Kętrzyn

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Kętrzyn
Coat of arms of Kętrzyn
Kętrzyn (Poland)
Kętrzyn
Kętrzyn
Basic data
State : Poland
Voivodeship : Warmia-Masuria
Powiat : Kętrzyn
Area : 10.34  km²
Geographic location : 54 ° 5 '  N , 21 ° 23'  E Coordinates: 54 ° 5 '0 "  N , 21 ° 23' 0"  E
Height : 105 m npm
Residents : 27,212
(Jun. 30, 2019)
Postal code : 11-400 to 11-409
Telephone code : (+48) 89
License plate : NKE
Economy and Transport
Street : DW591 Michałkowo - Mrągowo
DW592 Bartoszyce - Giżycko
DW594 Bisztynek -Kętrzyn
Rail route : Ełk – Korsze
Next international airport : Danzig
Kaliningrad
Gmina
Gminatype: Borough
Surface: 10.34 km²
Residents: 27,212
(Jun. 30, 2019)
Population density : 2632 inhabitants / km²
Community number  ( GUS ): 2808011
Administration (as of 2020)
Mayor : Ryszard Niedziółka
Address: ul. Wojska Polskiego 11
11-400 Kętrzyn
Website : www.ketrzyn.com.pl



Kętrzyn  [ ˈkɛnʧɨn ] ( German Rastenburg ) is a district town in the Polish Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship . Please click to listen!Play

The place is known among other things for its horse breeding ; Rastenburg Castle is one of the sights . In 1940 the Wolfsschanze headquarters was built near the city .

Geographical location

Kętrzyn is located in the historical province of East Prussia , about 65 kilometers (as the crow flies) northeast of the city of Allenstein ( Olsztyn ). The urban area extends over hilly terrain.

climate

month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Average
temperature [° C] 		−6 −5 1 8th 13 16 17th 17th 13 8th 1 −3

history

German medal

City center
town hall
Inner courtyard of the Ordensburg

In 1329 the Balga Commandery of the Teutonic Order took over a wooden Prussian fortress to rest and a religious house was built above the Guber . In 1399 the place is mentioned as Rastekaym. The name is derived from the Prussian “raistan” (moss break) / “rast” (pile) and “caymis, keims” (village) and freely translated means pile dwelling village in the moss break. The castle Rastenburg , as border guards protection against the attacks of the Lithuanians should grant was only part of a chain of castles that of Ragnit about Insterburg up to Olsztyn and Osterode led.

In 1345 and 1347 the Lithuanians under Algirdas and Kęstutis attacked the new castle, plundered it and burned it down. The rhyming chronicle of Wigand von Marburg contains lamentations about the events of that time.

Due to the extremely favorable location for the order, the castle was rebuilt every time. The new order house received a particularly beautiful gate, the remter was painted after the model of the Marienburg. In 1350 a defensive wall was built. In 1357 the town was granted city rights by the Komtur von Balga, Henning Schindekopf . In 1370 the village was already too small and a new town was built. The castle was subsequently the seat of a keeper of the Balga Commandery. From 1410 the keeper was under the directorship of the Grand Master with responsibility for the administration of the areas of Rastenburg, Rhine and Leunenburg , with the brief exception of the years 1418–1422, when the castle belonged to the Rhine Commandery. Michael Küchmeister von Sternberg (Hochmeister from 1414) and Paul von Rußdorf (Hochmeister from 1422) were carers in the Rastenburg. The latter even asked the convent of the order to have the Rastenburg with the vineyards available at that time as a treasure trove; because back then, as in the areas of Leunenburg, Rhine, Hohenrade in the Königsberg district, in Tapiau and also near Thorn, wine was grown. In 1440 Rastenburg joined the “ Prussian Confederation ”.

At the beginning of the war of estates (1454–1466) the citizens were on the side of the Prussian Confederation and against the order that had holed up in the Rastenburg. In 1461 an armistice was signed and in the Peace of Thorn in 1466 Rastenburg returned to the order.

Prussia

Regimental memorial in front of the castle (1926)

The oldest Prussian regiment was garrisoned in Rastenburg, the grenadier regiment "King Friedrich the Great" (3rd East Prussian) No. 4 , founded in 1626 .

