Jewish community of Przedecz
The Jewish community of Przedecz, which accounted for a large proportion of the population of Przedecz, a town in western Poland, was wiped out in the Holocaust. In Yiddish the city was known as Pshaytsh. In Hebrew, it was called "Pshedetz". [See memorial plaque.] The town, which dates from the 14th century, is located midway between Chodecz and Kłodawa. It is northwest of Łódź, west of Warsaw and east of Poznań. On the southeast, it borders on Lake Przedecz. Early history The earliest mention of Przedecz is in the 12th century, when it was owned by the Archbishops. In the second half of the 14th century, King Kazimierz purchased Przedecz and the surrounding lands from the Archbishops. It became a transit station for traders travelling from south to north and east to west, and a commercial center for the surrounding farms. Przedecz was granted city status before the end of the 14th century. During the period of the Archbishops, Jews were forbidden to live there. Jewish settlement in Przedecz began towards the end of the 14th century. The Jewish cemetery is about six hundred years old. In 1538, a major fire destroyed most of Przedecz. Ten years later, the king