Prostki is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

Ełk County __NOTOC__ Ełk County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in the Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship, northern Poland. It came into being on 1 January 1999 as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed i ...

, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It is the seat of the

gmina The gmina (Polish: , plural ''gminy'' ) is the basic unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. , there were 2,479 gminy throughout the country, encompassing over 43,000 villages. 940 gminy include cities and tow ...

(administrative district) called Gmina Prostki. It lies approximately south of

Ełk Ełk is a city in northeastern Poland with 61,677 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is the seat of Ełk County in the Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship. It lies on the shore of Ełk Lake, which was formed by a glacier, and is surrounded by extensiv ...

and east of the regional capital

Olsztyn Olsztyn ( , ) is a city on the Łyna River in northern Poland. It is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with powiat rights, city with county rights. The population of the city was estimated at 169,793 residents Olsz ...

. It is situated on the Ełk River, in the historic region of

Masuria Masuria ( ; ; ) is an ethnographic and geographic region in northern and northeastern Poland, known for its 2,000 lakes. Masuria occupies much of the Masurian Lake District. Administratively, it is part of the Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship (ad ...

History

In 1656 the Battle of Prostki was fought nearby, during which Polish forces commanded by

Wincenty Korwin Gosiewski Wincenty Aleksander Korwin Gosiewski ''Armiger, de armis'' Ślepowron coat of arms, Ślepowron ( 1620 – 29 November 1662) – was a szlachta, Polish nobleman, general, Hetmans of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Lithuanian Field Hetman fr ...

defeated the combined Swedish- Brandenburgian forces. In the late 19th century, the village had an almost exclusively

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

population of 1,300. The populace was mostly employed in agriculture, while 150 people worked in reloading trains. Under

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, two labour camps of the

Reich Labour Service The Reich Labour Service (''Reichsarbeitsdienst''; RAD) was a major paramilitary organization established in Nazi Germany as an agency to help mitigate the effects of unemployment on the German economy, militarise the workforce and indoctrinate ...

were operated in the village. 130 Polish citizens were murdered by Nazi Germany in the village during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The Germans subjected Poles, French and

Italians Italians (, ) are a European peoples, European ethnic group native to the Italian geographical region. Italians share a common Italian culture, culture, History of Italy, history, Cultural heritage, ancestry and Italian language, language. ...

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...

in the village.

Sports

The local

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club is Pojezierze Prostki. It competes in the lower leagues.

Notable residents

* Ernst Meyer (1887–1930), German politician *

Michał Słoma Michał Słoma (born 31 January 1982 in Prostki, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Warmian-Masurian) is a Polish rower. He won a silver medal, as a member of Polish rowing team, in the men's quadruple sculls (5:55.09) at the 2009 European Rowing Champ ...

(born 1982), Polish rower

References

{{Authority control Populated riverside places in Poland Villages in Ełk County Sites of Nazi war crimes in Poland