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122-546: Olsztyn-Mazury Regional Airport , located nearby, is the most important airport of the Masurian region. Szczytno, which is located on the Olsztyn – Ełk line, and used to be a railroad junction until Polish Railways closed minor connections stemming from the town towards Czerwonka and Wielbark . Two lakes, Domowe Małe and Długie (also known as Domowe Duże ), are located within the town limits. Near today's Szczytno are

244-546: A League of Nations mandate since 1920, was occupied by the Lithuanian Armed Forces in 1923 and annexed without giving the inhabitants a choice by ballot. After Adolf Hitler's rise to power , opposition politicians were persecuted and newspapers banned. Erich Koch , who headed the East Prussian Nazi party from 1928, led the district from 1932. The Otto-Braun-House was requisitioned to become

366-662: A municipal corporation , economic freedom as well as emancipation of the serfs and Jews . In the course of the Prussian restoration by the 1815 Congress of Vienna , the East Prussian territories were re-arranged in the Regierungsbezirke of Gumbinnen and Königsberg . From 1905, the southern districts of East Prussia formed the separate Regierungsbezirk of Allenstein . East and West Prussia were first united in personal union in 1824 and then merged in

488-582: A real union in 1829 to form the Province of Prussia . The united province was again split into separate East and West Prussian provinces in 1878. From 1824 to 1878, East Prussia was combined with West Prussia to form the Province of Prussia , after which they were reestablished as separate provinces. Along with the rest of the Kingdom of Prussia, East Prussia became part of the German Empire during

610-542: A republic . Most of the former Prussian provinces of West Prussia and Posen , territories annexed by Prussia in the 18th century Partitions of Poland , were ceded to the Second Polish Republic according to the Treaty of Versailles . East Prussia became an exclave , being separated from mainland Germany. The Klaipėda Region was also separated from the province. Because most of West Prussia became part of

732-633: A Catholic church was built, whose first parish priest became Mikołaj of Rzekwuj from the Płock land in Masovia . With its inclusion in the Ducal Prussia in 1525, which remained under Polish suzerainty, it lost its importance as a border fortress and began to decline. It was a overwhelmingly Polish town, and, according to Gerard Labuda , in 1538 only four townsmen did not speak Polish. Margrave and regent George Frederick , who enjoyed hunting nearby, began

854-634: A bilingual folk magazine Der masurische Hahn/Kurek Mazurski was issued in the town. The Masurian People's Party ( Mazurska Partia Ludowa ), founded in 1896 in Lyck (Ełk) , had one of its main branches here. From 1906 the Polish newspaper Mazur was published here, and in 1910, Bogumił Labusz and Gustaw Leyding founded the Masurian People's Bank ( Mazurski Bank Ludowy ). In 1908 Polish writer and Nobel Prize laureate Henryk Sienkiewicz , who popularized

976-502: A greater number of passengers can be served through the airport rather than with CRJs and Dash-8 aircraft alone. On 23 May, SprintAir got renewed its contract to also cover flights beyond 5 June to the end of the summer schedule. In this occasion, a third route with the airline to Wroclaw, starting on 6 June, was announced. Ryanair was then selected to become the second low-cost carrier to land in Olsztyn. Commencing on 1 November 2016,

1098-553: A much smaller homonymous Olsztyn Voivodeship, the bulk of Elbląg Voivodeship and a significant part of the Suwałki Voivodeship . The remaining pre-war population was treated as Germanized Poles and a policy of re- Polonization was pursued throughout the country Most of these " Autochthons " chose to emigrate to West Germany from the 1950s through 1980s (between 1970 and 1988 55,227 persons from Warmia and Masuria moved to Western Germany). Local toponyms were Polonised by

1220-466: A population of 2.7 million people in both voivodeships. In order to provide easy access, a new rail link to the airport was furnished, using a rail branch. The journey to the centre of Olsztyn takes around 50 minutes. In future, a rail link to Białystok through Ostrołęka, and another to Ełk could be organised by putting railcars on unused rail lines. The first passenger airport in Olsztyn Area

1342-468: A single-track line without electrification. The tender was closed in 2011. Later on a short branch line to the airport and a new station at the airport connected the service. Overall, the reconstruction of existing infrastructure and the new spur had a planned value of PLN 115M (€27.2M), of which PLN 68M (€16.1M) was funded through the European Union. Following the completion of the renovation of

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1464-453: A slightly modified schedule. The first jet route was announced to Munich on 1 April 2016. Starting 17 June 2016, Adria Airways would operate a thrice-weekly connection to Munich onboard its CRJ aircraft. Adria Airways is the flag-carrier of Slovenia, but at this time had already gained a lot of experience outside of Slovenia, also in Poland where an aircraft is based in Łódź . Furthermore, it

1586-560: Is active in Albania and Kosova and supports the establishment of the new Estonian flag-carrier. Another route was just one week later, a thrice-weekly connection to London Luton operated by Wizzair . Wizzair thereby made Olsztyn Mazury its ninth destination in Poland. Flights were due to commence just one day after the Adria Airways launch, on 18 June 2016. Wizz Air is known for their all-Airbus fleet of A320s and A321s, meaning that

1708-690: Is located in Szymany in Mazury region. Its toponymic Szczytno–Szymany reflects largely obscure localities. The airport management has rebranded the airport to as "Olsztyn-Mazury”, that would better encapsulate the whole region of Mazury and its lakes, which is more well known. The airport is situated 59 kilometres to the south of Olsztyn, at the border with more densely populated Mazowsze region. There are also other larger towns (50,000–60,000 people) within 60 kilometres of this airport, such as Mława , Ciechanów , Ostrołęka . This airport has in its catchment area

1830-759: The Curonian Spit to Memel . The French Grande Armée troops immediately took up pursuit but were delayed in the Battle of Eylau on 9 February 1807 by an East Prussian contingent under General Anton Wilhelm von L'Estocq . Napoleon had to stay at the Finckenstein Palace , but in May, after a siege of 75 days, his troops led by Marshal François Joseph Lefebvre were able to capture the city of Danzig , which had been tenaciously defended by General Count Friedrich Adolf von Kalkreuth . On 14 June, Napoleon ended

