[4] It was a private town of Polish nobility, administratively located in the Gniezno County in the Kalisz Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province of the Kingdom of Poland.

During the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland, which began World War II in September 1939, the town was invaded and then occupied by Germany until 1945.

It was annexed directly into Nazi Germany and made part of the newly formed province of Reichsgau Wartheland.

In September 1940, the Germans established the Oflag XXI-A prisoner-of-war camp for French officers, however, in 1941 it was relocated to Babruysk.

[6] In Skoki the occupiers then founded the Oflag XXI-C POW camp for Polish officers in March 1942, which in 1943 was relocated to Ostrzeszów.