Zgierz, Poland

Capital City

With a population of just over 54,000, Zgierz is a small, central Polish city that lacks the glamor and opportunity of larger hubs like Łódź. The bureaucratic hassles and grim wartime history detailed in the town's past suggest this is no place for the faint of heart. Inhabitants of Zgierz endured mass executions, deportations, and the destruction of local institutions under the Nazi occupation, with over 7,600 perishing. While the Jewish community once made up 16.6% of the population, nearly all were deported and killed, with only about 350 survivors. For those seeking an authentic, if often somber, slice of provincial Polish life, Zgierz may fit the bill. But most would be better off looking elsewhere.