1952-781: The German People's Party politician Max von Bahrfeldt were all severely injured. Members of the Reichsbanner were assaulted while the local Reichsbanner Chairman of Lötzen , Kurt Kotzan , was murdered on 6 August 1932. In the March 1933 German federal election , the last contested pre-war German election, the local population of East Prussia voted overwhelmingly for the Adolf Hitler 's Nazi Party . Through publicly funded emergency relief programs concentrating on agricultural land-improvement projects and road construction,

2074-562: The Holocaust . In 1939 the Regierungsbezirk Zichenau was annexed by Germany and incorporated into East Prussia. Parts of it were transferred to other regions, e.g. Suwałki Region to Regierungsbezirk Gumbinnen and Soldau (Działdowo) to Regierungsbezirk Allenstein . Despite Nazi propaganda presenting all of the regions annexed as possessing significant German populations that wanted reunification with Germany,

2196-557: The Kingdom of Prussia . The designation " Kingdom of Prussia " was gradually applied to the various lands of Brandenburg-Prussia. To differentiate it from the larger entity, the former Duchy of Prussia became known as Altpreußen ("Old Prussia"), the province of Prussia, or "East Prussia". Approximately one-third of East Prussia's population died in the Great Northern War plague outbreak and famine of 1709–1711, including

2318-673: The Lithuanian SSR ) and the People's Republic of Poland (the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship ). The capital city Königsberg was renamed Kaliningrad in 1946. The German and the Masurian population of the province was largely evacuated during the war or expelled shortly afterwards in the expulsion of Germans after World War II . An estimated 300,000 died either in wartime bombing raids, in the battles to defend

2440-658: The Nazi German government, which wanted to erase all aspects of Polish culture and Polish language in Warmia and Masuria . The Jews who remained in East Prussia in 1942 were shipped to concentration camps, including Theresienstadt in occupied Czechoslovakia , Kaiserwald in occupied Latvia , and camps in Minsk in occupied Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic . Those who remained were later deported and killed in

2562-614: The Nazis changed about one-third of the toponyms of the area , eliminating, Germanizing, or simplifying a number of Old Prussian , as well as those Polish or Lithuanian names originating from colonists and refugees to Prussia during and after the Protestant Reformation . More than 1,500 places were ordered to be renamed by 16 July 1938 following a decree issued by Gauleiter and Oberpräsident Erich Koch and initiated by Adolf Hitler . Many who would not cooperate with

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2684-649: The Polish-Lithuanian-Teutonic War , whereby the united armies of Poland and Lithuania , defeated the Teutonic Order at the Battle of Grunwald in 1410. In 1440 the anti-Teutonic Prussian Confederation was founded, and various cities and nobles of the region joined it. In 1454 upon the Confederation's request King Casimir IV of Poland signed the act of incorporation of the entire region to Poland. The Teutonic Knights' defeat

2806-669: The Potsdam Conference , pending a final peace conference with Germany. Since a peace conference never took place, the region was effectively ceded by Germany. Southern East Prussia was placed under Polish administration, while northern East Prussia was divided between the Soviet republics of Russia (the Kaliningrad Oblast ) and Lithuania (the constituent counties of the Klaipėda Region ). The city of Königsberg

2928-465: The Ruhr Area and Berlin (see Ostflucht ). The population of the province in 1900 was 1,996,626 people, with a religious makeup of 1,698,465 Protestants , 269,196 Roman Catholics , and 13,877 Jews . The Low Prussian dialect predominated in East Prussia, although High Prussian was spoken in Warmia . The numbers of Masurians , Kursenieki and Prussian Lithuanians decreased over time due to

3050-706: The Second Polish Republic as the Polish Corridor , the formerly West Prussian Marienwerder region became part of East Prussia as the administrative district ( Regierungsbezirk ) of West Prussia. Also, the Działdowo district in the Allenstein region became part of the Second Polish Republic. The Seedienst Ostpreußen (Sea Service East Prussia) was established to provide an independent transport service to East Prussia. On 11 July 1920, amidst

3172-620: The Seven Years' War before withdrawing in 1762 and did not make Poland an offer of territorial exchange. In the 1772 First Partition of Poland , the Prussian king Frederick the Great annexed neighboring Royal Prussia , i.e., the Polish voivodeships of Pomerania ( Gdańsk Pomerania or Pomerelia ), Malbork , Chełmno and the Prince-Bishopric of Warmia , thereby connecting his Prussian and Farther Pomeranian lands and cutting

3294-552: The War of the Fourth Coalition with his victory at the Battle of Friedland . Frederick William and Queen Louise met with Napoleon for peace negotiations, and on 9 July the Prussian king signed the Treaty of Tilsit . The succeeding Prussian reforms instigated by Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom und zum Stein and Karl August von Hardenberg included the implementation of an Oberlandesgericht appellation court at Königsberg,

3416-838: The Western Front according to the Schlieffen Plan . Despite early success and the capture of the towns of Rastenburg and Gumbinnen , in the Battle of Tannenberg in 1914 and the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes in 1915, the Russians were decisively defeated and forced to retreat. The Russians were followed by the German Army advancing into Russian territory. After the Russian army's first invasion

3538-470: The unification of Germany in 1871. From 1885 to 1890 Berlin 's population grew by 20%, Brandenburg and the Rhineland gained 8.5%, Westphalia 10%, while East Prussia lost 0.07% and West Prussia 0.86%. This stagnancy in population despite a high birth surplus in eastern Germany was because many people from the East Prussian countryside moved westward to seek work in the expanding industrial centres of

3660-604: The "Erich Koch Plan" for East Prussia allegedly made the province free of unemployment : on 16 August 1933 Koch reported to Hitler that unemployment had been banished entirely from the province, a feat that gained admiration throughout the Reich . In actuality, the Erich Koch Plan had been a staged propaganda event organized by Walther Funk and the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda to promote

