Warsaw
Warsaw Capital and largest city of Poland, on the River Vistula. Its first settlement dates from the 11th century. In 1596 it became Poland's capital and developed into the country's main trading centre. Controlled by Russia from 1813 to 1915, German troops occupied it during World War 1. In 1918, Polish troops liberated the city. The 1939 German invasion and occupation of Warsaw marked the beginning of World War 2. In 1940, the Germans isolated the Jewish ghetto, which contained 500,000 people, and following a brutal suppression of a Jewish uprising in February 1943, they killed more than 40,000 survivors. In January 1945, when the Red Army liberated Warsaw, they found only 200 surviving Jews. After World War 2, the old town was painstakingly reconstructed. Warsaw is a major transport and industrial centre. Industries: steel, cars, cement, machinery. Pop. (1999) 1,618,468.
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Warsaw