans and then sentenced to death and executed in Dresden in 1943.{{cite magazine|last=Sack|first=Birgit|year=2015|title=Plac Monachijski w Dreźnie i jego znaczenie w kontaktach gostyńsko-drezdeńskich|magazine=Rocznik Gostyński|language=pl|location=Gostyń|publisher=Muzeum w Gostyniu|issue=2|page=103|issn=2353-7310}} Following the arrival of the Red Army and the end of the war in 1945, Jarocin was restored to Poland with however, a Soviet-installed communist regime that stayed in power until the Fall of Communism in the 1980s. The devastated insurgents' tombstone was renovated in 1948.

It was administratively located in the Kalisz Voivodeship from 1975 to 1998. In 2016, town limits were slightly expanded by including a part of the village of Bachorzew.{{Cite Polish law|title=Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 28 lipca 2015 r. w sprawie ustalenia granic niektórych miast, nadania niektórym miejscowościom statusu miasta, ustalenia granic oraz zmiany nazw i siedzib władz niektórych gmin|year=2015|number=1083}}

File:Jarocin Spichlerz Polskiego Rocka.jpg]]

Main landmarks and points of interest include the old Radoliński Palace with an adjacent park, the Polish Rock Granary, a museum dedicated to Polish rock music, the Rynek (Market Square) filled with historic architecture, including the town hall, which also houses the historic museum, and the St. Martin's Church, and several Greater Poland Uprising memorials.

The town's most notable clubs are rugby union team {{interlanguage link|Sparta Jarocin|pl|display=1}}, which competes in the Ekstraliga (Poland's top division), and football team Jarota Jarocin, which competes in the lower leagues. The town has a parkrun event that meets in Radoliński Park.{{Cite web |title=strona główna {{!}} parkrun Park Radolińskich {{!}} parkrun Park Radolińskich |url=https://www.parkrun.pl/parkradolinskich/ |access-date=2023-10-31 |website=www.parkrun.pl |language=pl-PL}}

• {{ill|Wielkopolska Wyższa Szkoła Humanistyczno-Ekonomiczna w Jarocinie|pl}}

Jarocin is twinned with:

• {{flagicon|France}} Libercourt, France
• {{flagicon|Netherlands}} Veldhoven, Netherlands
• {{flagicon|Hungary}} Hatvan, Hungary
• {{flagicon|Germany}} Schlüchtern, Germany
• {{flagicon|Ukraine}} Oleksandriia, Ukraine
• {{flagicon|Turkey}} Korkuteli, Turkey

File:Rynek w Jarocinie.JPG|Rynek (Market Square) filled with colourful historic townhouses

File:Jarocin palac Radolinskich 2.jpg|Radoliński Palace

File:Jarocin - park.jpg|Radoliński Park

File:Jarocin kościół.jpg|St. George Church

File:Jarocin Festiwal 1984.jpg|Jarocin Festival, 1984

File:WK15 Jarocin (7) Lichen99.jpg|Railway station

• Eduard Lasker (1829–1884), politician
• Gustav Wegner (1903–1942), German athlete
• Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (1915–2006), operatic lyric soprano
• Czesław Madajczyk (1921–2008), Polish historian
• Sławomir Majusiak (born 1964), Polish long-distance runner
• Robert Baran (born 1994), Polish wrestler

{{Commons category|Jarocin}}

• [http://www.jarocin.pl/ Site of Jarocin's Municipal Office]

{{Reflist}}

{{Jarocin County}}

{{Gmina Jarocin, Greater Poland Voivodeship}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Cities and towns in Greater Poland Voivodeship

Category:Jarocin County

Category:Populated riverside places in Poland