Węgorzewo

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Węgorzewo
Coat of arms of Gmina Węgorzewo
Węgorzewo (Poland)
Węgorzewo
Węgorzewo
Basic data
State : Poland
Voivodeship : Warmia-Masuria
Powiat : Węgorzewo
Gmina : Węgorzewo
Area : 10.87  km²
Geographic location : 54 ° 13 ′  N , 21 ° 45 ′  E Coordinates: 54 ° 13 ′ 0 ″  N , 21 ° 45 ′ 0 ″  E
Residents : 11,328 (June 30, 2019)
Postal code : 11-600, 11-601
Telephone code : (+48) 87
License plate : NWE
Economy and Transport
Street : DK 63 : Perły ↔ Giżycko - Pisz - Łomża - Sławatycze / Belarus
Ext. 650 : ( Kętrzyn -) Stara Różanka ↔ Gołdap
Next international airport : Danzig
Kaliningrad



Węgorzewo [ vɛŋgɔˈʒɛvɔ ] ( German Angerburg , Lithuanian Ungura or Unguris ) is a town with about 11,300 inhabitants in the Polish Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship . It is the seat of the town-and-country municipality of the same name with 16,717 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2019).

The city is one of the centers in the Warmian-Masurian region. Their name is derived from the eels , old Prussian angurgis (Polish Węgorz , Lithuanian ungurys ), which were previously caught here in large numbers.

Geographical location

The place is located in the Masurian Lake District in historical East Prussia at the outflow of the Angerapp ( Węgorapa ) into the Mauersee ( Mamry ) or Schwenzaitsee , about 95 kilometers (as the crow flies) southeast of Königsberg ( Kaliningrad ) and 22 kilometers north of the city of Lötzen ( Giżycko ). The distance to the border of the Russian Kaliningrad Oblast in the north is 20 kilometers.

history

City center with parish church (Protestant until 1945)
Inner courtyard of the castle

Already in a chronicle from the year 1335 an "Angirburg" is mentioned, consisting of a log house, a palisade and a watchtower. In another document from 1341 it is reported that at the Angerburg twelve Prussians were rewarded by the order of knights for loyal service with land on the rivers Worape and Angrabe ( Angerapp ) . In 1363 the Lithuanian Grand Duke Kynstudt destroyed the Angerburg, but thirty years later the order of knights built a new castle, this time made of stone. It should serve the further development of the country.

At the end of the 15th century, the area around the Angerburg was already settled. Agriculture was carried out and the Mauersee and Schwenzaitsee were dammed for the construction of a water mill . Around 1510 a village had developed near the castle, the name of which is alternately mentioned as Neudorf or Gerothwol. After the founding of the Duchy of Prussia , the Angerburg became the seat of the governor. In 1571 Duke Albrecht granted the town town charter at the request of its residents and determined that the town should in future be called Angerburg. In a major fire in 1608, large parts of the city were destroyed, including the wooden church built in 1528 and the twenty-year-old town hall.

Angerburg 1684 ( Christoph Hartknoch )
Historical view of Angerburg
Historical view of the New Market in Angerburg
Old aerial photo of the old town of Angerburg, front right the new market, back right the Kirchberg surrounded by linden trees
View of the city from the Angerapp towards the Mauersee
Węgorzewo, Ulica Zamkowa (Castle Street)

In the following decades the city suffered from the Swedish-Polish war , the Tatar invasions and several plague epidemics , most recently in 1710. The city only experienced a boom again when Angerburg was declared a garrison town in 1718. A port was built on the Angerapp to promote the economy, in 1740 the city received a water supply system and the garrison built ten barracks. At that time, Angerburg had around 1,800 inhabitants. After that, the residents suffered again from the armed conflicts. During the Seven Years' War , Russian troops occupied the city; in the Napoleonic Wars , the Russians first brought in typhus , then the French and Poles plundered the city.

In 1818 Angerburg became the district town of the district of the same name in East Prussia. In 1820 there was again a positive development for the city, a teachers' seminar and a school for the deaf and mute were opened. The population rose to 3,500. The canalization of the Angerapp and the expansion of the port in 1856 allowed the city's industry to expand further. However, the city had to accept that the garrison was relocated in 1858. The district court and the public prosecutor's office also moved away from Angerburg because the district council prevented the city from being connected to the newly emerging road network and the railway. It was only when a railway connection was finally created in 1898 that Angerburg was able to establish itself as a trading center. The city gained great importance through the establishment of the Bethesda home for the disabled, through which it became known throughout Germany and Europe. The newspaper “Bote am Mauersee” was published by the Priddat publishing house, founded in 1842. In 1886 a second printing company was founded, which from 1905 on published the “Angerburger Kreiszeitung”. These two newspapers were forcibly merged in 1936.

