The territory formed part of Poland since the establishment of the state in the 10th century. In the High Middle Ages, the main center of the area was Sieradz, and among other oldest medieval towns were
Lutomiersk,
Piotrków,
Przedbórz,
Radomsko,
Rozprza,
Spycimierz,
Sulejów,
Szadek,
Uniejów,
Wolbórz. Sieradz Land has been the name of the administrative unit from 14th-18th centuries (former
Duchy of Sieradz) of the same borders (and a little different from the
Sieradz Voivodeship within the
Greater Poland Province, which included furthermore smaller
Wieluń Land); the
sejmik used to be held in
Szadek. The major city of Sieradz Land was
Piotrków, which hosted several sessions of the
Sejm of the Kingdom of Poland, and the
Crown Tribunal for the Greater Poland Province. In term of ecclesiastical administration, Sieradz Land has been a part of the
Archdiocese of Gniezno, and
Uniejów used to be a residence of the
Primate of Poland, with the residence castle preserved as a heritage monument. In 1793 the region was annexed by the
Kingdom of Prussia in the
Second Partition of Poland. In 1807 it became part of the short-lived Polish
Duchy of Warsaw, and in 1815 it passed to the
Russian Partition of Poland.
Polish resistance was active in the region, and multiple battles of the
November Uprising and
January Uprising were fought in the region. After Poland regained its independence, these lands were included in the Łódź and Kielce voivodeships. On 1 September 1939, when
Nazi Germany launched its
invasion of Poland, nearby
Wieluń was
bombed and the area between the German border and the Warta River was occupied. During the invasion, German troops committed numerous massacres of Polish civilians in the region, including at
Pławno,
Kajetanowice,
Uniejów,
Wylazłów,
Balin, Chechło,
Dominikowice,
Czekaj, and a
massacre of Polish prisoners of war, including 19 officers, at
Moryca and
Longinówka (see
Nazi crimes against the Polish nation). Eventually, these lands were partly in the
General Government and partly directly annexed to Third German Reich, and administered as part of the province of
Reichsgau Wartheland. The local Polish and Jewish populations were subjected to persecution. Sieradz was the location of one of the most important German prisons in Reichsgau Wartheland, with several more prisons subordinate to the main prison in Sieradz, located in
Burzenin,
Janiszewice,
Niechmirów,
Złoczew, and subcamps in
Herbertów and
Zelów. Its prisoners, predominantly Poles and Jews, were subjected to insults, beatings,
forced labour, tortures and executions. Prisoners were given very low food rations, and meals were even prepared from rotten vegetables, spoiled fish and dead dogs. Many prisoners died of exhaustion,
starvation or torture. In April 1940 and June 1941, the Germans murdered 581 patients of the
psychiatric hospital in
Warta as part of
Aktion T4. ==Language==