3782-400: The 13th century and created a monastic state to administer the conquered Old Prussians . Local Old-Prussian (north) and Polish (south) toponyms were gradually Germanised. The Knights' expansionist policies, including occupation of Polish Pomerania with Gdańsk/Danzig and western Lithuania, brought them into conflict with the Kingdom of Poland and embroiled them in several wars, culminating in

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3904-681: The 13th century, the region of Prussia was part of the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights . After the Second Peace of Thorn in 1466 it became a part of the Kingdom of Poland , either directly ( Warmia ) or as a fief (remainder). In 1525, with the Prussian Homage , the territory became the Duchy of Prussia , a vassal duchy of Poland. The Old Prussian language had become extinct by the 17th or early 18th century. Because

4026-628: The 1930s. In the March 1933 German federal election , after the Nazi seizure of power and suppression of anti-Nazi political factions, the Nazi Party polled 76.6% of vote in Ortelsburg, compared to the national German average of only 43.9%. In October 1943, Polish partisans of the Home Army sabotaged a railroad turnout , causing two trains to collide. Near the end of World War II , most of

4148-543: The 1980s. Olsztyn-Mazury Regional Airport Olsztyn-Mazury Airport ( IATA : SZY , ICAO : EPSY ) ( Polish : Port lotniczy Olsztyn-Mazury ) is an international passenger airport in the North-East of Poland , branded as the gateway to the Masurian Lake District . It is located near Szymany , some 10 km from the centre of Szczytno in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship . The airport

4270-555: The CIA's network of extraordinary renditions . Terrorist suspects were to be secretly held, and even tortured, in violation of Polish law, by the CIA . Flight records show that an airplane leased by the CIA flying from Kabul to Guantanamo Bay made a stop in Szymany. Officials from the airport have confirmed that some of these flights bypassed normal customs-clearing procedures, and that during

4392-661: The German civilian population until the Eastern Front approached the East Prussian border in 1944. The population had been systematically misinformed by Endsieg Nazi propaganda about the real state of military affairs. As a result, many civilians fleeing westward were overtaken by retreating Wehrmacht units and the rapidly advancing Red Army . Reports of Soviet atrocities in the Nemmersdorf massacre of October 1944 and organized rape spread fear and desperation among

4514-600: The German inhabitants, which then consisted primarily of women, children and old men, did manage to escape the Red Army as part of the largest exodus of people in human history: "A population which had stood at 2.2 million in 1940 was reduced to 193,000 at the end of May 1945." Following Nazi Germany 's defeat in World War II in 1945, East Prussia was partitioned between Poland and the Soviet Union according to

4636-527: The Masurian Museum in Szczytno ( Muzeum Mazurskie w Szczytnie ). The nearby Szczytno-Szymany International Airport , as well as Stare Kiejkuty , a military intelligence training base, came under scrutiny in late 2005 as one of the suspected " black sites " (secret prisons or transfer stations) used in the CIA 's program of so-called extraordinary rendition of accused terrorists. The existence of

4758-646: The Nazi Party's work creation policies, with East Prussia chosen because it already had relatively low unemployment due to its agrarian economy. Koch's industrialization plans provoked conflict with Richard Walther Darré , who held the office of the Reich Peasant Leader ( Reichsbauernführer ) and Minister of Agriculture. Darré, a neopaganist rural romantic, wanted to enforce his vision of an agricultural East Prussia. When his "Land" representatives challenged Koch's plans, Koch arrested them. In 1938

4880-454: The Polish Commission for the Determination of Place Names , though in most cases it was a restoration of historic Polish names. During the Polish post-war census of December 1950, data about the pre-war places of residence of the inhabitants as of August 1939 was collected. In case of children born between September 1939 and December 1950, their origin was reported based on the pre-war places of residence of their mothers. Thanks to this data it

5002-443: The Polish Kingdom, by joining forces with the Swedes and subsequent treaties of Wehlau , Labiau , and Oliva , Elector and Duke Frederick William succeeded in revoking the king of Poland's sovereignty over the Duchy of Prussia in 1660. There was strong opposition to the separation of the region from Poland, especially in Königsberg (Polish: Królewiec ). A confederation was formed in the city to maintain Poland's sovereignty over

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5124-517: The Province of East Prussia was joined with West Prussia to form the Province of Prussia . The Polish and Lithuanian populations were subjected to Germanisation policies, and later to outright persecution. The Kingdom of Prussia became the leading state of the German Empire after its creation in 1871. However, the Treaty of Versailles following World War I granted West Prussia to Poland and made East Prussia an exclave of Weimar Germany (the so-called Polish Corridor separated East Prussia from

5246-561: The Reich's statistics of late 1939 show that only 31,000 out of 994,092 people in this territory were ethnic Germans. In the annexed pre-war Polish territory, the Polish population was subjected to various crimes , including mass arrests, roundups , deportations to forced labour and concentration camps (including teenagers), executions, massacres (also as part of the Intelligenzaktion and Aktion T4 ) and expulsions . The Jews were confined in ghettos and afterwards deported either deported to extermination camps or massacred in

5368-406: The Teutonic Knights. 1466 and 1525 arrangements by kings of Poland were not verified by the Holy Roman Empire , as well as the previous gains of the Teutonic Knights , were not verified. The Teutonic Order lost eastern Prussia when Grand Master Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach converted to Lutheranism and secularized the Prussian branch of the Teutonic Order in 1525. Albert established himself as

5490-405: The airport planned to have connections to Munich, Berlin and Kraków initially. In late October 2015, the airport finally signed an agreement with Polish airline Sprint Air . The airline set aside one 33-seated Saab 340 aircraft for operations. Starting January 2016, the airline would serve Berlin Tegel and Kraków , each thrice-weekly. The contract for the subsidized flights was just valid for

