Kargowa was first mentioned in writing in the 14th century. It was granted town rights by King
John II Casimir Vasa in 1661. In the 18th century, the kings
Augustus II the Strong and
Augustus III of Poland often visited the town during their travels between
Warsaw and
Dresden. After the successful Polish
Greater Poland uprising of 1806, Kargowa was regained by the Poles and became part of the short-lived Polish
Duchy of Warsaw. In 1815 it was annexed by Prussia for the second time. After Poland regained independence, Kargowa was captured by
Polish insurgents in 1919; however, the
Treaty of Versailles granted the town to Germany. During the final stages of
World War II in 1945, a German-perpetrated
death march of Jewish women from a just dissolved subcamp of the
Gross-Rosen concentration camp in
Sława passed through the town. The town finally returned to Poland after the defeat of
Nazi Germany in World War II in 1945. ==Demographics==