Origins
The historic Polish city of Sandomierz was one of the major urban centers of the Kingdom of Poland, and later the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The capital of a large Sandomierz Voivodeship, Sandomierz’s importance declined after the Partitions of Poland. In the 19th century it turned into a little town, located right on the border between Austria-Hungary, and the Russian Empire.
After World War I, when Poland regained its independence, Sandomierz remained a historically important but economically non-existent location on the map of the newly restored country. The war destroyed a large part of the city, and its population decreased to some 6,000. Sandomierz, located in the Kielce Voivodeship was the capital of a county, but it was not among eight biggest municipalities of the Kielce Voivodeship.
The situation began to change in 1937 after Minister Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski publicly stated on February 5: “...today, we are declaring a new slogan in the program of industrialization, which will be granted a symbolic and shortened name: Central Area - Sandomierz...”. According to other sources, Kwiatkowski announced Sandomierz as capital of the Central Industrial Region as early as 1935.
Sandomierz was by no means the biggest city on the area of the Central Industrial Region. Far larger were such cities, as Lublin, Rzeszów, Kielce, and Radom, but Sandomierz was located right in the middle of the region, besides, Kielce and Lublin had already been capitals of the voivodeships (see: Kielce Voivodeship, Lublin Voivodeship). The town was conveniently located along the Vistula, and at the junction of rail lines to Skarżysko-Kamienna, Lwów, and Dębica. The nearby junction of Rozwadów provided a connection to Lublin; furthermore, the Polish government planned construction of the Upper Silesia - Sandomierz - Volhynia line.
Read more about this topic: Sandomierz Voivodeship (1939)
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