Toprawa was the site of a suicidal infiltration mission by the Rebel Alliance, aimed at stealing and transmitting the plans to the first Death Star. Led by Bria Tharen, a former lover of Han Solo, the Red Hand Squadron infiltrated the Imperial facility on the surface and took control long enough to transmit the stolen plans to Princess Leia's Corellian Corvette, the Tantive IV. After the transmission was received, the Tantive IV made a hyperspace jump to Tatooine but was followed and captured by the Star Destroyer Devastator in the opening minutes of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Bria Tharen's team held out to complete their mission but were eventually overrun by brute force. Red Hand Squadron was utterly wiped out in the Imperial counterattack.
After the Empire secured the facility, and after the disaster at Yavin, the Empire cast about for a suitable way to express its anger. Yavin was devoid of human life, the Rebels elusive as ever, so they eventually decided to make an example of Toprawa, for its role in obtaining for the Rebels the fatal technical readout of the Death Star. Toprawa was leveled to the ground, its advanced (for a colony) civilization reduced to stone age level. The planet was occupied by multiple legions, and placed under a permanent blockade. Stormtroopers would parade vehicles full of food through the street, tossing the rubbish only to those Toprawans whose groveling and self-abasements amused them or seemed most sincere. Further twisting the dagger, the Imperial troops lived lives of stunning leisure and pleasure amidst the squalor, and made sure the natives knew full well what they were missing.
Tyria Sarkin, a pilot in Wraith Squadron, is from Toprawa
Read more about this topic: List Of Star Wars Planets (T–V)