Editing Włocławek (section)

===World War II===
{{multiple image |align=right |caption_align=center |perrow=2 |total_width=370 |header=Memorials to the victims of the [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|German occupation]] in Włocławek (examples):
| image1 = 2008-05-26 Pomnik Pamięci Nauczycieli we Włocławku - zbliżenie.jpg
| image2 = Pomnik Kolejarzy Włocławek.JPG
| image3 = Plaque in Włocławek commemorating pulp and paper workers killed by the Nazis.jpg
| image4 = Włocławek-monument of killed pottery factory workers.jpg
| caption1 = Memorial at the site where Germans imprisoned Polish teachers and priests in 1939
| caption2 = Memorial to murdered Polish railwaymen
| caption3 = Memorial to murdered paper factory workers
| caption4 = Memorial to murdered pottery factory workers
}}
During [[World War II]], Włocławek was occupied by German troops, which entered the city on 14 September 1939. Under the [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|Nazi German occupation]] Włocławek was again renamed Leslau, annexed by decree to the German Reich on 8 October 1939 and administered from 26 October as a part of Reichsgau Posen (renamed on 29 January 1940 [[Reichsgau Wartheland]]).

Already in September 1939, Germans committed a massacre of a group of local Jews<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]]|page=124}}</ref> and burned both synagogues. The ''[[Einsatzgruppen|Einsatzgruppe III]]'' entered the city between September 23 and October 5, 1939, and afterwards carried out mass arrests of local Poles in October and November as part of the ''[[Intelligenzaktion]]''.<ref>Wardzyńska, Maria, ''Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion'', p. 57, 209</ref> Dozens of Catholic priests from Włocławek, including Auxiliary Bishop of Włocławek [[Michał Kozal]], and lecturers and students of the seminary were arrested, and then deported in January 1940 to the [[Dachau concentration camp]], where most of them were killed.<ref name=ekai/><ref name=mw>Wardzyńska, Maria, ''Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion'', p. 209</ref> [[Rector (academia)|Rector]] of the local seminary Henryk Kaczorowski and two students Bronisław Kostkowski and Tadeusz Dulny are now considered three of the [[108 Martyrs of World War II|108 Blessed Polish Martyrs of World War II]] by the [[Catholic Church]].<ref name=ekai/> Local teachers were arrested in October 1939, and then deported to [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camps]] and murdered.<ref name=mw/> In late 1939, the ''[[SS]]'' and ''[[Selbstschutz]]'' burnt down the Grzywno district and murdered many of its inhabitants in the nearby village of [[Warząchewka Polska]].<ref name=mw2>{{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=[[Institute of National Remembrance|IPN]]|page=176|isbn=978-83-8098-174-4}}</ref> Poles from Włocławek were also massacred in the nearby village of [[Pińczata]].<ref name=mw2/><ref>Wardzyńska, Maria, ''Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion'', p. 210</ref> Arrested Polish teachers, landowners and priests from the Włocławek and [[Lipno County|Lipno]] counties were also imprisoned in Włocławek, and some were later also deported to concentration camps and murdered.<ref>Wardzyńska, Maria, ''Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion'', p. 175-176</ref>

Families of deported and murdered Poles, as well as the remaining residents of Grzywno were [[Expulsion of Poles by Nazi Germany|expelled]] to the so-called [[General Government]] in late 1939,<ref name=mw2/> and in 1940 also owners of shops, workshops and bigger houses were expelled, so their properties could be handed over to German colonists as part of the ''[[Lebensraum]]'' policy.<ref>Wardzyńska, Maria, ''Wysiedlenia ludności polskiej z okupowanych ziem polskich włączonych do III Rzeszy w latach 1939-1945'', p. 226</ref> The Germans also [[Looting of Poland in World War II|robbed]] the precious historical collections of the Diocese of Włocławek and the Baroque Franciscan monastery<ref name=bpo/> and closed down the cathedral.<ref>Wardzyńska, Maria, ''Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion'', p. 209-210</ref> The city's central square, ''Plac Wolności'' ("Liberty Square"), was renamed ''Adolf-Hitler-Platz'' by the Germans.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ddwloclawek.pl/pl/545_historia/739_wloclawek_z_dawnych_lat/32541_tak-plac-wolno-ci-wygl-da-podczas-okupacji-niemieckiej-nosi-w-wczas-imi-adolfa-hitlera.html|title=Tak plac Wolności wyglądał podczas okupacji niemieckiej. Nosił wówczas imię Adolfa Hitlera|website=DDWloclawek.pl|access-date=27 June 2020|language=pl}}</ref> By the time the war ended, nearly the entire Jewish population of more than 10,000 had been murdered.
[[File:Włocławek-monument of AK.JPG|thumb|Monument of the [[Home Army]], the leading [[Polish resistance movement in World War II]]]]
Włocławek was captured on 20 January 1945 by [[Red Army|Soviet]] troops of the [[1st Belorussian Front]] during the [[Vistula–Oder Offensive]]. From February to April 1945, the Russians [[Looting of Poland in World War II|looted]] local factories and enterprises of grain (over 200 tons), coal (over 50 tons), fuel, machinery, cars, spirits, office equipment, which were taken en masse to the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Golon|first=Mirosław|year=2022|title=Na zapleczu frontów Armii Czerwonej. Sowieckie zbrodnie, represje i grabieże na ziemiach polskich w 1945 r. (na przykładzie wybranych miast)|magazine=Studia Toruńskie|language=pl|volume=17|pages=62–63|issn=2392-1463}}</ref> Mass Soviet requisitions in the county caused food shortages in Włocławek.<ref>Golon, p. 64</ref> One third of the city was destroyed, but its factories and workshops were rebuilt by the [[People's Republic of Poland|Polish government]] in the following decades.