Historically Kock belongs to the Polish province of Lesser Poland and is located in its northeastern corner.

Kock is located a few kilometers north of the Wieprz river, approximately 150 meters above sea level, near the Łuków Lowland (Równina Łukowska).

Current form has been in use since the 19th century, and the word Kock either comes from the last name or a nickname Kot (a person named so founded the town), or from a plant called kocanka (Helichrysum arenarium), which grows abundantly in the area.

In 1518 the town belonged to Mikolaj Firlej, Crown Hetman and the Voivode of Sandomierz.

The Firlej family owned Kock until the second half of the 18th century, and at that time the town became an important center of the Protestant Reformation in Lesser Poland.

Around the year 1750 Kock passed into the hands of Princess Anna Jabłonowska of the Sapieha family, who invested a lot of money and energy into the town, ordering the construction of a town hall, a palace and a church.

Polish colonel of Jewish origin, Berek Joselewicz, leader of one of the first solely ethnic Jewish military units since ancient times, and the first such unit in Poland, was killed in the Battle of Kock (1809) between Poles and Austrians.

In the 19th century, the town became an important centre of Hasidism as the longtime home of Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, the Kotzker rebbe who established the Kotsk dynasty.

In turn, local Christian villagers would not allow Jews to leave the ghetto, so lack of food caused some children to starve.

In September, able men were sent to labor camps, and in October, hundreds were sent to Lukow's ghetto where a few weeks later they too were sent to Treblinka to be murdered.