destroyed in World War I (1915), and in 1918, the capital of the Iłża County (created 1866) was moved to Starachowice. In 1921, already in Kielce Voivodeship of the Second Polish Republic, Iłża regained its town charter. Throughout Invasion of Poland, the Battle of Iłża (also called Battle of Radom) took place here on September 8–9, 1939, in which Polish Prusy Army was defeated by the Wehrmacht. During the subsequent German occupation, Poles were subject to mass arrests, tortures, massacres and deportations. In March 1940, Germans carried out mass arrests of Poles, who were then either murdered in the village of Góry Wysokie or deported to Nazi concentration camps, and in June 1940, they carried out another wave of arrests of Poles, who were then imprisoned and tortured in Skarżysko-Kamienna, and afterwards murdered in the Brzask forest near Skarżysko-Kamienna. All Poles were a target of German brutality, and Polish Jews were a special target, being nearly wiped out completely. In Iłża in December 1941, Germans established a Jewish ghetto, whose 2000 residents were murdered at Treblinka extermination camp in October 1942. Polish police assisted in rounding them up for the deportation and searching the ghetto for those in hiding. The number of survivors is unknown. Iłża was an important center of Polish resistance, with a unit of the Home Army (AK), and local headquarters of Bataliony Chłopskie. Furthermore, the Communist partisan force Armia Ludowa (AL) was active in the region; on May 16–17, 1944 its units took control of the town and on January 16, 1945 the Red Army entered Iłża. Under the Polish People's Republic Iłża remained a small town, without an industry and located close to the quickly growing industrial center at Starachowice. Since the 14th century Iłża established a potter's guild and has been famous for its pottery. Particularly popular were figurines of birds, animals and people, based on keen observations of nature. Entire families participated in the industry each taking their own part in the production. In the 17th and 18th century great developments occurred when caravans of pottery were transported to Kraków and other Polish cities, from where barges would transport the ceramics on the Vistula River to Gdańsk, spreading the fame of the artists work. During the 19th century, Stanisław Kosiarski began his long tradition of production, until his death at the hands of the Nazis in 1939. The tradition was passed on to