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Kętrzyn
Kętrzyn (, until 1946 ''Rastembork''; german: link=yes, Rastenburg ) is a town in northeastern Poland with 27,478 inhabitants (2019). Situated in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship (since 1999), Kętrzyn was previously in Olsztyn Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is the capital of Kętrzyn County. The town was named after historian Wojciech Kętrzyński in 1946. The first settlement was established in 1329 and Rastenburg was granted town rights and privileges in 1357. Over the centuries it was part of the Teutonic State, Poland and East Prussia in Germany. The town is known for the surrounding Masurian Lakeland and numerous monuments of historical value such as the Wolf's Lair in nearby Gierłoż, where an assassination attempt against Hitler was made in 1944. History The original inhabitants of the region were the Balt tribe of the Aesti, mentioned by Tacitus in his ''Germania'' (AD 98). The town, known in German as ''Rastenburg'' and in Polish as ''Rastembork'', was establi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kętrzyn County
__NOTOC__ Kętrzyn County ( pl, powiat kętrzyński) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, northern Poland, on the border with Russia. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its administrative seat and largest town is Kętrzyn (former Rastembork), which lies north-east of the regional capital Olsztyn. The county also contains the towns of Reszel, lying west of Kętrzyn, and Korsze, north-west of Kętrzyn. The county covers an area of . As of 2006 its total population is 66,165, out of which the population of Kętrzyn is 28,000, that of Reszel is 5,098, that of Korsze is 4,632, and the rural population is 28,435. Neighbouring counties Kętrzyn County is bordered by Węgorzewo County and Giżycko County to the east, Mrągowo County to the south, and Olsztyn County and Bartoszyce County to the west. It also borders Russia (Kaliningrad Oblast) to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gierłoż, Kętrzyn County
Gierłoż (pronounced (German: ''Görlitz in Ostpreußen'') is a small village in the administrative district of Gmina Kętrzyn, within Kętrzyn County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in north-east Poland. It lies approximately east of Kętrzyn and north-east of the regional capital Olsztyn. It is located in the historic region of Masuria. The village has a population of 24. History In 1454 King Casimir IV Jagiellon incorporated the village and region to the Kingdom of Poland upon the request of the Prussian Confederation, and after the subsequent Thirteen Years’ War (1454–1466) it was part of Poland as a fief held by the Teutonic Knights. From the 18th century it was part of the Kingdom of Prussia, and from 1871 to 1945 it was part of Germany, administratively located in the province of East Prussia. During World War II, Adolf Hitler's military headquarters from June 21, 1941 to November 20, 1944 were situated here in a bunker, called the Wolf's Lair The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wolf's Lair
The ''Wolf's Lair'' (german: Wolfsschanze; pl, Wilczy Szaniec) served as Adolf Hitler's first Eastern Front military headquarters in World War II. The headquarters was located in the Masurian woods, near the small village of Görlitz in Ostpreußen (now Gierłoż), about 8 kilometres (5 miles) east of the small East Prussian town of Rastenburg (now Kętrzyn), in present-day Poland. Being one of the most heavily guarded places in the world, the central complex and the ''Führer'''s bunker was surrounded by three security zones guarded by two SS units: the '' SS-Begleitkommando des Führers'', and the '' Reichssicherheitsdienst''. The ''Wehrmacht''s armoured '' Führerbegleitbrigade'' was held in readiness nearby but, as a part of the '' Heer'''s elite ''Großdeutschland'' Division, was used to counter-attack Red Army break-throughs in Army Group Centre's front and rescue cut-off ''Heer'', ''Luftwaffe'' '' Fallschirmjager'' and SS panzer troops. The most notable event th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship
Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship or Warmia-Masuria Province or Warmia-Mazury Province (in pl, Województwo warmińsko-mazurskie, is a voivodeship (province) in northeastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Olsztyn. The voivodeship has an area of and a population of 1,425,967 (as of 2019). The Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship was created on 1 January 1999, from the entire Olsztyn Voivodeship, the western half of Suwałki Voivodeship and part of Elbląg Voivodeship, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998. The province's name derives from two historic regions, Warmia and Masuria. The province borders the Podlaskie Voivodeship to the east, the Masovian Voivodeship to the south, the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship to the south-west, the Pomeranian Voivodeship to the west, the Vistula Lagoon to the northwest, and the Kaliningrad Oblast (an exclave of Russia) to the north. Its borders largely overlap with the southern two-thirds of former East Prussia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wojciech Kętrzyński
Wojciech Kętrzyński (born Adalbert von Winkler; 11 July 1838 – 15 January 1918), was a Polish historian and the director of the Ossolineum Library in Lemberg, then the capital of Galicia, Austrian Empire. He focused on Polish history at a time when Poland was partitioned between foreign powers. He opposed the idea of Germanization and assisted in the January Uprising for Poland's cause. In 1861 he legally changed his name and became a Polish national. Biography The Kętrzyński-family is of Kashubian origin and settled in Pomerania since the sixteenth century. In 1821 his father had changed his surname to "von Winkler", a direct translation of "Kętrzyński", while he served in the Prussian Army. After he left the military his father became a Prussian policeman (gendarm) at Lötzen in Masuria where he married a local German wife and died in 1846. Kętrzyński was born in Lötzen (Lec, modern Giżycko) as ''Adalbert von Winkler'', Province of Prussia, within the King ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East Prussia
East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label= Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's Free State of Prussia, until 1945. Its capital city was Königsberg (present-day Kaliningrad). East Prussia was the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast. The bulk of the ancestral lands of the Baltic Old Prussians were enclosed within East Prussia. During the 13th century, the native Prussians were conquered by the crusading Teutonic Knights. After the conquest the indigenous Balts were gradually converted to Christianity. Because of Germanization and colonisation over the following centuries, Germans became the dominant ethnic group, while Masurians and Lithuanians formed minorities. From the 13th century, East Prussia was part of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