5612-436: The airport, bypassing customs clearance. Airport officials had been directly ordered not to approach the aircraft, and vehicles bearing military registration numbers affiliated with the nearby base at Stare Kiejkuty awaited the arrival of each aircraft. In June 2008 a New York Times article claimed, citing unnamed CIA officers, that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was held in a secret facility in Poland near Szymany Airport and it

5734-453: The ancestral lands of the Baltic Old Prussians were enclosed within East Prussia. During the 13th century , the native Prussians were conquered by the crusading Teutonic Knights . After the conquest the indigenous Balts were gradually converted to Christianity . Because of Germanization and colonisation over the following centuries, Germans became the dominant ethnic group, while Poles and Lithuanians formed sizeable minorities. From

5856-419: The area, initially organised as the Masurian District , later replaced by the Olsztyn Voivodeship in 1947, with a few counties incorporated into Białystok Voivodeship and to Gdańsk Voivodeship . The latter counted in 1950 689,000 inhabitants, 22.6% of them coming from areas annexed by the Soviet Union, 10% Ukrainians, and 18.5% of them pre-war inhabitants. It was dissolved in 1975 to form three smaller units:

5978-478: The backdrop of the Polish-Soviet War in which the Second Polish Republic appeared to be on the brink of defeat, the East Prussian plebiscite in eastern West Prussia and southern East Prussia was held under Allied supervision to determine if the areas should join Poland or remain in the Weimar Germany Province of East Prussia. 96.7% of the people voted to remain within Germany (97.89% in the East Prussian plebiscite district). The Klaipėda Territory (Memelland),

6100-441: The border between Kaliningrad Oblast and Lithuania . The Klaipėda Region ( German : Memelland ) was a portion of the province to the north of the Neman river. Adjacent to the Curonian Lagoon and the lower reaches of the Neman river could be found the Elchniederung  [ de ] , a vast partially-drained bog , much of it below sea-level. Further south, the region becomes more hilly, with fewer bogs and more lakes. To

6222-404: The capital of Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship (with 1.5 million inhabitants). It is a renovated international airport with old toponymic name Szczytno-Szymany. After years of no passenger operations, it resumed flight service on 20 January 2016 with a flight to Berlin, Germany. The airport has a newly extended and resurfaced runway that is 2500 meters long and 60 meters wide, a new ILS system, and

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6344-455: The carrier was set to service London Stansted thrice a week on its Boeing 737-800 aircraft, despite the fact that its counterpart Wizzair already would serve London Luton thrice a week then. The decision was made public on 31 May with a promotional flight was done to the airport. By mid-June 2016, LOT Polish Airlines opened bookings for a three-weekly service from Olsztyn to their hub Warsaw on board their 78-seated Bombardier Q400 . Running in

6466-430: The central portion of the province. In the southernmost regions, the rivers flow to the south, emptying into the Narew and Vistula rivers. The highest elevation of East Prussia at 312 meters above sea level was Dylewska Góra ( German : Kernsdorfer Höhe ), found in the southwest near the border with West Prussia. At the instigation of Duke Konrad I of Masovia , the Teutonic Knights took possession of Prussia in

6588-508: The cession on 30 September 1772, whereafter Frederick officially went on to call himself a King "of" Prussia. The former Ducal Prussian districts of Eylau (Iława), Marienwerder, Riesenburg (Prabuty) and Schönberg (Szymbark) passed to West Prussia. Until the Prussian reforms of 1808, the administration in East Prussia was transferred to the General War and Finance Directorate in Berlin , represented by two local chamber departments: On 31 January 1773, King Frederick II announced that

6710-589: The cities of Ciechanów , Ostrołęka , Płock and Suwałki . Hitler's top-secret Eastern front headquarters during the war, the Wolf's Lair , was located in the village of Gierłoż . The Polish resistance was active in the province, both in the annexed pre-war territory of Poland, and in the pre-war territory of East Prussia, with activities in the latter including distribution of Polish underground press , sabotage actions, executions of Nazis, theft of German weapons, ammunition and equipment, and organization of transports of POWs who escaped German POW camps via

6832-451: The city and region. The Brandenburg Elector and his army, however, entered the city and abducted and imprisoned the leader of the city's anti-Elector opposition Hieronymus Roth . In 1663, the city burghers, forced by Elector Frederick William, swore an oath of allegiance to him, however, in the same ceremony they still also pledged allegiance to Poland. The absolutist elector also subdued the noble estates of Prussia. Although Brandenburg

6954-465: The civilians. Thousands lost their lives during the sinkings (by Soviet submarine) of the evacuation ships Wilhelm Gustloff , the Goya , and the General von Steuben . Königsberg surrendered on 9 April 1945, following the desperate four-day Battle of Königsberg . An estimated 300,000 died either in wartime bombing raids, in the battles to defend the province, or through mistreatment by the Red Army or from hunger, cold and disease. However, most of

7076-426: The current field as a large, rectangular clearing in the neighbouring forest. Now located in Poland, the Polish army acquired it. In the 1950s and 1960s it was expanded and assigned as backup airport. It was developed on a low stage for many years, in the second half of the 1970s it received a control tower and further buildings. In the 1990s, when the cold war had ended, the airfield in Szymany lost its importance and

7198-407: The duchy was outside of the core Holy Roman Empire , the prince-electors of Brandenburg were able to proclaim themselves King beginning in 1701. After the annexation of most of western Royal Prussia in the First Partition of Poland in 1772, eastern (ducal) Prussia was connected by land with the rest of the Prussian state and was reorganized as a province the following year. Between 1829 and 1878,

7320-453: The east, near the modern Polish-Russian border, was the Romincka Forest ( German : Rominter Heide ), a famous hunting-ground for Prussian nobility. On the eastern end of the forest is Lake Vištytis ( German : Wystiter See ), and to the south are the Szeskie Hills  [ pl ] ( German : Seesker Höhen ). The Angrapa river ( German : Angerapp ), a tributary of the Pregel, flows out Lake Mamry ( German : Mauersee ) on

