Destruction of Kalisz

After Napoleon's defeat on the Eastern front in 1812, it was taken over and then annexed by Imperial Russia, which subsequently controlled the city for more than 100 years.

Additionally, the Civil Guard was established to keep order, while workers tried to put the fire at the railway station out.

When a German officer arrived, mayor Bukowiński gave him the keys to the city as a symbolic gesture.

Many of them were Poles from the nearby town of Ostrzeszów (then officially Schildberg in the Prussian Partition of Poland), and there was no hostility between them and the local Polish population.

At the selection of quarters, Preusker showed great displeasure and demanded the building housing the Musical Society and Christian Craftsmen in the city instead of the Russian military barracks.

[1] In the late evening, a single shot was heard, which began panic and confusion among the city population; it was followed by machine gun fire.

During the night the firing resumed, when German soldiers started to shoot at each other, probably thinking that they were surrounded by Russian forces.

Civilians were brutally beaten, often with rifle butts; at any sign of resistance, people were shoved against a wall and shot.

Pedestrians were mistreated and any signs of opposition were quelled with such brutality and under such conditions that there were cases where soldiers refused to follow the orders of their officers.

Additionally, the Germans had ordered the day before that all citizens should illuminate their homes, which helped in directing the fire.

Large crowds of panic-stricken people, including children and the elderly with any possessions they could grab, were running from the city, which became almost deserted.

Another incident happened on August 7 on Main Market Square, when a lone horse ran free; as a result, German soldiers started shooting in a disorganised way, which led to the death of some of them.

On Saturday morning, the Germans returned to the city, taking 800 men prisoner and executing 80 of them on a nearby hill.

[1] The Polish press in all territories of then partitioned Poland reported extensively on the event, some calling it "monstrous madness, that is unbelievable".