Editing Puck, Poland (section)

===World War II===
[[File:Plaque to citizens of Puck.jpg|thumb|left|Memorial plaque at the town hall dedicated to inhabitants of Puck murdered by the Germans in the [[Massacres in Piaśnica|Piaśnica massacre]] in 1939]]
Puck was bombed by Nazi Germany at 5.20 a.m. Polish time on Friday September 1, known thereafter as Grey Friday, the first day of the [[invasion of Poland]], which started World War II. Luftwaffe bombers dropped a projectile on the town, which also had an airbase for the [[Naval Air Squadron (Poland)|Naval Air Squadron]] and dealt significant damage to the Polish air force units stationed there.<ref name="Derdej2009-3">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=La5KfmIfGv8C&pg=PA146|title=Westerplatte, Oksywie, Hel 1939|author=Piotr Derdej|publisher=Bellona|year=2009|pages=146–147|id=GGKEY:XBT004NC99S}}</ref>

During the subsequent [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|German occupation of Poland]], many [[Polish people|Poles]] from the region, including officials, merchants, directors, teachers, judges, priests, notaries, railwaymen, pharmacists, blacksmiths, technicians, postmen and farmers, were imprisoned in Puck and afterwards murdered in the [[Massacres in Piaśnica|Piaśnica massacre]] as part of the ''[[Intelligenzaktion]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wardzyńska|first=Maria|year=2009|title=Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=[[Institute of National Remembrance|IPN]]|pages=146–147}}</ref> In November 1939, the [[SS]] [[Expulsion of Poles by Nazi Germany|expelled]] Polish families, which were either murdered in the massacres or deported to [[Nazi concentration camps]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Wardzyńska|first=Maria|year=2017|title=Wysiedlenia ludności polskiej z okupowanych ziem polskich włączonych do III Rzeszy w latach 1939-1945|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=IPN|page=53|isbn=978-83-8098-174-4}}</ref> Polish students from local high schools were also massacred in Piaśnica.<ref>{{cite book|last=Drywa|first=Danuta|editor-last=Kostkiewicz|editor-first=Janina|year=2020|title=Zbrodnia bez kary... Eksterminacja i cierpienie polskich dzieci pod okupacją niemiecką (1939–1945)|language=pl|location=[[Kraków]]|publisher=[[Jagiellonian University|Uniwersytet Jagielloński]], [[Biblioteka Jagiellońska]]|page=181|chapter=Germanizacja dzieci i młodzieży polskiej na Pomorzu Gdańskim z uwzględnieniem roli obozu koncentracyjnego Stutthof}}</ref>

In the building of the local brewery in 1940, the Germans created a transit camp in which the [[racial policy of Nazi Germany|racial selection of the expelled Polish inhabitants of the region]] was carried out.<ref>Wardzyńska (2017), p. 67</ref> Those considered to be "racially valuable" were deported to [[Germanisation in Poland (1939–1945)|Germanisation]] camps and labor camps in Germany, and the rest were expelled to the [[General Government]].<ref>Wardzyńska (2017), p. 67-68</ref> Poles expelled from [[Gmina Dziemiany]] were used as [[forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labour]] in the local factory.<ref>Wardzyńska (2017), p. 129</ref> The Germans operated a branch of the [[Stutthof concentration camp]] in Puck from 1941 to 1944. In 1945, after the war, Puck was restored to Poland.