Szczytno
Szczytno () is a town in north-eastern
Poland with 28,970 inhabitants (
2004). Szczytno was assigned to the
Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in
1999, and to the
Olsztyn Voivodeship from
1975-
1998.
Szczytno-Szymany International Airport is the most important airport of the
Masurian region.
Ca.
1350 the town was founded as a castle on the site of an
Old Prussian settlement by
Ortolf von Trier, a knight of the
Teutonic Order and the
Komtur of
Elbing (
1349-
1371). The first mentioning of the castle as
Ortulfsburg was in
1360, after Ortolf invited
Masovian colonists to help develop the town as
beekeepers after its conquest by the knights. The first custodian of the settlement was
Heinrich Murer. The name Ortulfsburg was gradually
corrupted into
Ortelsburg. The town grew in size owing to its location on a trade route from
Warsaw to
Königsberg. It received
town privileges in
1616 and had them reaffirmed in
1723.
The town suffered from plundering and occupation during the
Napoleonic Wars, but became the seat of
Landkreis Ortelsburg in
1818.
The town began to quickly expand economically after the opening of a
railway line in
1888. According to the German census of
1900,
Lutheran Masurs constituted 74.5% of Ortelsburg's population. The city was almost completely destroyed at the beginning of
World War I by troops of the
Russian Empire, but its recovery was aided by
Berlin and
Vienna. Poles and Polish associations were persecuted by Germans after the war.
To determine if it would remain in Germany or join the reborn Polish state, a plebiscite was held in the town on
11 July 1920 amid the backdrop of the
Bolshevik offensive against
Warsaw. 97.9% of the people voted for remaining part of Germany (48,204 votes for Germany, 511 for Poland). Poles organized
Masurian Selfhelp, an organisation devoted to the protection of Polish people under German rule. The struggle for Polish-language schools in the region led to the death of the Polish activist
Jerzy Lanc (
1901-
32).
Most of Ortelsburg's population fled before the
Red Army at the end of
World War II. The city was given to Poland in
1945 and officially renamed to its traditional Polish name
Szczytno, after a nearby lake with the
Old Prussian name
Skiten.
Human Rights Watch alleged in
2005, that close to the airport exists a jail for prisoners of the
U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. The Polish government disclaimed those rumours, while HRW has failed to present any proof or evidence supporting their accusations.
*
Municipal website*
History of the city and district of Ortelsburg*
Human Rights Watch statement about the prison
