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Żyrardów is a town and former industrial hub in central Poland with approximately 41,400 inhabitants (2006). It is the capital of Żyrardów County in the Masovian Voivodeship, west of Warsaw.
Etymology
Żyrardów, initially a textile settlement, was named after French engineer and inventor Philippe de Girard, who worked in the area.
History
Origins
thumb|left|Textile factory in 1872
A textile factory founded by the Łubieński brothers opened in the village of Ruda Guzowska in 1833, after it was moved from Marymont. One of the directors of the factory was French inventor Philippe de Girard (from Lourmarin). The upheavals in Żyrardów were the largest protest in Poland up until the Łódź insurrection of the 1905 Revolution. They remain an essential element of Polish working class history, with various forms of media dedicated to them as well as street reenactments performed annually since 2004.
In the 1921 census, 90.8% of the population declared Polish nationality, 7.5% Jewish, 1.2% German, 0.22% Czech.
World War II
thumb|left|upright|Memorial at the site of the German-perpetrated massacre from November 1943
During the invasion of Poland at the start of World War II, with the onset of dawn on September 12, 1939, units of the 8th German Army launched an attack on Żyrardów. After several hours of fierce defence of the town, the Polish army had to leave their positions and start delaying actions towards Wiskitki, Guzów, Szymanów, and Paprotnia.
In 1941, the Germans transported local Jews into the Warsaw Ghetto.
The Polish resistance organized a unit of the Union of Armed Struggle and Home Army in Żyrardów, under the cryptonym "Żaba" ("frog"). In revenge for the activities of the Polish resistance, the occupiers carried out mass arrests and executions of city residents.