Shortly before the beginning of the First World War , Angerburg became a garrison town again. At this point the population had risen to 5,800. During the Battle of the Masurian Lakes in September 1914, fierce fighting broke out around Angerburg. The German-Russian military cemetery Jägerhöhe is located near Angerburg . The war did not affect the city much, and after its end it grew with new settlements. With the start of regular shipping on the Angerapp, a new branch of the economy emerged with tourism.

When the National Socialists came to power in 1933, 7,700 people lived in the city, which initially benefited from the entry of a cavalry regiment. Angerburg continued to grow through incorporation, and the last German census in 1939 determined 9,846 inhabitants.

When the Red Army approached towards the end of the Second World War , Angerburg, unlike the neighboring town of Gołdap to the east , was not defended by the German Wehrmacht, but rather abandoned by them in the course of straightening the front . This enabled the German civilian population to flee more quickly than elsewhere. Since the Red Army had already advanced on Elbing and East Prussia was cut off, most of the residents of Angerburg only had to flee via the Fresh Lagoon or the seaport of Pillau . On January 25, 1945, the Soviet Army reached the abandoned city. Despite the fact that it was taken without a fight, there was severe devastation. A large part of Angerburg was burned down. Only a few buildings have survived in the old town. About 80% of the city center was destroyed during the occupation by Soviet soldiers.

In the spring of 1945 the city was placed under Polish administration. Then began the influx of Polish and Ukrainian civilians. As far as the German residents had not fled, they were expelled by the local Polish administrative authorities in the following period .

Later new settlers came from central Poland and also numerous Ukrainians from the Beskids . The city was first renamed Węgobork and then received its current name in 1946.

After the end of the People's Republic in 1989, the place gained in importance for tourism in the Masurian Lake District.

Angerburg was a center of German ice sailing. Several European championships have been held on the Mauersee.

Population numbers

year Residents Remarks
1782 2.213 without the garrison (a battalion of infantry)
1875 4,108
1880 4,327
1890 4,301
1910 5,855
1925 6,911
1933 7,823
1939 9,846 thereof 9,198 Protestants, 324 Catholics, 120 other Christians and 16 Jews
2007 11,634

church

Before 1478, Angerburg had no church of its own; the residents were dependent on the church in Engelstein , which was probably the oldest in the region. In 1489, the Warmian bishop Lucas Watzenrode granted permission to build a chapel in Angerburg.

Evangelical

Church building

Parish church
View of the carved altar from 1652 by a Königsberg master in the parish church

A wooden church was built in 1528. It was replaced by a brick building from 1605 to 1611 - the last Gothic- style church in East Prussia . The church has a three-sided closed choir and a western tower in front. The richly carved altar dates from 1652 and was made by a Königsberg workshop. The organ dates from 1647/48 and the workshop of Joachim Thiele in Rastenburg ( Polish: Kętrzyn ). In the early 18th century, the church was expanded by adding transverse wings. The tower was raised in 1743 and its dome with lantern was given in 1826. Today the church is a house of worship of the Roman Catholic Church and is consecrated to the apostles Peter and Paul .

Kreuzkirche

In the years 1930 to 1933 the new building of the institutional church of the Angerburg "Krüppelheim" was built and inaugurated on October 2nd, 1933, which was given the official title " Bethesda Jubilee Cross Church ". Today it serves as a place of worship for the Greek Catholic Church .

Parish

Soon after the introduction of the Lutheran Reformation , a Protestant parish was founded in Angerburg in 1528. Two clergymen began their service here, plus an assistant preacher at the beginning of the 20th century. Until 1726 the parish was incorporated into the Rastenburg (Kętrzyn) inspection , until 1945 Angerburg was the seat and eponymous for a separate church district (synod) within the church province of East Prussia of the Church of the Old Prussian Union .

In 1925 a total of 10,000 parishioners belonged to the parish of Angerburg, of whom more than two thirds lived in the city. In addition to the town parish with its extensive parish , there was also the institutional community of the care facility "Bethesda" with the Kreuzkirche since 1912 .

