Masovian Voivodeship

The Warsaw metropolitan area (known in Polish as: aglomeracja warszawska or Miejski Obszar Funkcjonalny Warszawy) is the metropolitan area of Warsaw, the capital of Poland. The metropolitan area covers ten counties in the Masovian Voivodeship, with an area of 6,100 km (2,400 sq mi) and a population of around 3.5 million in 2022. The area constitutes a separate NUTS 2 unit, as well as a separate police region with a dedicated Capital Metropolitan Police Headquarters, both of them carved out from the Masovian Voivodeship as an exception, as Polish NUTS 2 areas and police regions are in general identical to the territories of voivodeships.

The largest cities or towns within the metropolitan area are Warsaw, Pruszków, Legionowo, Otwock, Mińsk Mazowiecki, Piaseczno and Wołomin.

Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at 1.86 million residents within a greater metropolitan area of 3.27 million residents, which makes Warsaw the 6th most-populous city in the European Union. The city area measures 517 km (200 sq mi) and comprises 18 districts, while the metropolitan area covers 6,100 km (2,355 sq mi). Warsaw is classified as an alpha global city, a major political, economic and cultural hub, and the country's seat of government. It is also the capital of the Masovian Voivodeship.

Warsaw traces its origins to a small fishing town in Masovia. The city rose to prominence in the late 16th century, when Sigismund III decided to move the Polish capital and his royal court from Kraków. Warsaw surpassed Gdańsk as Poland's most populous city by the 18th century. It served as the capital of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1795, and subsequently as the seat of Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. The 19th century and its Industrial Revolution brought a demographic boom, which made it one of the largest and most densely populated cities in Europe. Known then for its elegant architecture and boulevards, Warsaw was bombed and besieged at the start of World War II in 1939. Much of the historic city was destroyed and its diverse population decimated by the Ghetto Uprising in 1943, the general Warsaw Uprising in 1944, and systematic razing.

Pruszków [ˈpruʂkuf] is a city in east-central Poland, capital of Pruszków County in the Masovian Voivodeship. Pruszków is located along the western edge of the Warsaw metropolitan area.

Pruszków is the largest city in the Warsaw metropolitan area outside Warsaw. Since the 19th century it has developed as an industrial centre located on an important railway line. In the 1990s and 2000s the city was synonymous with the "Pruszków gang", one of two major organised crime groups in the country. It is known for the country's chief indoor velodrome and the Dulag 121 Museum at the former Nazi German camp for Poles expelled from Warsaw.

Legionowo [lɛɡʲjɔˈnɔvɔ] is a city in Masovian Voivodeship in east-central Poland, seat of the Legionowo County.

Otwock ([ˈɔtfɔt͡sk] ; Yiddish: אָטוואָצק) is a city in the Masovian Voivodeship in east-central Poland, some 23 kilometres (14 mi) south-east of Warsaw, with 43,895 inhabitants (2024). Otwock is part of the Warsaw metropolitan area. It is situated on the right bank of the Vistula River, below the mouth of the Świder River. Otwock is home to a unique architectural style called Świdermajer.

It is the capital of Otwock County. The town covers an area of 47 square kilometres (18 sq mi). Forested areas make up 23% of the territory, and there are several nature reserves.

Mińsk Mazowiecki (Polish pronunciation: [ˈmij̃sk mazɔˈvjɛtskʲi] , lit. 'Masovian Minsk') is a town in eastern Poland with 40,999 inhabitants (2020). It is situated in the Masovian Voivodeship and is a part of the Warsaw metropolitan area. It is the capital of Mińsk County. Located 20 kilometers from the city limits of Warsaw and 38 kilometers from Warsaw's center.

Piaseczno ([pʲaˈsɛt͡ʂnɔ] ) is a town in east-central Poland with 47,660 inhabitants. It is situated in the Masovian Voivodeship, within the Warsaw metropolitan area, just south of Warsaw, approximately 16 kilometres (10 miles) south of its center. It is a residential area and a suburb of Warsaw. It is the capital city of Piaseczno County.

Founded in the medieval period, Piaseczno is a former royal city of Poland, which once housed a Polish Royal palace. It was the site of several Polish clashes against foreign invaders and occupiers.

Treblinka (Polish: [trɛˈbliŋ.ka]; German: [tʁeˈblɪŋka]) was the second-deadliest extermination camp to be built and operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. It was in a forest north-east of Warsaw, four kilometres (2+1⁄2 miles) south of the village of Treblinka in what is now the Masovian Voivodeship. The camp operated between 23 July 1942 and 19 October 1943 as part of Operation Reinhard, the deadliest phase of the Final Solution. During this time, it is estimated that between 700,000 and 900,000 Jews were murdered in its gas chambers, along with 2,000 Romani people. More Jews were murdered at Treblinka than at any other Nazi extermination camp apart from Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Managed by the German SS with assistance from Trawniki guards – recruited from among Soviet POWs to serve with the Germans – the camp consisted of two separate units. Treblinka I was a forced-labour camp (Arbeitslager) whose prisoners worked in the gravel pit or irrigation area and in the forest, where they cut wood to fuel the cremation pits. Between 1941 and 1944, more than half of its 20,000 inmates were murdered via shootings, hunger, disease and mistreatment.

Radom is a city in east-central Poland, located approximately 100 kilometres (62 miles) south of the capital, Warsaw. It is situated on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship. Radom is the fifteenth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in its province with a population of 196,918 (30.06.2023)

Radom was a significant center of administration, having served as seat of the Polish Crown Council which ratified the Pact of Vilnius and Radom between Lithuania and Poland in 1401. The Nihil novi and Łaski's Statute were adopted by the Sejm at Radom's Royal Castle in 1505. In 1976, it was a center of the June 1976 protests. Despite being part of the Masovian Voivodeship, the city historically belongs to Lesser Poland.