Kępno () is a town in south-central Poland. It lies on the outskirts of the Greater Poland Voivodeship, bordering the historical region of Silesia and the Łódź Voivodeship. As of December 31, 2009 Kępno had a population of 14,760. One popular attraction in Kępno is the Rynek (market square). History The history of Kępno dates back to a medieval Polish stronghold. The oldest known mention of Kępno comes from 1282, when it was the place of signing of the Treaty of Kępno, between dukes of fragmented Poland, Przemysł II, Duke of Greater Poland and Mestwin II, Duke of Pomerania. In 1283 it enjoyed town rights. Initially a royal city of Poland, in 1365 it was granted by King Casimir III the Great to knight and noble . Administratively located in the Sieradz Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province of the Polish Crown, it became a village again. It regained town rights in 1660, by decision of King John II Casimir of Poland. Protestants from nearby Silesia as well as Jews settled in Kępno in the 17th century. One of two main routes connecting Warsaw and Dresden ran through the town in the 18th century and Kings Augustus II the Strong and Augustus III of Poland often traveled that route. Kępno was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in the 1793 Second Partition of Poland. Administered within South Prussia from 1793 to 1807, it was part of the Napoleonic Duchy of Warsaw from 1807 to 1815. As Kempen, it was restored to Prussia in the 1815 Congress of Vienna and administered within the Grand Duchy of Posen (until 1848) and the Province of Posen, within which it was the seat of the district Kempen in Posen. The town was a 19th-century shtetl. The majority of the Jews left the city during the second half of the 19th century because of the epidemics (cholera, etc.) and the poor living conditions. They left mainly for Wrocław and surroundings, Berlin, and the Americas. Kempen (Kepno) immigrants were the first Jews to settle in Guatemala, and formed the basis of the German-Jewish community there. In the meantime, the Polish population was subject to Germanisation policies. Since the mid-19th century, to resist Germanisation, Poles founded various organizations, including industrial and cultural societies, printing houses and a local branch of the "Sokół" Polish Gymnastic Society. In the early 20th century local Poles protested against Germanisation policies. In