Flight and expulsion of the local population as a result of the war brought the church life of the Protestant communities to a standstill in 1945. Today only a few Protestant residents live in Węgorzewo, who are looked after by the parish in Giżycko (Lötzen) as a branch parish . It belongs to the Masurian Diocese of the Evangelical-Augsburg Church in Poland . The cruciform church belonging to the Greek-Catholic community is shared with them as a place of worship.

Church district Angerburg

Until 1945, Angerburg was the seat of a superintendent for a church district with ten parishes and eleven parishes:

Surname Change name from
1938 to 1945		 Polish place name Surname Change name from
1938 to 1945		 Polish place name
Angerburg parish church Węgorzewo Kruglanken Kruklanki
Angerburg-Kreuzkirche Węgorzewo Frocks Kuty
Benkheim Banie Mazurskie Olschöwen Kanitz Olszewo Węgorzewskie
Digging Budry Possessers Large garden Pozezdrze
Angel stone Węgielsztyn Rose garden -
Doben 		Radzieje
Doba

Roman Catholic

The former Protestant and now Roman Catholic Church of St. Peter and Paul

Church building

Church of the Good Shepherd

In 1913, the first Catholic church was built in Angerburg and called the "Church of the Good Shepherd" (in Polish Kościół Dobrego Pasterza ). It still serves as a Roman Catholic church today . On June 9, 2013, the 100th anniversary was celebrated with a festival service.

Church of St. Peter and Paul

After 1945 the Roman Catholic Church in Poland took over the parish church from the 17th century, which had previously belonged to the Protestant community. It was only marginally damaged in the war, but restoration work was necessary in the period that followed. Today it is the largest Catholic church in Węgorzewo and is dedicated to the Apostles Peter and Paul (in Polish: Kościół Św. Apostołów Piotra i Pawła ).

Church of Our Lady of Fatima

Built in 1988/89, the youngest of all churches in Węgorzewo was consecrated on June 27, 1989 by Bishop Edmund Piszcz . It is dedicated to the Mother of God of Fatima ( Polish Kościół Matki Bożej Fatimskiej ).

Parishes

A Catholic parish only existed in Angerburg since the beginning of the 20th century. It belonged to the diocese of Warmia and was responsible for around 200 parishioners in Angerburg and the surrounding area. Today there are three parishes in Węgorzewo, which are united in the deanery Węgorzewo with six surrounding parishes . It is part of the Ełk (Lyck) diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Poland, which has existed since 1992 .

Deanery Węgorzewo

The Węgorzewo deanery is one of 21 deaneries in the Ełk diocese . Nine parishes are assigned to him:

Surname German name Change name from
1938 to 1945
Budry Digging
Kuty Frocks
Olszewo Węgorzewskie Olschöwen Kanitz
Pozezdrze Possessers Large garden
Radzieje rose Garden
Węgielsztyn Angel stone
Węgorzewo (To the Good Shepherd) Angerburg
Węgorzewo (St. Peter and Paul) Angerburg
Węgorzewo (Our Lady of Fatima) Angerburg

Greek Catholic

The Kreuzkirche - once a Protestant institution and today a Greek Catholic parish church

There is a parish of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Węgorzewo . Your church is the former Bethesda-Anstaltskirche, which was able to keep its former name " Kreuzkirche " ( Polish: Cerkiew Św. Krzyża ). It was temporarily owned by the Evangelical Church, which however transferred it to the Greek Catholic community. Protestant services can also take place here.

coat of arms

Blazon : “In blue, a growing, square, silver pinnacle tower placed around a corner with black grooved, protruding base and red tent roof, red tower ball and silver wind vane blowing away to the left, three arched windows 2: 1 on the right, black above, silver below, on the front a split plate to above the base edge, the top of a growing silver, gold reinforced Adler with gold clover stems , down from silver and black quartered. "

Declaration of coat of arms: The red eagle refers to the Margrave of Brandenburg , the silver-black checkerboard pattern to the Hohenzollern . These symbols are also used in a similar form in the coats of arms of the nearby municipalities of Gołdap and Olecko ( Treuburg ). - The city coat of arms was issued by Duke Albrecht Friedrich of Prussia in 1571.

Attractions

Events

local community

The town itself and 35 villages with school boards belong to the town-and-country community (gmina miejsko-wiejska) Węgorzewo with an area of ​​341.1 km².

Economy and Transport

The economy revived after the infirmary and cripple home founded in 1880, the "Bethesda Charities" and after 1920 through ice sailing on the Mauersee and Schwenzaitsee .

