Codzienność mieszkańców igołomskiego powiśla w okresie okupacji (1939–1945) / Everyday life of the inhabitants of the Igołomia region on the Vistula River during the occupation (1939–1945)

Before and during World War II, the present-day area of the Igołomia-Wawrzeńczyce commune was divided among three communes: Wawrzeńczyce, Igołomia, and Kowala. The German invasion in September 1939 marked the beginning of a five-year occupation which brought about radical changes in the system of governing the region. Self-government was abolished and the local administration, staffed by Poles, became the lowest link in the German power structure. The Germans pursued their strategic aims in political, social and economic terms. They exploited the enforced loyalty of commune administrations, which were given tasks requiring them to be fully available. Among other things, this included the provision of obligatory quotas of agricultural and livestock produce, the procurement of labour for the Third Reich, and the rationing of food and industrial goods. Actions of this kind provoked resistance among the population. Resistance to the occupation and loss of their own country was expressed in the development of the resistance movement: the Union of Armed Struggle (later renamed as the Home Army) and the underground peasant movement, which particularly thrived in this part of Poland.