Grójec ' is a town in Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

. Located in the Masovian Voivodeship

Masovian Voivodeship

-Administrative division:Masovian Voivodeship is divided into 42 counties : 5 city counties and 37 "land counties"...

, about 40 km south of Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

, it is the capital of Grójec County

Grójec County

Grójec County is a unit of territorial administration and local government in Masovian Voivodeship, east-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its administrative seat and largest town is Grójec, which lies south...

. It has about 14,875 inhabitants (2004). Grójec surroundings are considered to be the biggest apple-growing area of Poland. It is said, that the region makes up also for the biggest apple orchard of Europe. Statistically, every third apple sold in Poland is grown in Grójec – a unique local microclimate

Microclimate

A microclimate is a local atmospheric zone where the climate differs from the surrounding area. The term may refer to areas as small as a few square feet or as large as many square miles...

 provides for their beautiful red colour.

World War II

In July 1940, during the Nazi Occupation of Poland, German authorities

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 established a Jewish ghetto in Grójec, in order to confine its Jewish population

History of the Jews in Poland

The history of the Jews in Poland dates back over a millennium. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jewish community in the world. Poland was the centre of Jewish culture thanks to a long period of statutory religious tolerance and social autonomy. This ended with the...

 for the purpose of persecution and exploitation. The ghetto was liquidated in September 1942, when all its 5,200–6,000 inhabitants were transported in cattle trucks to Warsaw Ghetto

Warsaw Ghetto

The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest of all Jewish Ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. It was established in the Polish capital between October and November 15, 1940, in the territory of General Government of the German-occupied Poland, with over 400,000 Jews from the vicinity...

, the largest ghetto in all of Nazi occupied Europe with over 400,000 Jews crammed into an area of 1.3 square miles (3.4 km²). From there, most inmates were sent to Treblinka extermination camp

Treblinka extermination camp

Treblinka was a Nazi extermination camp in occupied Poland during World War II near the village of Treblinka in the modern-day Masovian Voivodeship of Poland. The camp, which was constructed as part of Operation Reinhard, operated between and ,. During this time, approximately 850,000 men, women...

.