Pre-1939: Turek, town, Łódź województwo, Poland; 1939–1945: center of Kreis Turek, Regierungsbezirk Kalisch (later Regierungsbezirk Litzmannstadt), Reichsgau Wartheland; post-1998: województwo wielkopolskie, Poland Turek is located about 75 kilometers (47 miles) west-northwest of Łódź. The Jewish population of Turek was 2,678 people in 1921, comprising more than 25 percent of the town’s total population, which then exceeded 8,000 people. By the outbreak of World War II, there were about 2,700 Jews living in Turek. Immediately after German occupation, the maltreatment of Jews began: the Germans confiscated Jewish property, and they seized Jews off the streets for forced labor, especially to clean the streets, to clear rubble, and to repair wartime damage to roads and bridges. Sometimes the Jews were beaten and humiliated during this work. In the first months of the occupation, the synagogue was set on fire and partially destroyed. Probably in October 1939, German security forces shot...