Until the middle of the 17th century, Rastenburg was the third richest town in (East) Prussia after Königsberg and Memel with a taxable fortune that comprised 1067 Hufen (approx. 16.5 hectares each). However , the wealth was lost due to natural disasters, city fires and looting in the wars of the post-order period and the Great Plague . In 1698, Rastenburg was only ranked sixth on the duchy's property list. However, the city was fortunate that the fortifications withstood the onslaught of the Tartars in 1656 and that the great plague of 1709–1711 spared the inhabitants.

On August 3, 1829, the city of Rastenburg celebrated its five hundredth anniversary. On this occasion, an elementary school sponsored by the municipal authorities was opened on the outer Königsberg suburb for the children of the families living there.

Since the beginning of the 18th century, the Rastenburg district , which was created by changing the administrative structure, was headed by a district administrator . It comprised the main offices of Bartenstein , Rastenburg, Barten and the Gerdauen inheritance office . The district division, which was valid until 1945, was essentially based on the great Prussian administrative reform of 1818.

The Masonic Lodge Three Gates of the Temple was founded in Rastenburg in 1818 and was part of the Great National Mother Lodge "To the Three Worlds" . It existed until 1935. It built the lodge building that still exists today .

In 1865 a private institution for the mentally ill was founded in Rastenburg, which in 1908 was taken over into the administration of the Provincial Association of East Prussia. From then on it was called the Provincial Institute for the Imbecile . On January 1, 1928, 654 patients were housed there (another 110 patients were in family care), who were cared for by two doctors and 76 nurses. In 1934 the number of sick people was reduced and some of the patients were transferred to the Tapiau Provincial Sanatorium . So far nothing has been known about the further fate of the institution, the patients or the subsequent use of the building.

In the years 1867/68 Rastenburg was connected to the network of the East Prussian Southern Railway by the Königsberg – Lyck railway line . To further develop the surrounding area, the Rastenburg – Sensburg – Lötzener Kleinbahnen were built from 1898 onwards . In 1907/08 the Prussian State Railroad built the lines to Angerburg and Heilsberg .

The Rastenburg houses were covered with red bricks, which is why the saying “It glows like a Rastenburger” goes back.

During World War I , Rastenburg was occupied by Russian forces for almost two weeks . But there was only minor damage; only the officers' mess burned down.

Second world war and end of war

Wojciech Kętrzyński monument

From September 1940, not far from Rastenburg near the small town of Görlitz (Gierłoż) , the Wolfsschanze headquarters was set up in preparation for the war in the east under the greatest of secrecy , pretending to build facilities for the Askania chemical works. From June 24, 1941 to November 30, 1944, Hitler stayed in Wolfsschanze for around 800 days. On January 24, 1945, the entire facility was blown up by German engineers . The remains of Wolfsschanze are now an open-air museum .

Until 1945 the city belonged together with the district of Rastenburg to the administrative district of Königsberg in the province of East Prussia of the German Empire .

Towards the end of the Second World War , the occupation by the Red Army took place in the spring of 1945, after which the city with the southern half of East Prussia came under Polish administration. As far as the German city dwellers had not fled, they were expelled from Rastenburg in the following period and replaced by immigrating Poles .

On May 7, 1946, the Polish administration chose a new name for the city, which they had previously called Rastembork in Polish . It has now been named after Wojciech Kętrzyński (1838-1918), a Polish nationalist historian. His original name was Adalbert von Winkler and the son of a Prussian gendarme. He later took the family name of his ancestors and was now called Wojciech Kętrzyński. For many years he worked as a scientist at the Ossolinski Institute in Lemberg .

