During the German invasion of Poland, which started World War II, the Germans executed 29 Poles, including two families on September 9–10, 1939. Łęczyca was then occupied by Nazi Germany and incorporated into the region known as Reichsgau Wartheland as part of the district ("kreis") of Lentschütz (Germanized word for 'Łęczyca'). The Germans expelled 330 Poles from the town in December 1939. Further expulsions of Poles were carried out in 1940. Poles were deported to a transit camp in nearby Ozorków, and afterwards young people were deported from the camp to forced labour in Germany, and children and older people were deported to the General Government (German-occupied central Poland), while their homes, shops and workshops were handed over to German colonists as part of the "Lebensraum" policy. In January 1942 there was a forced labor camp operating in or near the town.