7442-427: The feeble-minded Albert Frederick . The Administrator of Prussia, the grandmaster of the Teutonic Order Maximilian III , son of emperor Maximilian II died in 1618. When Maximilian died, Albert's line died out, and the Duchy of Prussia passed to the Electors of Brandenburg, forming Brandenburg-Prussia . Taking advantage of the Swedish invasion of Poland in 1655 , and instead of fulfilling his vassal's duties towards

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7564-403: The first duke of the Duchy of Prussia and a vassal of the Polish crown by the Prussian Homage . Walter von Cronberg , the next Grand Master, was enfeoffed with the title to Prussia after the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, but the Order never regained possession of the territory. In 1569 the Hohenzollern prince-electors of the Margraviate of Brandenburg became co-regents with Albert's son,

7686-472: The first quarter of 2016 in first place. Tickets to Kraków were available from 99 PLN while Berlin was starting at 149 PLN. On 20 January 2016, the first ever scheduled passenger flight took off from the airport with a SprintAir service to Berlin Tegel Airport . On 7 March 2016, the airport announced that it has extended its contract with Sprint Air beyond late March to 3 June 2016. The continues to service Berlin Tegel and Kraków thrice weekly, although with

7808-467: The headquarters of the SA, which used the house to imprison and torture its opponents. Walter Schütz , a communist member of the Reichstag , was murdered here. This period was characterized by efforts to collectivize the local agriculture and ruthlessness in dealing with his critics inside and outside the Nazi Party . He also had long-term plans for mass-scale industrialization of the largely agricultural province. These actions made him unpopular among

7930-424: The instigation of the local German authorities. Even after the plebiscite pro-Polish voters and activists were still persecuted. During the interwar period, Polish-speaking residents of the region organized Samopomoc Mazurska ("Masurian Self-Help"), an organisation for the protection of Poles in southern East Prussia. A Polish activist Jerzy Lanc was killed during his attempt to establish a Polish school. Ortelsburg

8052-442: The last speakers of Old Prussian . The plague, probably brought by foreign troops during the Great Northern War , killed 250,000 East Prussians, especially in the province's eastern regions. Crown Prince Frederick William I led the rebuilding of East Prussia, founding numerous towns. In 1724, Frederick William I prohibited Poles , Samogitians and Jews from settling in Lithuania Minor, and initiated German colonization to change

8174-414: The local peasants. In 1932 the local paramilitary SA had already started to terrorise their political opponents. On the night of 31 July 1932 there was a bomb attack on the headquarters of the Social Democrats in Königsberg, the Otto-Braun-House . The Communist politician Gustav Sauf was killed; the executive editor of the Social Democratic newspaper "Königsberger Volkszeitung" , Otto Wyrgatsch ; and

8296-443: The majority of the civilian population fled westwards, while several thousand remaining civilians were deported to Russia. Treatment of civilians by both armies was mostly disciplined, although 74 civilians were killed by Russian troops in the Abschwangen massacre . The region had to be rebuilt because of damage caused by the war. With the forced abdication of Emperor Wilhelm II in the German Revolution of 1918–1919 , Germany became

8418-447: The middle of the day, the service should deliver many connection options to other destinations within the LOT network. Flights were announced to take place from 2 July to 1 October 2016. In the first of months of operation, the airport saw only two routes flown by Sprint Air. However, a lot of new airlines were announced in the meanwhile as outlined, namely Adria Airways, LOT Polish Airlines, Ryanair and Wizzair. The first of them to start

8540-410: The nearby training base and the record of CIA-registered affiliated aircraft having landing at Szczytno-Szymany have been unequivocally confirmed, but the Polish government has repeatedly denied any involvement of these facilities in extraordinary renditions. To commemorate old Masurian folk traditions, a number of Pofajdok sculptures were placed in Szczytno. Among the historic sights of Szczytno are

8662-496: The newly annexed lands were to be known as the Province of West Prussia , while the former Duchy of Prussia and the Prince-Bishopric of Warmia became the Province of East Prussia . After the disastrous defeat of the Royal Prussian Army at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt in 1806, Napoleon occupied Berlin and had the officials of the Prussian General Directorate swear an oath of allegiance to him, while King Frederick William III and his consort Louise fled via Königsberg and

8784-684: The northeast in ( Lithuania Minor ). The Old Prussian ethnic group became completely Germanized over time and the Old Prussian language died out in the 18th century. At the German entry into World War I , East Prussia became a theatre of war when the Russian Empire invaded the country. The Imperial Russian Army encountered at first little resistance because the bulk of the Imperial German Army had been directed towards

8906-434: The northeast. Most German East Prussians, Masurians, Kursieniki, and Lietuvininkai were Lutheran, while the population of Warmia was mainly Roman Catholic due to the history of its bishopric. The East Prussian Jewish Congregation declined from about 9,000 in 1933 to 3,000 in 1939, as most fled from Nazi rule. During World War II , the Polish ethnic minorities of Catholic Warmians and Lutheran Masurians were persecuted by

9028-480: The northern end of the Masurian Lake District . The largest lake in the province was Śniardwy ( German : Spirdingsee ), at 113.8 square kilometers in area. The headwaters of the Pregel's numerous tributaries were found in southern East Prussia, with the longest, the Łyna ( German : Alle ), extending almost to the southern border with Congress Poland , winding its course northward through southern Warmia and

9150-647: The northwesternmost coastal parts approached an oceanic climate . In the northwest, the province bordered the Baltic Sea , with the Vistula Spit and Curonian Spit separating the sea itself from the Vistula Lagoon and Curonian Lagoon , respectively. The Sambia Peninsula ( German : Samland ) juts into the Baltic Sea between these two lagoons. Most of the rivers of East Prussia emptied into

9272-732: The only known megalithic tombs in Warmia-Masuria. The town was originally a settlement of Old Prussians . Between 1350 and 1360 Ortolf von Trier, a knight of the Teutonic Order and the Komtur of Elbing (Elbląg), founded a fort in the Old Prussian region of Galindia , probably near an Old Prussian settlement. The first mention of the fort, eponymously named Ortulfsburg, was a document from September 1360, after Ortolf invited Polish colonists from nearby Masovia , among whom

