Pasłęk (pronounced ; formerly known in Polish as Holąd Pruski, , Old Prussian: ''Pāistlauks'', lt, Paslenkas) is a historic town in northern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, within Elbląg County in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. In 2017, the town had 12,298 registered inhabitants.

History

The oldest record of the name of the Pasłęk territory appears as ''Pozolucensis provincia'' in a petition of Polish Dominicans to

Pope Gregory IX Pope Gregory IX ( la, Gregorius IX; born Ugolino di Conti; c. 1145 or before 1170 – 22 August 1241) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 March 1227 until his death in 1241. He is known for issuing the '' Decre ...

from 1231. Later in the 13th and 14th century the settlement was mentioned in documents as ''Pazluch'', ''Pazlok'', ''Paslok''. In 1393 it was mentioned by a ''frater Heinricus de Castro alias Pasloci''. Pasłęk is one of two historic Polish names of the town and it derives from the Old Prussian place name ''Passis Lukis''. The second name is Holąd Pruski. The town in the place of the old settlement was founded by settlers imported from

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former Provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...

by the

Teutonic Order The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...

in the late 13th century — hence the name ''Hollant'' or ''Holland'', later changed to ''Preußisch Holland'', by adding the

adjective In linguistics, an adjective ( abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ...

''Preußisch'' meaning "Prussian". It is the oldest former Dutch settlement in present-day Poland. It is located in the Prussian historical region of

Pogesania Pogesanians were a Prussian tribe, which lived in the region of Pogesania ( pl, Pogezania; lt, Pagudė; german: Pogesanien; la, Pogesania), a small territory stretched between the Elbląg and Pasłęka rivers, now located in the Warmian-Masuria ...

. After the Polish victory at the

Battle of Grunwald The Battle of Grunwald, Battle of Žalgiris or First Battle of Tannenberg was fought on 15 July 1410 during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. The alliance of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led respec ...

in 1410, the castle was plundered by the retreating

Teutonic Knights The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians o ...

. Then it was taken over by Poles without a fight. In 1440 the town joined the

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 ...

, at the request of which King Casimir IV Jagiellon signed the act of incorporation of the region to the Kingdom of Poland in 1454. The town joined Poland and recognized Polish rule. During the subsequent Thirteen Years’ War (1454–1466) it was briefly captured by the Teutonic Knights, but in 1456 it returned to Poland. The town was successfully defended against the Teutonic Knights in 1463 and 1466. After the

peace treaty A peace treaty is an agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually countries or governments, which formally ends a state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice, which is an agreement to stop hostilities; a surre ...

signed in

Toruń )'' , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_flag = POL Toruń flag.svg , image_shield = POL Toruń COA.svg , nickname = City of Angels, Gingerbread city, Copernicus Town , pushpin_map = Kuyavian-Pom ...

in 1466, the town became part of Poland as a

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...

held by the Teutonic Order's state. During the last Polish–Teutonic War, which broke out after the newly chosen Grand Master of the Teutonic Order refused to submit to the Crown of Poland, the town was captured and held by the Poles from 1520 until the dissolution of the Teutonic state in 1525. Afterwards it became part of the secular

Duchy of Prussia The Duchy of Prussia (german: Herzogtum Preußen, pl, Księstwo Pruskie, lt, Prūsijos kunigaikštystė) or Ducal Prussia (german: Herzogliches Preußen, link=no; pl, Prusy Książęce, link=no) was a duchy in the region of Prussia establish ...

, a Polish fief until 1657. In 1526 a Lutheran parish was founded. In 1534 a town school was established. In 1627 the town was captured by the Swedes and the next year it was captured by the Poles. In 1635, peace negotiations between

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

took place in the town. In 1655 it was captured again by the Swedes. In 1659 it was besieged by Sweden again, but this time without success. It was the location of " The Great Sleigh Drive", a military operation in 1678. In 1688 a horse post service connecting Marienburg ( Malbork) with Königsberg (

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...

