Małe Olecko (german: Klein Oletzko, Herzogshöhe from 1938 to 1945) 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 Wieliczki, within Olecko County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland. It is situated on the southern shore of Olecko Małe Lake in

Masuria Masuria (, german: Masuren, Masurian: ''Mazurÿ'') is a ethnographic and geographic region in northern and northeastern Poland, known for its 2,000 lakes. Masuria occupies much of the Masurian Lake District. Administratively, it is part of the ...

History

Małe Olecko was founded in 1541 by Bartosz Leśnicki from Mazovia, who bought land to establish a village. In 1867, it had a population of 535, 93.8%

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

. In 1938, during a massive campaign of renaming of placenames, the

government of Nazi Germany The government of Nazi Germany was totalitarian, run by the Nazi Party in Germany according to the Führerprinzip through the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler. Nazi Germany began with the fact that the Enabling Act was enacted to give Hitler's gover ...

renamed it to ''Herzogshöhe'' in attempt to erase traces of Polish origin. In 1939, it had a population of 518. Following Germany's defeat 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 ...

, in 1945, the village became again part of Poland and its historic name was restored.

References

Populated lakeshore places in Poland Villages in Olecko County 1541 establishments in Poland Populated places established in 1541 {{Olecko-geo-stub