Widawa, Łódź Voivodeship
Widawa is a village in Łask County, Łódź Voivodeship, in central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Widawa. It lies approximately south-west of Łask and south-west of the regional capital Łódź.
The village has a population of 1,300. Before World War II, the town included about 800 Jews, around one-third of the town's population. On arrival in September 1939, the Germans burned the community's rabbi Abraham Mordechaij Maroko alive because he would not burn the Torah scrolls. During the next two years, the Germans sent many of the town's Jews to forced labor camps and forced others to live in a concentrated ghetto. Some Jews were also sent to Belchatow. Eventually, most of Widawa's Jews were sent to the Chelmno killing camp where they were immediately gassed. Few survived the war.
