Gorczyce (german: Gorczitzen) is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

in the administrative district of

Gmina Prostki __NOTOC__ Gmina Prostki is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Ełk County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. Its seat is the village of Prostki, which lies approximately south of Ełk and east of the regional capital Olszt ...

, within

Ełk County __NOTOC__ Ełk County ( pl, powiat ełcki) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, northern Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government ref ...

, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It lies approximately south-west of

Prostki Prostki (german: Prostken) is a village in Ełk County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Prostki. It lies approximately south of Ełk and east of the regional c ...

, south of Ełk, and east of the regional capital

Olsztyn Olsztyn ( , ; german: Allenstein ; Old Prussian: ''Alnāsteini'' * Latin: ''Allenstenium'', ''Holstin'') is a city on the Łyna River in northern Poland. It is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with county rights. ...

. It is a sołectwo of Prostki.

History

Before the 13th century, the region surrounding present day Gorczyce was inhabited by

Baltic Prussians Old Prussians, Baltic Prussians or simply Prussians (Old Prussian: ''prūsai''; german: Pruzzen or ''Prußen''; la, Pruteni; lv, prūši; lt, prūsai; pl, Prusowie; csb, Prësowié) were an indigenous tribe among the Baltic peoples that in ...

and was known as Galindia. Following the Prussian Crusade it was conquered by the

Teutonic Knights The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...

and became part of the Monastic State of the Teutonic Order. After the secularization of the Teutonic Order in 1525, the region became part of Ducal Prussia, which was established as a vassal state of the

Crown of the Kingdom of Poland The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Korona Królestwa Polskiego; Latin: ''Corona Regni Poloniae''), known also as the Polish Crown, is the common name for the historic Late Middle Ages territorial possessions of the King of Poland, includ ...

. Beginning in the 15th century, many Polish settlers (called ''Mazurs'') from the of Mazovia region of Poland, moved into the southern parts of the duchy (later known as the Mazury region). Areas that had large numbers of

Polish language Polish (Polish: ''język polski'', , ''polszczyzna'' or simply ''polski'', ) is a West Slavic language of the Lechitic group written in the Latin script. It is spoken primarily in Poland and serves as the native language of the Poles. In a ...

speakers were known as the Polish Departments. In 1657, the duchy passed under the full sovereignty of

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

. Before 1945, Gorczyce was part of the Prussian and then German region of

East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...

. The village was historically called Gorczitzen, written ''Gortzitzen'' in the 1881 '' Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland'', and is recorded as ''Gramatzken'' in a 1484 document. In 1928 it was renamed to Deumenrode. Under Prussian administration, it was administered with Borki (''Borken''), their combined population being 286 in 1885. Its population was 205 in 1933, 186 in 1939. With the defeat of Germany in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, it became part of Poland and was renamed to Gorczyce.

Transport

Gorczyce is on route 1680N, which links

with

Biała Piska Biała Piska (former pl, Biała; german: Bialla, 1938-45: Gehlenburg, 1334: Gailen) is a town in Pisz County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland, with 3,986 inhabitants as of December 2021. Geography Biała Piska is a recreation area in th ...

References

Villages in Ełk County {{Ełk-geo-stub