Churches

The former “German” St. George's Church is the city's landmark, visible from afar. Emblematic -  Masuria under the protection of the Teutonic Order  - stands the (Protestant) "Masurian" St. John's Church behind the choir of St. George's Church. The Johanneskirche is an unadorned building without a tower. Its foundations date from the 15th century. It is the parish church for a district with five branch churches in the diocese of Masuria .

schools

School in Kętrzyn

In terms of education, Rastenburg ranked first among the East Prussian cities. With the grammar school founded in 1546, known as the Herzog-Albrechts-Schule since 1905 , the city had one of the oldest grammar schools in East Prussia . In addition to this grammar school and secondary school, there was a city vocational school, a state-recognized city housekeeping school, a city trade and higher trade school , two city elementary schools and an agricultural school . In 1908 the Hindenburg School was set up, which had emerged from the secondary school for girls that had branched off from the city school in 1897 . In 1909, the municipal authorities decided to expand it into an upper lyceum. Foreign languages ​​were English and French . After the establishment of the upper school, the first 26 students passed the Abitur in 1928 . In that year 399 students attended the school.

Demographics

Population development
year Residents Notes and sources
1782 0> 2,000 without the garrison (staff and five companies of an infantry regiment)
1802 > 02,202
1810 > 02,429
1816 > 02,729 including 2,547 Protestants, 130 Catholics and 49 Jews
1821 > 03,195
1831 > 03,557
1858 > 04,769 of which 4,686 Evangelicals and 83 Catholics (no Jews)
1875 > 06.102
1880 > 06,534
1885 > 07,189
1890 > 07,304
1905 > 11,889 907 Catholics and 138 Jews
1910 > 12,030
1925 > 13,859 thereof 12,720 Evangelicals, 855 Catholics, eight other Christians and 109 Jews
1933 > 16,021 14,673 Protestants, 1,139 Catholics, one other Christian and 102 Jews
1939 > 17,247 15,254 Protestants, 1,435 Catholics, 224 other Christians and 29 Jews
1995 > 30,239
2000 > 28,861
2005 > 28,103

Horse breeding

Rastenburg was known among horse lovers for its state stud which, along with those in Braunsberg , Marienwerder and Georgenburg and the main stud in Trakehnen, played a key role in the success of East Prussian warmblood breeding. It was located east of the Oberteich near the intersection of the roads to Lötzen and Barten and was established in 1877. The stud was no longer subordinate to the state stable master in Trakehnen, even if it got its stallion stock from Trakehnen, but was supposed to independently supply the south-eastern part of the province with state stallions. In 1938 there were 113 warmblood stallions and 4 thoroughbred stallions that covered 7,078 mares in that year (of 43,856 in all of East Prussia). Only a few animals could be saved in the west of the Reich before the Red Army conquered East Prussia . The approx. 100 stallions, who were initially housed in the studs near Dresden and Halle (Saale) , soon set out for Russia after the Soviet occupation .

Sports

The students from the Herzog-Albrechts-Schule were well represented in the ice hockey teams of the Athletics Club and the Rastenburg Sports Club. The VfL Rastenburg took in 1930, 1933 and 1934, the SV Rastenburg 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938 and 1939 at the German championships. The VfL team was 4th in the German ice hockey championship in 1933 and won a game against the Canadian national ice hockey team in 1934 .

traffic

Rastenburg was railway - transportation hub with routes Glommen-Białystok and Rastenburg-Angerburg . In addition, the Kętrzyn station was the starting point for the Rastenburg small railways .

coat of arms

Blazon : "A black bear in silver on green ground between three fir trees."

The SIGILLVM SIVITATIS DE RASTENBORC, documented in 1405, has only the striding bear in the latticed field. So also a seal used in 1440, in which the bear and above him a small cross in the covered field. But as late as the 15th century, the vines turned into strong trees. For example, a seal dated November 26, 1686, which is remarkable because of its date.

Town twinning

Kętrzyn maintains the following cities partnerships :

Personalities

sons and daughters of the town

Sorted by year of birth

Personalities associated with the city

Rural community

The city of Kętrzyn is the administrative seat of the rural municipality of the same name (gmina wiejska) Kętrzyn, but it does not belong to it as an independent municipality. On June 30, 2019, the rural community had a total of 8170 inhabitants on an area of ​​285.73 km² and is divided into 23 districts with a total of 80 villages.

