Spychowo (german: Puppen) 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 ...

in the administrative district of Gmina Świętajno, within Szczytno County,

Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship or Warmia-Masuria Province or Warmia-Mazury Province (in pl, Województwo warmińsko-mazurskie, is a voivodeship (province) in northeastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Olsztyn. The voivodeship has an ar ...

, in northern Poland. It lies approximately north-east of Świętajno, east of Szczytno, 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. ...

. The village has a population of 1,100. Spychowo is the seat of the Spychowo forest district (''Nadleśnictwo Spychowo''), which manages the .

History

In mid 13th century the

Teutonic Order 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 ...

, following the medieval conquest of

Old Prussia Prussia (Old Prussian: ''Prūsa''; german: Preußen; lt, Prūsija; pl, Prusy; russian: Пруссия, tr=Prussiya, ''/Prussia/Borussia'') is a historical region in Europe on the south-eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, that ranges from the Vis ...

, built a fortification at the place of an Old Prussian settlement. The village was a favorite hunting post of the Prussian Kings and, after the

Nazi rise to power Adolf Hitler's rise to power began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919 when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He rose to a place of prominence in the early years of the party. Be ...

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...

. Before 1945 it was known as Puppen. After

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 opposing ...

the village was initially renamed ''Pupy'', which was changed to ''Spychowo'' in 1960. On September 23, 1979 the local

Protestant church Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

was taken over by Catholics.Andreas Kossert: Masuren - Ostpreussens vergessener Süden, p. 374

Images

References

{{Gmina Świętajno, Szczytno County

Spychowo Spychowo (german: Puppen) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Świętajno, Szczytno County, Gmina Świętajno, within Szczytno County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It lies approximately north-east of Święta ...