) was led through the town. Between 1758 and 1762 it was under Russian occupation.''Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom III'', p. 98 In 1807 it was captured by Napoleonic troops. French troops were stationed in the town in 1807 and 1812. In 1818 Preußisch Holland became the

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair, a chair ...

of the district or county (''landkreis'') of the same name. In 1831 the town suffered a flood. Part of the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...

since 1701, it became part of the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

in 1871. Following the defeat of Germany in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and the Versailles Treaty the town remained the seat of Landkreis Preußisch Holland within Weimar Germany's exclave

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 187 ...

. With the arrival of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

on January 23, 1945, and the end of the war, Preußisch Holland became part of the

People's Republic of Poland The Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million ne ...

. It was handed over to Polish administration on June 1, 1945 and renamed to the historic name ''Pasłęk'' on 7 May 1946. The remaining ethnic Germans were expelled in accordance with the

Potsdam Agreement The Potsdam Agreement (german: Potsdamer Abkommen) was the agreement between three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union on 1 August 1945. A product of the Potsdam Conference, it concerned th ...

in several transports within the following year, e.g. 149 people on 4 September and 89 on 4 October 1947. A transport of 80 children from an orphanage, many of them survivors of the Grünhagen railway accident or wartime evacuees, left in May 1947. As of 1950, 373 pre-war inhabitants lived in the area, a number reduced to 20 in 1958. The town was repopulated by

Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in ...

, many of whom displaced from the former eastern territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union. In 1969, the "Pasłęczanka" Housing Cooperative was founded, which built the "Osiedle Ogrodowa" district. In 1975 an economic and technical school was opened.

Sights

Among the historic heritage of Pasłęk are: *medieval town walls with the Stone Gate (''Brama Kamienna'') and Mill Gate (''Brama Młyńska'') *

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

town hall (''Ratusz'') *Gothic St. Bartholomew Church *Pasłęk Castle *

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

Saint George church *Water tower *

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

Church of the Nativity of Mary *Old townhouses SM Pasłek Brama Młyńska (1) ID 645082.jpg, Mill Gate (''Brama Młyńska'') SM Pasłęk Ratusz (3) ID 645083.jpg, Gothic town hall (''Ratusz'') Pasłęk kościół św. bartłomieja.JPG, St. Bartholomew Church SM Pasłek Zamek (0) ID 645081.jpg, Pasłęk Castle Wieża wodociągowa w Pasleku.JPG, Water tower Cerkiew paslek.JPG, Church of the Nativity of Mary

Transport

The Polish S7 expressway (highway), which is part of

European route E77 European route E 77 is a part of the inter-European road system. This Class A intermediate north–south route is long and it connects the Baltic Sea with the central part of the continent. History In the version of the E-road network e ...

, runs through the town, connecting it with

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula, Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland un ...

and the border with

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

at Chyżne. Also the Voivodeship roads (roads of regional importance) 505, 513, 526 and 527 run through the town. Also, a railway station is located in Pasłęk.

Sports

The town's main sports club is Polonia Pasłęk with

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

and

kickboxing Kickboxing is a combat sport focused on kicking and punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is practiced for self-defense, general ...

sections.

Twin towns

Pasłęk is twinned with: * Itzehoe,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

''(since 1990)'' *

La Couronne Fourteen ships of the French Navy or the Galley Corps (which was separate from the Navy) of the Ancien Régime or Empire have borne the name ''Couronne'' ("crown"): * , the first major warship to be built in France – actually launched in 1632/3 ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

''(since 1994)''

Notable residents

* Joachim Friedrich Henckel (1712–1779), Prussian surgeon * Victor Valois (1841-1924), German naval officer, Vice Admiral *

Hugo Erdmann Hugo Wilhelm Traugott Erdmann (8 May 1862 – 25 June 1910) was the German chemist who discovered, together with his doctoral advisor Jacob Volhard, the Volhard-Erdmann cyclization. In 1898 he was the first who coined the term ''noble gas'' (the ...

(1862–1910), German chemist * Max Liedtke (1894–1955), German journalist and Righteous Among the Nations * Lotte Laserstein (1898–1993), German-Swedish painter and portraitist * Dietmar Damerau (1935–2011), German artist * Hans Grodotzki (born 1936), East German long-distance runner * Bolesław Szymański (born 1950), Polish computer scientist * Katarzyna Ankudowicz (born 1981), Polish actress

References

External links

A directory of historical and recent photos of Preußich Holland/Pasłęk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paslek Cities and towns in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship Elbląg County