9394-556: The ports of Gdańsk and Gdynia to neutral Sweden . East Prussia was only slightly affected by the war until January 1945, when it was devastated during the East Prussian Offensive . Most of its inhabitants became refugees in bitterly cold weather during the Evacuation of East Prussia . In 1944 the medieval city of Königsberg , which had never been severely damaged by warfare in its 700 years of existence,

9516-483: The process of Germanization . The Polish-speaking population concentrated in the south of the province ( Masuria and Warmia) and all German geographic atlases at the start of 20th century showed the southern part of East Prussia as Polish with the number of Polish-speakers estimated at the time to be 300,000. Kursenieki inhabited the areas around the Curonian lagoon, while Lithuanian-speaking Prussians concentrated in

9638-410: The project estimated a passenger volume of 56,000 travelers in the first years with an expected growth within twenty years to 731,000 passengers. Aircraft movements should initially be around 5600 per year, growing to 17,000 during the same period. In early August 2014, Mostostal won the tender for construction of the terminal after the original tender was cancelled. In October, it became public that

9760-463: The province, through mistreatment by the Red Army, or from hunger, cold and disease. The landscape of East Prussia consisted of gently rolling plains and small hills, with flatter terrain in the north and more hills in the south. The province had a humid continental climate which was most pronounced in Lithuania Minor and at higher elevations in the south in the region of Masuria , while

9882-471: The province. Pre-war Polish citizens made up the majority of forced laborers in the province, with their numbers gradually increasing, but due to the influx of forced laborers of other nationalities, their overall percentage declined from 90% in 1940 to 62% in 1944. Most Polish forced laborers in the province were deported from the pre-war Polish territories annexed into the province by Germany, with German labor offices recruiting forced laborers established in

10004-592: The railway Olsztyn-Szczytno-Szymany and the decision to rebuild the airport, the construction of an airport link was announced in early 2014. The tender was closed in September 2014 and contained the construction of a 1.6-kilometre branch line between connecting railway line 35 with the airport, a railway station at the airport and a control centre at Szczytno. This project had a value of more than 60M PLN. [REDACTED] Media related to Olsztyn-Mazury Airport at Wikimedia Commons East Prussia East Prussia

10126-406: The redevelopment of the area. Among his projects was the rebuilding of the castle into a hunting lodge. King Władysław IV Vasa of Poland visited the town from 1628–29 and in 1639. Ortelsburg suffered from 17th century fires and the plague in 1656. The town became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701. King Frederick William I of Prussia granted Ortelsburg its town charter in 1723. In 1773 it

10248-473: The region's ethnic composition. Thousands of Protestants expelled from the Archbishopric of Salzburg were allowed to settle in depleted East Prussia. In 1756 Russia decided to go to war with the Kingdom of Prussia and annex the territory, which was then to be offered to Poland as part of a territorial exchange desired by Russia, however, ultimately Russia only occupied the region for four years during

10370-665: The region. Germany operated the Soldau and Hohenbruch  [ de ] concentration camps, mostly for Poles, multiple subcamps of the Stutthof concentration camp and several prisoner-of-war camps , including Stalag I-A , Stalag I-B , Stalag I-C, Stalag I-D, Stalag I-E, Stalag I-F , Stalag Luft VI , Oflag 52, Oflag 53, Oflag 60, Oflag 63 and Oflag 68 with multiple subcamps, for Polish, Belgian, French , British, Serbian, Soviet, Italian , American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealander, South African, Czech and other Allied POWs in

10492-592: The rest of Germany), while the Memel Territory , part of the Lithuania Minor region, was detached and annexed by Lithuania in 1923. Following Nazi Germany 's defeat in World War II in 1945, war-torn East Prussia was divided at Joseph Stalin 's insistence between the Soviet Union (the Kaliningrad Oblast became part of the Russian SFSR , and the constituent counties of the Klaipėda Region in

10614-604: The rest of Poland from the Baltic coast. The territory of Warmia was incorporated into the lands of former Ducal Prussia, which, by administrative deed of 31 January 1772 were named East Prussia . The former Polish Pomerelian lands beyond the Vistula River together with Malbork and Chełmno Land formed the Province of West Prussia with its capital at Marienwerder (Kwidzyn) in 1773. The Polish Partition Sejm ratified

10736-418: The ruins of the castle, the pre-war town hall, which houses the municipal and county authorities, as well as the Masurian Museum ( Muzeum Mazurskie ), dedicated to the history, ethnology and culture of Masuria and Szczytno, a Baroque Evangelical church, the pre-war Polish House ( Dom Polski ), which was the center of social and cultural life of the local Polish community during the times of Germanisation and

10858-523: The rulers of Nazi Germany were sent to concentration camps and held prisoner there until their death or liberation. After the 1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania , the Klaipėda region was integrated again into East Prussia. After the 1939 invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany opening World War II, the borders of East Prussia were revised. Regierungsbezirk Westpreußen became part of Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia , while Regierungsbezirk Zichenau ( Ciechanów )

10980-400: The runway, costing some five to six million Polish Zloty. The conferences to open the airport stalled, however, and as a result the airfield was left as it was, without any client/operator running flights to the airfield, save for the occasional business flight. The airport gained attention in the press in 2005, when it was alleged to have a connection with a so-called black site involved in

11102-601: The scheduled flights started in January 2016. The distance to the town of Olsztyn is 55 kilometres, with the journey taking 50 minutes. As of April 2016, trains run synchronized with the flights. Rail services are currently performed by government-owned Polregio . To adequately service the anticipated new airport, an existing rail line from Olsztyn to Szczytno (line 219) and a section of the disused railway 35 line between Szczytno and Szymany were renovated. The renovation allows trains to travel at up to 100 kilometres per hour on

11224-404: The settlement became known as Szczytno . The first custodian of the settlement was Heinrich Murer. In 1370 the wooden fort was destroyed by Lithuanians led by Kęstutis , after which it was rebuilt using stone. In German, the name Ortulfsburg gradually morphed into Ortelsburg. The settlement grew in size owing to its location on a trade route from Warsaw to Königsberg (now Kaliningrad ). In

