Zbąszyń  Zbąszyń () is a town in western Poland, in Greater Poland Voivodeship, in Nowy Tomyśl County. It is the administrative seat of Gmina Zbąszyń. The town is situated on the Obra river in the Greater Poland historic region, about west of Poznań. Gmina Zbąszyń is part of the Polish-German Pomerania Euroregion  While the earliest mentions of the settlement date back to 1231, the name "Sbansin" first appeared in a 1277 deed, issued by Duke Przemysł I of Greater Poland at his Poznań residence. Its citizens received town privileges before 1311, making Zbąszyń one of the oldest towns in Poland. It was held by the Polish monarchs until in 1393 King Władysław II Jagiełło ceded it to his Masovian governor Jan Głowacz of Nałęcz. By the early 15th century, Zbąszyń evolved as a centre of the Greater Polish Hussite movement. As a result of the Second Partition of Poland in 1793 it became part of the Kingdom of Prussia and was administered within South Prussia. After the Napoleonic Wars, the town was within the Grand Duchy of Posen and later the Province of Posen. It became part of the German Empire in 1871. In 1918 it became part of the Second Polish Republic. During the interwar era (1918–1939) it was a town on the border with Germany. In 1938 the town’s population stood at 5,400 which included 360 Germans and 52 Jews. In October 1938 Nazi Germany decided to expel those German Jews who did not hold German citizenship or had it taken away, and who originally hailed from Poland. The Polenaktion began on October 27, 1938, as the Nazis began arresting Jews of Polish nationality in Germany with the intention of expelling them to Poland. The Nazis took this decision was the issuing of a decree by the Polish Ministry of the Interior on the 6 October 1938 which called for the passports of Polish citizens residing abroad would have to be checked and revalidated. A few days before that decree was to come into force, 17,000 German Jews that were or could be considered to be citizens of Poland were rounded up and unceremoniously dumped on the Polish border at Zbąszyń and other border towns.