|
Olecko (town)
Olecko (german: Treuburg until 1945, Marggrabowa until 1928, also Oletzko) is a town in Masuria, in the Warminsko-Mazurskie voivodship of Poland, near Elk (Lyck) and Suwalki.
It is situated at the mouth of the Lega river into the Great Olecko Lake (Jezioro Oleckie Wielkie, Großer Treuburger See) on its south-western shore.
History Marggrabowa was founded as a town by the prussian margrave Albrecht of Brandenburg-Ansbach on January 1st, 1560. The name derives from the german title Markgraf (margrave). At the same place there has been since 1544 an hunting lodge called Oletzko. At a peninsula towards the lake, across the Lega river, in 1619 the Castle of Oletzko (Schloss Oletzko) was established as a regional administrative seat.
Between 1818 and 1945, Marggrabowa was head of the prussian Oletzko County (Kreis Oletzko, afterwards named since Kreis Treuburg) of the prussian province Preußen, usually known as East Prussia.
Sights The market place in the centre has a size of 7 ha, it was held the biggest in Germany. In it's northern part, a lutheran, now catholic church is situated on a tree-covered hill.
Transportation The Train Station in the western part of town is a regional railway junction: there are main lines to Goldap, Elk (Lyck) and Suwalki. The local railway connections to Mieruniszki (Merunen), Kruklanki (Kruglanken) and Sulejki (Suleiken) are out of service or dismantled.
Education
Olecko (district) Olecko district refers to the historical East Prussian district of Oletzko with its administrative district town at Oletzko. Town and district were later renamed Treuburg.
History The area to a large extent was populated by Masurians, an ethnic group with a language of Slavic origin. Since the 18th Century, cultural orientation strongly changed towards German and the number of Masurian-speaking people decreased.
1818 - over 90% of population (according to Polish sources),
1900 - 33.5% (Prussian census)
In 1888, German language was fully established in the schools of all levels.
In 1920, a plebiscite was held in the area by the League of Nations on remaining at East-Prussia or affiliation to the new-founded State of Poland. After an overwhelming result of 28,625 pro-German votes against 2 pro-Polish, the county remained at Germany. In respect to this, in 1928 the name of the town of Marggrabowa was changed to Treuburg (german: treu for faithful, Burg for castle). In 1933, also the name of the County of Oletzko was changed into County of Treuburg (Kreis Treuburg).
In January 1945, the area was overrun by the Soviet Army. Afterwards the area was given unto Polish administration by the Soviets to become a part of Poland.
Most of inhabitants were violently expelled, if not killed or deported to Russia, by the communist Soviet and Polish regimes. Instead there were settled polish expatriates from the eastern parts of Poland that were occupied by the Soviet Union after the Hitler-Stalin Pact and are now part of the Ukraina.
Population - 39.938 (1933)
- 38.046 (1939)
External links Polish and English language web site (http://www.um.olecko.pl/) | 
Feeds |
Contact