literature

  • Adam Huldreich Schaffer and others: Description of the castle and the city of Rastenburg . In: Erleutertes Preußen , Volume 33, Königsberg 1726, pp. 655–694.
  • Johann Friedrich Goldbeck : Complete topography of the Kingdom of Prussia . Part I: Topography of East Prussia . Königsberg / Leipzig 1785, p. 18, No. 4.
  • August Eduard Preuss : Prussian country and folklore or description of Prussia. A manual for primary school teachers in the province of Prussia, as well as for all friends of the fatherland . Bornträger Brothers, Königsberg 1835, p. 513, no.109.
  • Daniel Heinrich Arnoldt : Brief messages from all preachers who have admitted to the Lutheran churches in East Prussia since the Reformation . Königsberg 1777, pp. 254-264.
  • Martin Modricker (Ed.): Rastenburg. Chronicle of the district and town. Self-published by the Vereinigung der Rastenburger, without giving the year and location (after 1945), printed by Theodor Oppermann Verlag, Hannover-Kirchrode.

Web links

Commons : Kętrzyn  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Rastenburg in the Topographia Electoratus Brandenburgici et Ducatus Pomeraniae (Matthäus Merian)  - sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b population. Size and Structure by Territorial Division. As of June 30, 2019. Główny Urząd Statystyczny (GUS) (PDF files; 0.99 MiB), accessed December 24, 2019 .
  2. ↑ [1] , accessed on May 30, 2020
  3. ↑ http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php3?s=121850&refer=&units=metric
  4. ^ Georg Hermanowski: East Prussia Lexicon. Adam Kraft Verlag, Mannheim 1980, p. 245; Georg Gerullis: The old Prussian place names. Berlin / Leipzig 1922, p. 139.
  5. ^ Roscius: About the jubilation of the city of Rastenburg on August 3, 1829 . In: Preußische Provinzialblätter , Volume 2, Königsberg 1829, pp. 436–438.
  6. ^ The five hundredth anniversary of the city of Rastenburg, celebrated on August 3, 1829 . In: Preußische Provinzialblätter , Volume 2, Königsberg 1829, pp. 380–392.
  7. ↑ Hans Laehr: The asylums for the mentally ill, the mentally ill, the feeble-minded, epilepsy, drunkards etc. in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Berlin / Leipzig 1929, p. 96.
  8. ↑ Sächsisches Staatsarchiv Leipzig, inventory 20047, Altscherbitz State Institute No. 9147
  9. ^ Wiesław Roman Gogan, Kulturzentrum Ostpreußen , Ellingen (ed.): Rastenburg in the past. History of the city. Self-published by Kulturzentrum Ostpreußen, Ellingen 2013, p. 47.
  10. ^ Rudolf Grenz (district community Rastenburg): The district of Rastenburg . Marburg 1976, p. 255.
  11. ^ Johann Friedrich Goldbeck : Complete topography of the Kingdom of Prussia . Part I: Topography of East Prussia . Königsberg / Leipzig 1785, p. 18, No. 4.
  12. ↑ a b c d Alexander August Mützell, Leopold Krug : New topographical-statistical-geographical dictionary of the Prussian state . Volume 5: T-Z. Halle 1823, pp. 362–363, item 567.
  13. ^ August Eduard Preuss : Prussian country and folklore or description of Prussia. A manual for primary school teachers in the province of Prussia, as well as for all friends of the fatherland . Bornträger Brothers, Königsberg 1835, p. 513, no.109.
  14. ↑ Adolf Schlott: Topographical-statistical overview of the government district of Königsberg, based on official sources . Hartung, Königsberg 1861, p. 210, point 200.
  15. ↑ a b c d e f Michael Rademacher: German administrative history from the unification of the empire in 1871 to the reunification in 1990. East Prussia: Rastenburg district. (Online material for the dissertation, Osnabrück 2006).
  16. ^ Meyer's Large Conversational Lexicon . 6th edition, Volume 16, Leipzig / Vienna 1909, p. 612.
  17. ↑ a b c http://www.stat.gov.pl/
  18. ^ Ice hockey East Prussia
  19. ↑ Erich Keyser : German city book - manual urban history, Volume I Northeast Germany. W. Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart 1939, pp. 97-99.
  20. ^ Otto Hupp : German coat of arms. Published in 1925 by Kaffee-Handels-Aktiengesellschaft Bremen.
  21. ↑ DBE, 2nd edition, Volume 5, p. 413.
  22. ↑ DBE, 2nd edition, Volume 5, p. 132