Poland was located away from main military conflicts, and the town prospered, especially in the period known as Polish Golden Age. It changed during the Swedish invasion of Poland (1655–1656), when both Krzepice and the ancient castle were destroyed by the Swedes. Ruins of the castle remained until 1927, when they were finally demolished. The town frequently burned (1450, 1527, 1656, 1867, 1881, 1903, 1904 1906), which was due to its wooden architecture. In 1870, Russian authorities of Congress Poland reduced Krzepice to the status of a village, as a reprisal for its inhabitants' participation in the January Uprising. In 1914, a dairy cooperative was founded in Krzepice. Krzepice regained its town status in 1919, when already it was part of Kielce Voivodeship of the Second Polish Republic. World War II On September 3, 1939, during the German invasion of Poland which started World War II, German troops committed a massacre of 30 Poles in Krzepice (see Nazi crimes against the Polish nation); the town was then occupied by Germany until 1945. Krzepice had a sizeable Jewish community, 43% of the town's population, before World War II. In early 1940, the Germans set up an open type ghetto there with about 1,800 inmates, along with Judenrat and the Jewish police. The Jews were forced to perform slave labor until the liquidation of the ghetto in June and July 1942, when most of them were sent by train to Auschwitz extermination camp and murdered. Those who remained were deported to the ghetto in Sosnowiec. Only a handful survived the Holocaust; most subsequently left Poland. The stone-and-brick synagogue in Krzepice, built around 1822, still stands, although unused and in a dilapidated state. The historic Jewish Cemetery is close by. Transport Main highway connections from the Krzepice include those with Wieluń (to the north-west) and Częstochowa (to the south-east) via National road 43. A bypass of the town was opened in 2009. Krzepice is linked by rail to Wieluń and Katowice, with a station, on a line from Herby Nowe to Wieluń, built in 1926. Cuisine The officially protected traditional foods from Krzepice are local butter (masło krzepickie) and quark (twaróg krzepicki), as designated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland. Sports The town is home to a football club, Liswarta Krzepice, established in 1946. It competes in the lower leagues. References External links Official Krzepice homepage Cities and towns