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{{Infobox settlement
| name = Łask
| image_skyline = Łask, ul. Warszawska 15, kościół NMP i św. Michała Archanioła, 1525, XVIII -e.JPG
| image_caption = [[Collegiate Church]] of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Archangel Michael
| image_shield = POL Łask COA.svg
| pushpin_map = Poland
| pushpin_label_position = bottom
| subdivision_type = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
| subdivision_name = {{POL}}
| subdivision_type1 = [[Voivodeships of Poland|Voivodeship]]
| subdivision_name1 = [[Łódź Voivodeship|Łódź]]
| subdivision_type2 = [[Powiat|County]]
| subdivision_name2 = [[Łask County|Łask]]
| subdivision_type3 = [[Gmina]]
| subdivision_name3 = [[Gmina Łask|Łask]]
| leader_title = Mayor
| leader_name = Gabriel Szkudlarek
| established_title = Established
| established_date = 11th century
| established_title2 = First mentioned
| established_date2 = 1356
| established_title3 = Town rights
| established_date3 = 1422
| area_total_km2 = 15.33
| population_as_of = 31 December 2020
| population_total = 16925 {{decrease}}<ref name="population">{{cite web|url=https://bdl.stat.gov.pl/BDL/dane/teryt/jednostka|title=Local Data Bank|access-date=30 October 2021|publisher=Statistics Poland}} Data for territorial unit 1003024.</ref>
| population_density_km2 = auto
| timezone = [[Central European Time|CET]]
| utc_offset = +1
| timezone_DST = [[Central European Summer Time|CEST]]
| utc_offset_DST = +2
| coordinates = {{coord|51|35|25|N|19|8|0|E|region:PL|display=title,inline}}
| postal_code_type = Postal code
| postal_code = 98-100
| registration_plate = ELA
| website = {{URL|http://www.lask.pl}}
| blank_name_sec2 = Primary airport
| blank_info_sec2 = [[Łódź Władysław Reymont Airport]]
}}
'''Łask''' ({{IPAc-pl|ł|a|s|k}}) is a town in central [[Poland]]{{TERYT}} with 16,925 inhabitants (2020).<ref name="population" /> It is the capital of [[Łask County]], and is situated in [[Łódź Voivodeship]]. It is located in the [[Sieradz Land]].

A town with some 1,000 years of history, Łask is a former residential town of the Łaski noble family under whose patronage it was developed into a notable regional center of trade and crafts. It contains heritage [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]] and [[Baroque architecture|Baroque]] churches and a local historical museum. It is located near the [[Expressway S8 (Poland)|Route of the Heroes of the Battle of Warsaw 1920]], the main highway connecting [[Wrocław]] with [[Łódź]], [[Warsaw]] and [[Białystok]]. The [[Polish Air Force]]'s [[32nd Air Base]] is located nearby.

==History==
[[File:Kolegiata Lask fragment.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Gothic architecture|Gothic]] part of the Collegiate Church]]
Łask was founded in the 11th century, and from the 14th century it was the seat of the powerful Łaski [[szlachta|noble family]].<ref name=lask>{{cite web|url=http://www.lask.pl/node/302|title=Historia|website=Łaski Serwis Samorządowy|accessdate=24 May 2020|language=pl}}</ref> [[Korab coat of arms|Korab]], the family's coat of arms, remains the town's coat of arms to this day. The first mention of Łask comes from 1356. A church was built in 1366, and in 1498 Polish prince and Primate of Poland [[Frederick Jagiellon]] founded a hospital for the poor.<ref>''Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich'', Tom V, Warszawa, 1884, p. 600-601 (in Polish)</ref> In 1422 it was granted [[town rights]] modeled on [[Środa Śląska]] by virtue of a document issued by Polish king [[Władysław II Jagiełło]] in [[Mielno, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship|Mielno]].<ref name=lask/> The king also set up an annual [[fair]] and a weekly market.<ref name=lask/> In 1504, King [[Alexander Jagiellon]] confirmed and extended the privileges.<ref name=sgk>''Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich'', Tom V, Warszawa, 1884, p. 600 (in Polish)</ref> Crafts soon developed and in 1517–1523, the town's landmark [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]] collegiate church was erected under the patronage of the Primate of Poland [[Jan Łaski (1456–1531)|Jan Łaski]].<ref name=lask/> It was partially rebuilt in [[Baroque in Poland|Baroque]] style in the 18th century.<ref name=lask/> Thanks to the efforts of [[Hieronymus Łaski]], King [[Sigismund III Vasa]] granted four new fairs in 1613.<ref name=sgk/> After the Łaski family, from 1660 until the [[Partitions of Poland]] the town was owned by the Nadolski, Wierzbowski and Załuski families.<ref name=lask/> Łask was a [[private town]], administratively located in the Szadek County in the [[Sieradz Voivodeship (1339–1793)|Sieradz Voivodeship]] in the [[Greater Poland Province, Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Greater Poland Province]] of the Kingdom of Poland.<ref>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Atlas historyczny Polski. Województwo sieradzkie i województwo łęczyckie w drugiej połowie XVI wieku. Część I. Mapy, plany|year=1998|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=Instytut Historii [[Polish Academy of Sciences|Polskiej Akademii Nauk]]|page=3}}</ref>