Before 1945, Angerburg was never more important as an industrial city, but primarily as a regional service center. The best-known operation was the fish hatchery, in which vendace and eels were mainly bred. Tourism developed here quite early and is the most important economic factor today. The demarcation of 1945 cut off Angerburg from the northern environs.

After the shutdown of passenger traffic to Kętrzyn (Rastenburg) , the city no longer has a rail connection. The connections to Gołdap (Goldap) and Giżycko (Lötzen) were dismantled soon after the end of the war and not rebuilt, the lines to Gussew (Gumbinnen) and Schelesnodoroschny (Gerdauen) were interrupted by the border. Węgorzewo can be reached by steamers of the White Fleet, by houseboat and sailing boat. The city harbor is also navigable again.

In the station building in Węgorzewo, the 110th anniversary of the opening of the Rastenburg – Angerburg railway line and the 10th anniversary of the railway museum housed in the station building were celebrated on September 16, 2017 .

Personalities

Born in the city

Connected to the city

  • Otto Streicher (1882–1945), architect and social democratic district administrator, perished in Auschwitz concentration camp
  • Berthold Beitz (1913–2013), entrepreneur, grew up partly in Angerburg.

See also

literature

  • Johann Friedrich Goldbeck : Complete topography of the Kingdom of Prussia. Part I: Topography of East Prussia. Marienwerder 1785, pp. 40-41 ( Online, Google ).
  • Max Toeppen : History of Masuria - A contribution to the Prussian state and cultural history. 1870 (540 pages); Reprint 1979, pp. 111-112.
  • 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, pp. 56–57, no. 20.
  • Daniel Heinrich Arnoldt : Brief messages from all preachers who have admitted to the Lutheran churches in East Prussia since the Reformation. Königsberg 1777, pp. 308-311.
  • News about the support association for orphaned and poor children in Angerburg. In: Preußische Provinzial-Blätter , Volume 2, Königsberg 1829, pp. 539–553.
  • OWL Richter: On the history of the city of Angerburg (1750-1831). In: Preußische Provinzial-Blätter , Volume 20, Königsberg 1838, pp. 200–222.

Web links

Commons : Węgorzewo  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Angerburg in the Topographia Electoratus Brandenburgici et Ducatus Pomeraniae (Matthäus Merian)  - sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Heinrich Gottfried Gengler: Regesta and documents on the constitutional and legal history of German cities in the Middle Ages , Erlangen 1863, p. 46 .
  2. ↑ Lucas David : Prussian Chronicle . Volume 7, Königsberg 1815, p. 63.
  3. ↑ Bernd Braumüller, Erich Pfeiffer: Heimat am Mauersee, an illustrated book about the district of Angerburg / East Prussia, self-published by the district community Angerburg, Rotenburg (Wümme), 1977, p. 85
  4. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from April 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ^ Johann Friedrich Goldbeck : Complete topography of the Kingdom of Prussia . Part I: Topography of East Prussia . Marienwerder 1785, p. 41 .
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g Michael Rademacher: German administrative history from the unification of the empire in 1871 to the reunification in 1990. East Prussia: Angerburg district. (Online material for the dissertation, Osnabrück 2006).
  7. ↑ Główny Urząd Statystyczny, "LUDNOŚĆ - STAN I STRUKTURA W PRZEKROJU TERYTORIALNYM", as of December 31, 2007 ( Memento of June 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ^ Max Toeppen : History of Masuria . Danzig 1870, p. 168.
  9. ↑ JF Penski: Attempt to compile the written and oral messages of some preachers and residents of Engelstein on the chronicle of the church there . In: Prussian provincial sheets . Volume 22, Königsberg 1839, pp. 270-273.
  10. ↑ a b Parish Church of St. Peter and Paul and Catholic Church of the Good Shepherd
  11. ↑ Walther Hubatsch : History of the Protestant Church in East Prussia. Volume 2: Pictures of East Prussian churches. Göttingen 1968, pp. 87–89, figs. 345–347
  12. ↑ a b Parish of St. Peter and Paul on the website of the Diocese of Ełk
  13. ↑ Walther Hubatsch : History of the Protestant Church in East Prussia. Volume 3: Documents. Göttingen 1968, p. 476
  14. ↑ Friedwald Moeller: Old Prussian Protestant Pastor's Book from the Reformation to the Expulsion in 1945. Hamburg 1968, p. 16
  15. ↑ Obchody 110 lat linii kolejowej Węgorzewo-Kętrzyn w Muzeum Tradycji Kolejowej. Gazeta Olsztyńska ,, September 23, 2017, accessed March 9, 2018 (Polish).