11346-592: The small town through his historical novel The Knights of the Cross and whose works were published in Mazur , visited the town. In post-World War II Poland, a monument to Sienkiewicz was unveiled in the town center, next to the town hall and the ruins of the castle. Ortelsburg was almost completely destroyed at the beginning of World War I by troops of the Russian Empire , 160 houses and 321 commercial buildings burned down between 27 and 30 August 1914. The town's recovery

11468-598: The summer months. The civil operator was owned through various municipal governments and state companies. It was not very successful and made very high losses. In 2003, passenger flights came to an end. The company ended its activity in 2004 with 3 million Zloty in debts. In 2005, Szymany airport officials were in talks with Ryanair about launching flights from Szymany from 2006 on. The low-cost airline planned to connect Szymany with London and Germany using its Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The resumption of flights would have required renovation and expansion of terminal facilities and

11590-529: The summer of 1945. Many more were prevented from returning, and the German population of East Prussia was almost completely expelled by the communist regimes. During the war and for some time thereafter 45 camps were established for about 200,000-250,000 forced labourers, the vast majority of whom were deported to the Soviet Union, including the Gulag camp system. The largest camp with about 48,000 inmates

11712-866: The time of these landings, the airport regularly received visits by cars bearing markings associated with the Stare Kiejkuty intelligence training school outside the nearby village of Stare Kiejkuty . As recently as November, 2006, the European Parliament investigative commission led by Claudio Fava had been told, when asked for the flight logs of 11 specific flights observed to have transited through Szymany, that "[the records] have [not] been retained, have been faxed and destroyed, and finally said to have been saved in an unspecified place." The commission report also quotes Szymany officials as confirming six occasions in 2002 and 2003 when Gulfstream jets bearing civilian registration numbers had landed at

11834-620: The town was forced to host numerous troops of the Napoleon's Grande Armée , which invaded Russia. In 1818, after the Prussian administrative reforms, Ortelsburg became the seat of Landkreis Ortelsburg, one of the largest in East Prussia . The town became part of the German Empire in 1871 during the unification of Germany . It became an important center of the Polish movement in Masuria and resistance to Germanisation . In 1849-1851

11956-592: The town's German population fled before the Red Army . Those who remained behind were either killed in the final months of the war or expelled after its end in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement . The town was placed under Polish administration in 1945 under border changes promulgated at the Potsdam Conference , renamed to the historic Polish Szczytno and gradually repopulated with Poles. The first group of Poles expelled from former Eastern Poland , which

12078-723: The two lagoons; the Pregolya ( German : Pregel ), Pasłęka ( German : Passarge ), and Prokhladnaya ( German : Frisching ) into the Vistula Lagoon, and the Neman ( German : Memel ) and Minija ( German : Minge ) into the Curonian Lagoon. In the northeast of the province, the river Šešupė ( German : Scheschuppe ), a left-tributary of the Neman, formed the border with the Russian Empire , and today forms

12200-585: The wake of the Polish-Lithuanian victory over the Order at Grunwald in 1410, the castle was occupied by Polish troops. In 1454 King Casimir IV Jagiellon incorporated the town and region to the Kingdom of Poland upon the request of the anti-Teutonic Prussian Confederation . After the Second Peace of Toruń of 1466 it became part of Poland as a fief held by the Teutonic state. In the 15th century,

12322-608: The well-preserved old wooden Masurian House ( Chata Mazurska ). Also are located there the Gothic Revival Catholic Church of the Assumption and Baptist Church, the historic buildings of the district court, nursing home , tax office, police school, post office and former brewery. Football club SKS Szczytno (formerly Gwardia Szczytno ) is based in the town. It played in the Polish second division in

12444-416: The woods, the airfield could be used as a temporary facility during the war. It was used this way in 1939 during the invasion in Poland. In 1945, the small airfield was in the hands of the Soviet army. As they were not interested in the facility, they left it in autumn 1945. The former field held a 1200m by 60m (3937 ft by 197 ft) runway, of which the remains still remain clearly distinguishable near

12566-616: Was Adria Airways in June. On 30 July 2016, the new Olsztyn-Mazury Airport handled its 15,000th passenger. In August 2016, Adria Airways announced that it would terminate its subsidies route to Munich on 28 October 2016. SprintAir operated its final service in Szymany on 30 October 2016 after its contract was terminated. Thereby, only low-cost flights were scheduled during the winter schedule 2016/17. The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Olsztyn: The airport has railway access that has been operative since

12688-492: Was Olsztyn-Dajtki airport that served flights to Bydgoszcz, Warszawa, Gdańsk and Berlin from 1926 until 1958. Despite the eventual cessation of scheduled services between the aforementioned destinations, the airport is still operational as a flight school and general aviation airfield. The airfield in Szymany originates from 1933. Back then it was located in Germany, just kilometres away from the Polish border. Being hidden within

12810-493: Was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic 's Free State of Prussia , until 1945. Its capital city was Königsberg (present-day Kaliningrad ). East Prussia was the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast . The bulk of

12932-743: Was a part of the Holy Roman Empire , the Prussian lands were not within the Holy Roman Empire and were with the administration by the Teutonic Order grandmasters under jurisdiction of the Emperor. In return for supporting Emperor Leopold I in the War of the Spanish Succession , Elector Frederick III was allowed to crown himself " King in Prussia " in 1701. The new kingdom ruled by the Hohenzollern dynasty became known as

13054-720: Was added to East Prussia. Originally part of the Zichenau region, the Sudauen ( Suwałki ) district in Sudovia was later transferred to the Gumbinnen region. In 1939 East Prussia had 2.49 million inhabitants, 85% of them ethnic Germans, the others Poles in the south who, according to Polish estimates numbered in the interwar period around 300,000-350,000, the Latvian speaking Kursenieki , and Lietuvininkai who spoke Lithuanian in

