Starachowice

Starachowice
County administration building
Flag Coat of arms
Starachowice
Coordinates: 51°3′N 21°4′E
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Świętokrzyskie
County	Starachowice County
Gmina	Starachowice (urban gmina)
Established	15th century
Town rights	1624 as Wierzbnik
Government
• Mayor	Wojciech Bernatowicz
Area
• Total	31.85 km2 (12.30 sq mi)
Population (2008)
• Total	55,126
• Density	1,700/km2 (4,500/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	27-200
Area code(s)	+48 41
Car plates	TST
Website	http://www.um.starachowice.pl

Starachowice [staraxɔˈvʲit​͡sɛ] ( listen) is a town in south-central Poland with 55,126 inhabitants (2008). Starachowice is situated in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (since 1999); it was formerly in the Kielce Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is the capital of Starachowice County. It is situated upon the River Kamienna, a tributary of the Vistula River.

During the Holocaust, the ghetto in Wierzbnik, a town located nearby, was liquidated on October 27, 1942, and many of its prisoners were sent to the death camp Treblinka.the remaining Jewish residents of Starachowice and Wierzbnik were sent to labor camps in the vicinity. Those camps were liquidated in the Summer of 1944. The remaining survivors were deported to Auschwitz where many of them met their deaths at the hands of the S.S.There was a munition plant there where Jewish slave labor was used.

The Polish truck-brand STAR was produced in Starachowice, and was used as the basis for the first Popemobile for Pope John Paul II's during his first visit to his home country as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. The town has a special economy zone with lower tax rates to help the settlement of new industry.

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Poland

Twin towns — Sister cities

Starachowice is twinned with:

• Aurich, Germany
• Rochdale-Heywood, Great Britain
• Schweinfurt, Germany
• Skövde, Sweden
• Vechta, Germany
• Giżycko, Poland
• Candelo, Italy
• Almonacid de la Cuba, Spain
• La Roche-sur-Foron, France