Pre-1939: Warsaw (Polish: Warszawa), city, capital of Poland, and center, Warsaw województwo; 1939–1945: Warschau, Stadt, Distrikt Warschau, Generalgouvernement; post-1998: Warsaw, województwo mazowieckie, Poland Warsaw is located 137 kilometers (85 miles) northeast of Łódź. In 1939, on the eve of war, the approximately 380,000 Jews living there comprised just less than one quarter of the city’s total population of around 1.3 million. Following the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, Warsaw came under siege for three weeks. The continuous bombardment of the city during the siege killed and injured many people, including large numbers of Jews. A mass exodus of inhabitants and the Polish political leadership began. Among those who fled were the leaders of Polish Jewry, such as Maurycy Meisel, head of the Warsaw Jewish Community Council. The German army entered Warsaw on September 27, 1939. Both systematic and impromptu persecution, abuse, theft, forced labor, and murder be...