13176-399: Was almost completely destroyed by two RAF Bomber Command raids – the first on the night of 26/27 August 1944, with the second one three nights later, overnight on 29/30 August 1944. Winston Churchill ( The Second World War , Book XII) had erroneously believed it to be "a modernized heavily defended fortress " and ordered its destruction. Gauleiter Erich Koch delayed the evacuation of

13298-424: Was annexed by the Soviet Union , arrived to Szczytno in June 1945 from Volhynia . After the war, the town's life was organized anew. In 1946-1948 new schools were founded, including a pedagogical school, a vocational school and a school for kindergarten teachers. In 1947 a public library was founded and in 1954 a culture center was established. Since 1948, the town hall, besides the local administration, also houses

13420-531: Was discovered the airfield was used by the CIA in conjunction with a black site prison nearby in 2003. From 2014 to 2015, the airport was rebuilt with high EU subsidies as part of the "Regional Operational Programme Warmia and Mazury 2007–2013". Its runway was extended and overhauled; a new terminal, railway link and further facilities were erected. In January 2016, the airport re-opened for scheduled flights. The airport ostensibly serves Olsztyn (population 175,000; its agglomeration comprises 270,000 inhabitants),

13542-565: Was established at Deutsch Eylau (Iława). Orphaned children who were left behind in the zone occupied by the Soviet Union were referred to as Wolf children . Representatives of the Polish government officially took over the civilian administration of the southern part of East Prussia on 23 May 1945. Subsequently, Polish expatriates from Polish lands annexed by the Soviet Union as well as Ukrainians and Lemkos from southern Poland, expelled in Operation Vistula , were settled in

13664-537: Was finally left. In the 1990s, the airport readied to also handle passenger flights. To allow this, a civil airport operator was established in January 1996. A first civil aircraft landed in June 1996, an ATR turboprop aircraft operated by state-owned LOT Polish Airlines To serve these flights a small passenger terminal was opened and operated. The majority of passenger flights to land in Szymany were charter flights from German destinations like Cologne, Dortmund, Hannover and Stuttgart. The flights were sporadic during

13786-490: Was formalised in the Second Peace of Toruń in 1466 ending the Thirteen Years' War . The restoration of Pomerania/ Pomerelia to Poland was confirmed, and Warmia also was confirmed part of Poland, with both co-forming the larger Polish provinces of Royal Prussia and Greater Poland . The remainder of historic Prussia also became a part of "one and indivisible" Kingdom of Poland as a fief and protectorate held by

13908-609: Was held according to the Versailles treaty under the supervision of Allied troops, resulted in 5,336 votes for Germany and 15 for Poland. It was preceded by persecution of local Polish activists by the Germans, pro-Polish rallies and meetings were dispersed. On January 21, 1920 ("Bloody Wednesday") a German militia armed with crowbars , metal rods, and shovels , attacked the gathering of local Polish activists and severely beat local Polish leaders Bogumił Linka and Bogumił Leyk, all at

14030-591: Was included in the newly formed province of East Prussia . Prussian King Frederick William III and Queen Louise arrived in the town on 23 November 1806 while fleeing French troops during the Fourth Coalition . The town was briefly the seat of the Prussian government, and Frederick William released his Ortelsburger Publicandum — a series of constitutional, administrative, social and economic reforms — there on 1 December 1806. Later that month, French troops occupied and plundered Ortelsburg. Six years later

14152-416: Was planned that included extension and renovation of the runway from 2000 to 2500 metres, aprons, taxiways and a brand new terminal. 76 percent of the investment could be funded by the European Union with local government paying the remainder. EU funds would only be granted as long the reconstruction airport would be operative by the end of 2015, resulting in tight schedule for construction. The initiators of

14274-612: Was previously known as Szymany Airport or Szczytno-Szymany Airport . It originally served as air base for the Germans during World War II and later for the Polish Air Force. After it lost its military importance with the end of the Cold War , it served as a passenger airport for a few years at the turn of the millennium. Flights were sporadic and passenger numbers very low, so it ceased operations again around 2003. The Szymany Airport received international attention after it

14396-593: Was published in the town in the 1920s. Even before the invasion of Poland , the German authorities expelled two local Polish activists in January 1939, and later in 1939 more activists were arrested, including the Polish editor Robert Kraszewski, who was then imprisoned in the Hohenbruch concentration camp  [ de ] and later beheaded in the Moabit prison in Berlin . Some Polish activists managed to flee in

14518-494: Was renamed Kaliningrad in 1946. Most of the German population of the province had left during the evacuation at the end of the war, but several hundreds of thousands died during the years 1944–46 and the remainder were subsequently expelled in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement . Shortly after the end of the war in May 1945, Germans who had fled in early 1945 tried to return to their homes in East Prussia. An estimated number of 800,000 Germans were living in East Prussia during

14640-571: Was supported by contributions raised in Berlin and Vienna . In 1916 the Viennese modernist Josef Hoffmann visited Ortelsburg, his plans for a new town hall were not carried out. A new town hall, an example of Nazi architecture in East Prussia, was finally built in 1938 and listed as a historical monument in 1991. The initial plans for the reconstruction of the town were based on Bruno Möhring 's work but carried out by several local architects. The East Prussian plebiscite of 11 July 1920, which

14762-536: Was the location of the Polish House, in which meetings of Polish journalists and activists were held. The Polish House was the headquarters of such organisations as "Zjednoczenie Mazurskie", "Samopomoc Mazurska" and the Union of Poles in Germany . Today the building is dedicated to the memory of the people and institutions that were engaged in Polish movement in Masuria . The Polish newspaper Mazurski Przyjaciel Ludu

14884-423: Was there that he was interrogated and waterboarded before beginning to cooperate. In February 2010 Polish officials recanted previous denials, and admitted that at least six CIA flights passed through Szymany in 2003. Following several quiet years, ideas again come up to reconstruct the airport in order to resume passenger services. By the end of 2013, plans became very substantial. An investment of 200 million

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