[[Jews]] began to settle in the town at the close of the 16th century. From that time forward, the Jewish population of the town averaged between 50% and 65% of the total, typical of small [[shtetl]]s of the region. The primary industries were [[tannery|leather tanning]], [[textiles]], and food.<ref name="sztetl">[http://www.sztetl.org.pl/en/article/lask/5,history History of the Jewish Community of Lask]</ref> The surnames [[Laski (surname)|Łaski (Laski)]] and [[Lasker (surname)|Lasker]] derive from the name of the town, many of those with the former surname are of [[Polish people|Polish]] descent, while often those with the latter are of Jewish descent.

{{stack|[[File:Odrestaurowana kamienica z XIX w., nowa siedziba muzeum.jpg|thumb|right|Historical Museum located in an old house]]}}
In 1793 Łask was annexed by the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] in the [[Second Partition of Poland]], in 1807 it became part of the short-lived Polish [[Duchy of Warsaw]], and in 1815 it was designated as part of [[Congress Poland]], later forcibly incorporated into [[Russian Empire|Russia]]. The Polish population took part in 19th-century Polish uprisings and patriotic manifestations.<ref name=lask/> At the same time, Łask saw an influx of Jewish people fleeing persecution in Russia (see ''[[Pale of Settlement]]'').<ref name=lask/>

In 1903 the town was connected to the railway line and industrial plants were built. During [[World War I]], the town was occupied by [[German Empire|Germany]], and after the war, in 1918 it was re-integrated with Poland, as Poland regained independence. In 1919, Łask became a county seat within the [[Łódź Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Łódź Voivodeship]].<ref name=lask/> By 1939, "there were 3,864 Jews out of a total population of 6,000 people living in the town."<ref name="JewishGen">[http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/lask/JewishGen: The Jewish Community of Lask]</ref>

===World War II===
With the [[invasion of Poland]] and the outbreak of the [[Second World War]] in September 1939, Łask was [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|occupied]] by the [[Wehrmacht]] and annexed by [[Nazi Germany]]. The town was then administered as part of the county or district (''kreis'') of ''Lask'' within the newly formed province [[Reichsgau Wartheland]], and the Jewish half of the population and the Polish [[intelligentsia]] were systematically targeted and annihilated under the [[racial policy of Nazi Germany]]. Some Poles from Łask were among the victims of large massacres of Poles committed by Nazi Germany in nearby Łagiewniki (present-day district of Łódź) in December 1939 during the ''[[Intelligenzaktion]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wardzyńska|first=Maria|year=2009|title=Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=[[Institute of National Remembrance|IPN]]|page=204}}</ref>

[[File:Łask, Poland - panoramio.jpg|thumb|left|A monument to those who fought for Poland's independence]]
In January 1940, it was reported by the [[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]] that 100 Jewish citizens of Łask had been summarily executed en masse without trial because house-to-house searches by the Nazis revealed that they were armed and were planning to resist. The town's [[synagogue]] was then surrounded by the Nazis and "hundreds more" Jews were shot and killed as they tried to defend the building. With their deaths, the Nazis put the structure to the torch and it was consumed in fire.<ref name="JTA">[https://www.jta.org/1940/01/03/archive/nazis-admit-mass-executions-in-poland-100-slain-in-one-town Jewish Telegraphic Agency, January 3, 1940: Nazis Admit Mass Executions in Poland; 100 Slain in One Town]</ref> By December 1940, 3,467 Jews from the town who had survived these [[mass murder]]s were confined to a [[Jewish ghettos in German-occupied Poland|ghetto]].

