Stawiszyn

Stawiszyn is a town in Kalisz County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in central Poland, with 1,569 inhabitants. It is the urban part of the larger Stawiszyn Commune, a mixed urban-rural municipality. The town has a land area of only 0.99 km², and is the smallest town in geographical area in Poland.

History

Stawiszyn was granted town rights before 1291. It was a royal town of the Kingdom of Poland, administratively located in the Kalisz County in the Kalisz Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province. The 1st Polish National Cavalry Brigade was stationed in the town.
During the German occupation of Poland, two local Polish teachers were sent to the Mauthausen concentration camp and murdered there. In 1943, the occupiers renamed the town to Stavensheim in attempt to erase traces of Polish origin.