Grójec is a town in Poland, located in the Masovian Voivodeship, about south of Warsaw. It is the capital of the urban-rural administrative district Grójec and Grójec County. It has 16,674 inhabitants (2017). Grójec surroundings are considered to be the biggest apple-growing area of Poland. It is said that the region makes up also for the biggest apple orchard of Europe. Statistically, every third apple sold in Poland is grown in Grójec – a unique local microclimate provides for their beautiful red colour. History In the 11th and 12th centuries, Grójec was the seat of a castellany, which was then moved to Czersk. It was granted town rights in 1419 by Duke Janusz I of Warsaw from the Piast dynasty. World War II In September 1939, during the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland which started World War II, the town was bombed by the Luftwaffe and afterwards captured by Germany. In November 1940, during the Nazi occupation of Poland, German authorities established a Jewish ghetto in Grójec, in order to confine its Jewish population for the purpose of persecution and exploitation. The ghetto was liquidated in February 1941, when almost all of its inhabitants (5,200–6,000) were transported on trains used for cattle to Warsaw Ghetto, the largest ghetto in all of Nazi occupied Europe with over 400,000 Jews crammed into an area of . From there, most inmates were sent to Treblinka extermination camp. Only a group of Jewish craftsmen was left in Grójec, however, they were also annihilated in a mass execution in Dębówka, near Góra Kalwaria. German occupation of Grójec ended in January 1945. Nature Forest Inspectorate Reserves There are nine nature reserves in the Grójec Forest Inspectorate, whose total area exceeds 1 thousand hectares. The following are forest reserves that cover a part of the forested area: Dąbrowa Radziejowska, a 52.50 hectare reserve in a large forest complex in the Radziejowice commune, was created in 1984 to preserve and protect luminous oak wood; Osuchowskie Grądy, a 99,25 hectare reserve was established in 1982 and is at the highest point of the Mazowiecka lowland; Skulski Las, a 311.75 hectare partial forest reserve established in 1984 and includes most of the Skuły Wschód range, situated in the Skuły-Wschód forestry unit; and Skulskie Oaks, a 30,07 hectare partial forest reserve of the area of established in 1996, covering the north-western part of the Skuły-Western range and belonging to the Grójec