In 1941, hundreds of other Jews were brought to the area from surrounding regions. At the same time, the Germans destroyed the old Jewish cemetery in the town, and paved the sidewalks of the town with its gravestones. A year later, on August 24, 1942, a "liquidation" of the ghetto was carried out. Those who were infirm or ill were murdered outright, and all the other Jews were taken to a church outside the town. There they were examined, and 760 selected Jews were transferred to the [[Łódź Ghetto]], some of the ill were killed on the spot, and the remainder of the 3,500 Jews were transported to the [[Chełmno extermination camp]], where they were killed. Later, the Germans hunted down the remnant Jews hiding in the town and killed them all.<ref>[http://yizkor.nypl.org/index.php?id=2416 The Yizkor Book of Lask at the New York Public Library, 1968]</ref> A wall plaque in Łask commemorates "the 3,517 Lasker Jews exterminated by the Nazis during August, 1942."<ref>[http://www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/kr-lask-04.jpg Museum of Family History: Plaque in Lask, Poland]</ref> Only about 20 Lask Jews survived the war, one hidden by a Christian farmer.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Megargee |first1=g |title=Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos |date=2012 |publisher=University of Indiana Press |location=Bloomington, Indiana |isbn=978-0-253-35599-7 |page=Volume II, 72–73}}</ref>
[[File:Park dworski (obecnie park miejski im. Rodu Łaskich) - 20 20120928177.jpg|thumb|right|Łaski Manor Park]]
Following the arrival of the [[Red Army]] and the subsequent end of the war in 1945, Łask became part of the [[People's Republic of Poland]]. As of 2004, "Łask has 18,948 inhabitants [...] and there are no known Jewish inhabitants."<ref name="JewishGen"/>

===Recent times===
It was administratively located in the [[Sieradz Voivodeship]] from 1975 to 1998.

A detachment of the [[US Air Force]] has been permanently stationed at [[Łask Air Base]] since November 2012.<ref>[https://www.usafe.af.mil/news/story?id=123326026 USAF activates AvDet in Poland]</ref>

==Notable residents==
[[File:Jan Łaski primate of Poland.PNG|thumb|160px|[[Jan Łaski]], Primate of Poland]]
* [[Jan Łaski (1456–1531)|Jan Łaski]] (1456–1531), Primate of Poland.<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Laski | volume= 16 |last= Bain |first= Robert Nisbet |author-link= Robert Nisbet Bain| pages = 234&ndash;235; see para 2 |quote=Jan Laski, the elder (1456–1531), |short= 1 }}</ref>
* [[Hieronymus Łaski]] (1496–1542), Polish diplomat.<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Laski | volume= 16 |last= Bain |first= Robert Nisbet |author-link= Robert Nisbet Bain| pages = 234&ndash;235; see para 3 |quote= Hieronymus Jaroslaw Laski (1496–1542), |short= 1 }}</ref>
* [[Jan Łaski]] (1499–1560), Protestant reformer.<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Laski | volume= 16 |last= Bain |first= Robert Nisbet |author-link= Robert Nisbet Bain| pages = 234&ndash;235; see para 4 |quote= Jan Laski, the younger (1499–1560), |short= 1 }}</ref>
* [[Olbracht Łaski]] (died 1604), Polish alchemist
* [[Aaron Karfunkel]], 18th century rabbi
* [[Mieczysław Wolfke]] (1883–1947), Polish physicist
* [[Genowefa Kobielska]] (1906–1993) track and field athlete, competed in the [[1928 Summer Olympics]]
* [[Magda Femme]] (born 1971), Polish pop singer
* [[Ilona Felicjańska]] (born 1973), Miss Polonia 1993
* [[Dr Luke]] (born 1973), Pop music composer/producer
* [[Artur Golański]] (born 1992) a Polish footballer
* [[Malwina Smarzek]] (born 1996), volleyball player, competed in the [[2024 Summer Olympics]]

==Twin towns==
Łask is [[Twin towns and sister cities|twinned]] with:

* {{flagicon|GER}} [[Dannenberg (Elbe)|Dannenberg]], Germany
* {{flagicon|BLR}} [[Lahoysk]], Belarus

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Łask County}}
{{Gmina Łask}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Cities and towns in Łódź Voivodeship]]
[[Category:Łask County]]
[[Category:11th-century establishments in Poland]]
[[Category:Populated places established in the 11th century]]