Września was first mentioned in 1256 in a document issued in Poznań.[1] Early sources speak of Wressna (1317) or Wresna (1364). Września was granted town privileges before 1357.[1] It was a private town, owned by various Polish nobles families,[1] administratively located in the Kalisz Voivodeship of the Greater Poland Province of the Polish Crown. The coat of arms of Września is the Poraj coat of arms of the Poraj family, the first owners of the town.[1] Annual fairs and weekly markets took place in the town.[1] The town was burned down 1664 (other sources speak of 1656) in the war against Sweden. The majority of inhabitants were Poles, but since mid-17th century there have also been German settlers.
Children from Września who participated in the school strike in response to the banning of the Polish language.
Września is known in Poland for a school strike by Polish children in May 1901 in response to the intensification of Germanization (i.e. prohibition of the Polish language at school).[2] The Polish language had long been tolerated in the schools, so the introduction of German as mandatory language led to protests. The controversy led to drawn-out protests between parents and authorities. For refusing to speak German, Polish children were severely beaten by Prussian teachers for several hours. Parents who tried to break into the school and protect their children from Prussian teachers were punished later by a Prussian court stating that their actions were "atrocious acts against the state".[3] The strike spread to neighboring cities and eventually ended in 1904.
In 1905 the town was inhabited by about 7000 people of which 65.4% were Poles, 28.9% Germans and 5.5% Jews. In the surrounding county, Poles comprised 85.6% of the population. The hundred-year-long Prussian rule came to an end with the outbreak of the Wielkopolska Uprising in 1918, shortly after Poland regained independence, and in 1920, the town officially once again became part of Poland. About 800 local Poles formed the Września Volunteer Legion (Legia Ochotnicza Wrzesińska) under the command of Stanisław Mycielski to fight against the Soviet invasion.[1] It was around this time that construction of the district office building was completed. The 68th Infantry Regiment was stationed in Września since 1921.[4]
With the invasion of Poland and the outbreak of the Second World War, the German Wehrmachtoccupied the city on September 10, 1939. It was incorporated into Reichsgau Wartheland as a part of the district or county (kreis) of Wreschen. The Germans carried out mass arrests of local Poles, who were afterwards imprisoned in the local prison, and soon murdered in large massacres in nearby forests in October and November 1939 (see also: Intelligenzaktion).[5] Poles were also subjected to mass expulsions, however the Polish resistance movement remained active throughout the war.[1] The synagogue was destroyed in 1940 and a camp for French prisoners of war operated in the area. Additionally, from April 1941 to 1943 a forced labor camp for Jews operated in the vicinity of the town.[6] Following the arrival of the Red Army and the end of the war the town was made part of the People's Republic of Poland.
World War II memorials, including the Katyń massacre memorial, 68th Infantry Regiment Monument, and the Monument to the scouts of Września killed during the war
Graves of Polish insurgents of 1848 and 1918–1919 at the local cemetery
^Plasota, Kazimierz (1929). Zarys historji wojennej 68-go Pułku Piechoty (in Polish). Warszawa. p. 21.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Wardzyńska, Maria (2009). Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion (in Polish). Warszawa: IPN. p. 201.
^Zwangsarbeit in NS-Staat German Federal Archive (Bundesarchiv) [1] Accessed 9-30-11.
^"Ser liliput wielkopolski". Ministerstwo Rolnictwa i Rozwoju Wsi - Portal Gov.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 30 May 2021.
(in Polish) Marian Torzewski (red.): Września. Historia miasta. Muzeum Regionalne im. Dzieci Wrzesińskich we Wrześni, Września, 2006, ISBN978-83-924220-0-6
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