Early history Recently, a small fortified dwelling dating from the 10th century was discovered on the north-east side of the town's limits. An archeological excavation is now in progress. It was part of Poland since the establishment of the state in the 10th century. The oldest known mention of Ostrów comes from a document from 1293. Ostrów received
town rights in 1404 but the economic stagnation caused by fires, wars, and a weak 16th-century nobility, led to the town's officials dropping its town status in 1711. Administratively it was located in the
Kalisz Voivodeship in the
Greater Poland Province. In 1714, one of the
nobles of Ostrów, , intervened at the royal court, for the status to be reinstated. To help the city grow, new settlers were exempt from taxes for six years. By the power of
Grand Crown Marshal Franciszek Bieliński, the town received its status back with greater
privileges. Another noble family, the
Radziwiłł family took patronage over the town and looked over its many investments. The care of the town's owners, work of its people, and dedication of its officials, as well as its location, favored the town's continuous growth.
Late modern period During the
Second Partition of Poland, in 1793, the town was annexed by
Kingdom of Prussia. After the successful
Greater Poland uprising of 1806, it was regained by Poles and included within the short-lived
Duchy of Warsaw. It was re-annexed by Prussia, to be included within the initially autonomous
Grand Duchy of Poznań in 1815. The cloth industry prospered in Ostrów until 1825, when
Russia imposed
tariffs on imported cloths, as a result of which many textile manufacturers moved east to the
Russian Partition of Poland. After Poland regained independence, he was honored with a monument in the city. during his visit in Ostrów in 1919 Ostrów was an important center of Polish resistance and national liberation movements. In the
interbellum, Ostrów was one of the fastest growing towns: the number of inhabitants doubled, showy houses were built, as well as new schools, stadiums and a swimming pool. During the German
occupation of Poland, local Poles were subjected to mass arrests, imprisonment, deportations to
concentration camps,
expulsions,
forced labour and massacres. In late 1939 and early 1940, many Poles were arrested during the
Intelligenzaktion, then imprisoned in
Kalisz and murdered in large massacres in the
Winiary forest. Among the victims were activists, school principals, former participants of the Polish
Greater Poland uprising (1918–19) against Germany, and pre-war mayor Stanisław Musielak. The Germans also established a Nazi prison for Poles in Ostrów. Further mass arrests of around 400 Poles from the county were carried out in April–May 1940, and many of the victims were then imprisoned in the local prison. Teachers from Ostrów were among Polish teachers murdered in the
Mauthausen concentration camp. A
Nazi German labor camp, Staatspolizeistelle Litzmannstadt Arbeitserziehungslager Ostrowo, operated within the town's limits, where 193 people died. The Germans carried out first expulsions of Poles in October 1939, focusing on owners of bakeries, cafes, workshops and large apartments, which were then handed over to
German colonists as part of the
Lebensraum policy, while expelled Poles were held in a transit camp in nearby
Nowe Skalmierzyce for several weeks, and then deported to the
General Government (German-occupied central Poland). Further 160 Poles were expelled in December 1939 to the
Radom District of the General Government. Also a transit camp for Poles expelled from nearby villages was established in the local church. The town was one of the major
Polish conspiracy centers in the Greater Poland region. The Polish
Secret Military Organization was founded in Ostrów in October 1939, and there were also structures of the
Polish Underground State in the city. In 1941, after the
Gestapo's crackdown on the headquarters of the Poznań branch of the underground army
Union for Armed Struggle-
ZWZ, the headquarters were moved to Ostrów. From here the re-structure of the Poznań region of the Union was conducted.
Polish underground press was printed in Ostrów and then distributed in Ostrów and other nearby towns, including
Krotoszyn,
Ostrzeszów,
Pleszew. Ostrów was liberated from German occupation on January 23, 1945. The town was restored to Poland, although with a
Soviet-installed communist regime, which then stayed in power until the
Fall of Communism in the 1980s.
Recent period After the war Ostrów Wielkopolski was part of the Poznań Voivodeship, and from 1975 to 1998 it was the second largest city of the
Kalisz Voivodeship (behind
Kalisz). In September 1945, the
Polish resistance movement made an unsuccessful attempt to capture the local communist jail and liberate the prisoners. In July–August 1980, employees of local factories joined the nationwide anti-communist strikes, which led to the foundation of the "
Solidarity" organization. In 1979 Ostrów's city limits were widely expanded for the second time, including the former villages , Szczygliczka, Zacharzew, Piaski, Stary Staw and Nowy Staw as new districts. ==Sights==