20 July Plot
On 20 July 1944, Claus von Stauffenberg and other conspirators attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of Nazi Germany, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia, now Kętrzyn, in present-day Poland. The name "Operation Valkyrie"—originally referring to part of the conspiracy—has become associated with the entire event. The apparent aim of the assassination attempt was to wrest political control of Germany and its armed forces from the Nazi Party (including the SS) and to make peace with the Western Allies as soon as possible. The details of the conspirators' peace initiatives remain unknown, but they would have included unrealistic demands for the confirmation of Germany's extensive annexations of European territory. The plot was the culmination of efforts by several groups in the German resistance to overthrow the Nazi German government. The failure of the assassination attempt and the intended military , or putsch, that was to f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prussian Confederation
The Prussian Confederation (german: Preußischer Bund, pl, Związek Pruski) was an organization formed on 21 February 1440 at Kwidzyn (then officially ''Marienwerder'') by a group of 53 nobles and clergy and 19 cities in Prussia, to oppose the arbitrariness of the Teutonic Knights. It was based on an earlier similar organization, the Lizard Union established in 1397 by the nobles of Chełmno Land. In 1454, the leader of the Confederation, Johannes von Baysen (Jan Bażyński), formally asked King Casimir IV Jagiellon, to incorporate Prussia into the Kingdom of Poland. This marked the beginning of the Thirteen Years' War between the Order's State and Poland, with the cities co-financing the military costs of the latter. Background According to the 1411 First Peace of Thorn which followed the Teutonic Knights' defeat in the Battle of Grunwald, the Teutonic Order had to pay high reparations to the Kingdom of Poland. The monastic state imposed high taxes on the cities to ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henning Schindekop
Henning Schindekop (also Schindekopf) (ca. 1330 – 17 February 1370) was a high-ranking official of the Teutonic Knights. A native of Westphalia in the Holy Roman Empire, Schindekop was mentioned as a Teutonic brother in Königsberg in 1348. Two years later he was documented as the Komtur of Ragnit (Neman) and participated in campaigns against Samogitia and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Schindekop was appointed Komtur of Balga in 1354, a position which allowed him to grant town rights to Rastenburg (Kętrzyn) in 1357. Grand Master Winrich von Kniprode promoted Schindekop to the positions of Ordensmarschall and Komtur of Königsberg in 1359 or 1360. Schindekop died from a spear-wound during the Battle of Rudau in 1370; Hans von Sagan allegedly rallied the Teutonic forces to victory after Schindekop fell in combat. A monument was built where he fell at Rudau to commemorate Schindekop. Quednau Church contained armor which allegedly belonged to him. The street Schindekop-S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Polish Counties
__NOTOC__ The following is an alphabetical list of all 380 county-level entities in Poland. A county or powiat (pronounced ''povyat'') is the second level of Polish administrative division, between the voivodeship (provinces) and the gmina (municipalities or communes; plural "gminy"). The list includes the 314 "land counties" (''powiaty ziemskie'') and the 66 "city counties" (''miasta na prawach powiatu'' or ''powiaty grodzkie''). For general information about these entities, see the article on powiats. The following information is given in the list: *English name (as used in Wikipedia) *Polish name (does not apply to most city counties, since these are not translated). Note that sometimes two different counties have the same name in Polish (for example, Brzeg County and Brzesko County both have the original name ''powiat brzeski''). *County seat (not given in the case of city counties, as the seat is simply the city itself). Note that sometimes the seat is not part of the count ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polish Car Number Plates
Vehicle registration plates of Poland indicate the region of registration of the vehicle given the number plate. According to Polish law, the registration plate is tied to the vehicle, not the owner. There is no possibility for the owner to keep the licence number for use on a different car, even if it's a cherished registration. The licence plates are issued by the powiat (county) of the vehicle owner's registered address of residence, in the case of a natural person. If it is owned by a legal person, the place of registration is determined by his/her address. Vehicles leased under operating leases and many de facto finance leases will be registered at the address of the lessor. When a vehicle changes hands, the new owner must apply for new vehicle registration document bearing his or her name and registered address. The new owner may obtain a new licence plate although it is not necessary when the new owner's residence address is in the same district as the previous owner's. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Masurian Lakeland
The Masurian Lake District or Masurian Lakeland ( pl, Pojezierze Mazurskie; german: Masurische Seenplatte) is a lake district in northeastern Poland within the geographical region of Masuria, in the past inhabited by Masurians who spoke the Masurian dialect. It contains more than 2,000 lakes. The district had been elected as one of the 28 finalists of the New 7 Wonders of Nature. The Lakeland extends roughly 290 km (180 mi) eastwards from the lower Vistula to the Poland–Russia border, and occupies an area of roughly . Administratively, the Lake District lies within the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. Small parts of the district lie within the Masovian and Podlaskie Voivodeships. The lakes are well connected by rivers and canals, forming an extensive system of waterways. The 18th-century Masurian Canal links this system to the Baltic Sea. The whole area is a prime tourist destination, frequented by boating enthusiasts, canoeists, anglers, hikers, bikers and nature ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
