Giżycko (former or ''Łuczany''; ) is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

in northeastern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

with 28,597 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is situated between Lake Kisajno and Lake Niegocin in the region of

Masuria Masuria ( ; ; ) is an 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 Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship (ad ...

, within the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. It is the seat of Giżycko County. Giżycko is a popular summer tourist destination due to its location within the

Masurian Lake District The Masurian Lake District or Masurian Lake Land () is a lake district in northeastern Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpath ...

and possesses numerous historical monuments, including a 14th-century Teutonic castle.

History

Antiquity and Middle Ages

The first known settlements in the area of today's Giżycko were recorded in Roman times by Tacitus in his Germania and are connected to

Amber Road The Amber Road was an ancient trade route for the transfer of amber from coastal areas of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. Prehistoric trade routes between Northern and Southern Europe were defined by the amber trade. ...

in vicinity of which Giżycko was located.History Giżycko City official website
/ref> A defensive settlement of the Baltic Prussians was known to exist in the area, and in IX was recorded as being ruled by king known as Izegup or Jesegup. After his failed attempt in 997 AD

Bolesław I the Brave Bolesław I the Brave (17 June 1025), less often List of people known as the Great, known as Bolesław the Great, was Duke of Poland from 992 to 1025 and the first King of Poland in 1025. He was also Duke of Bohemia between 1003 and 1004 as Boles ...

sent another expedition in 1008 to conquer/Christianize the

Old Prussians Old Prussians, Baltic Prussians or simply Prussians were a Balts, Baltic people that inhabited the Prussia (region), region of Prussia, on the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea between the Vistula Lagoon to the west and the Curonian Lagoon ...

. Just like St. Adalbert the missionary

Bruno of Querfurt Bruno of Querfurt, O.S.B. Cam., (; 974 – 14 February or 9/14 March 1009), also known as Brun, was a Christian missionary bishop, Camaldolese monk and martyr, who was beheaded near the border of Kievan Rus and Lithuania for trying to spread C ...

was killed by Sudovians near Lake Niegocin in 1009, and a memorial the Bruno – cross was erected near in 1910. The

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

built a

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

named Lötzen (''Łuczany'' in Polish, later also ''Lec'') in 1340, located at the

isthmus An isthmus (; : isthmuses or isthmi) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea count ...

between two lakes in today's

. Lötzen was administered within the commandery of Balga. Since the

Late Middle Ages The late Middle Ages or late medieval period was the Periodization, period of History of Europe, European history lasting from 1300 to 1500 AD. The late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period ( ...

, it was mainly populated by

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

from nearby

Mazovia Mazovia or Masovia ( ) is a historical region in mid-north-eastern Poland. It spans the North European Plain, roughly between Łódź and Białystok, with Warsaw being the largest city and Płock being the capital of the region . Throughout the ...

, known as

Masurians The Masurians or Mazurs (; ; Masurian dialects, Masurian: ''Mazurÿ''), historically also known as Prussian Masurians (Polish language, Polish: ''Mazurzy pruscy''), are an ethnic group originating from the region of Masuria, within the Warmian- ...

. In 1454, Polish King

Casimir IV Jagiellon Casimir IV (Casimir Andrew Jagiellon; ; Lithuanian: ; 30 November 1427 – 7 June 1492) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447 until his death in 1492. He was one of the most active Polish-Lithuanian rulers; under ...

incorporated the region to the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland (; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a monarchy in Central Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval period from 1025 until 1385. Background The West Slavs, West Slavic tribe of Polans (western), Polans who lived in what i ...

upon the request of the Prussian Confederation, and after the subsequent outbreak of the Thirteen Years’ War in 1454, Łuczany sided with Poland.''Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich'', Tom V, Warsaw, 1884, p. 113 The settlement was captured by the Teutonic Knights in 1455, but the Poles recaptured it the next year. After the

peace treaty A peace treaty is an treaty, agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually country, countries or governments, which formally ends a declaration of war, state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice, which is an ag ...

signed in

Toruń Toruń is a city on the Vistula River in north-central Poland and a World Heritage Sites of Poland, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its population was 196,935 as of December 2021. Previously, it was the capital of the Toruń Voivodeship (1975–199 ...

in 1466 it became part of Poland as a

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

held by the Teutonic Order, until the dissolution of the Teutonic state in 1525.

Modern era

The settlement near the castle received

town privileges Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...

, with a

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

and seal, in 1612, while part of the

Duchy of Prussia The Duchy of Prussia (, , ) or Ducal Prussia (; ) was a duchy in the region of Prussia established as a result of secularization of the Monastic Prussia, the territory that remained under the control of the State of the Teutonic Order until t ...

(under Polish suzerainty until 1701). The first mayor was Paweł Rudzki. The Polish name of the town, used by its overwhelmingly Polish population, at the time was ''Łuczany''. Lötzen became part of the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

in 1701 and was made part of the newly established province of

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, 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 ...

in 1773. In 1709/10 the plague claimed 800 victims, only 119 inhabitants survived.
In the 19th century, a new

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

church based on design by

Karl Friedrich Schinkel Karl Friedrich Schinkel (13 March 1781 – 9 October 1841) was a Prussian architect, urban planning, city planner and painter who also designed furniture and stage sets. Schinkel was one of the most prominent architects of Germany and designed b ...

was erected in the centre of the town. Lötzen became part of the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

in 1871 during the Prussian-led

unification of Germany The unification of Germany (, ) was a process of building the first nation-state for Germans with federalism, federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without Habsburgs' multi-ethnic Austria or its German-speaking part). I ...

. In June 1807, the Polish

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was formally introduced March 1, 1800, when Napoleon ordered Gener ...

of generals Józef Zajączek and Jan Henryk Dąbrowski were stationed in the town. After the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

, the town was hit by fire and famine. King

Frederick William IV of Prussia Frederick William IV (; 15 October 1795 – 2 January 1861), the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia, was King of Prussia from 7 June 1840 until his death on 2 January 1861. Also referred to as the "romanticist on the th ...

, during his visit in 1845, was received in the town by 10,000 impoverished people chanting ''Chleba!'' (''Bread!'' in Polish). The King replied to the crowd in Polish as the last Prussian ruler to speak Polish. From 1875 to 1892 the Polish-language weekly newspaper ''Gazeta Lecka'' was published. Twierdza Boyen - 1

In 1844–1848 the Boyen Fortress, a fortress named after the Prussian war-minister Hermann von Boyen, was built on a small landtongue between lake Mamry (Mauersee) and lake Niegocin (Löwentinsee). This fortress is one of the largest and best conditioned fortresses of the 19th century. In 1942–1945 it was the headquarters of the German military intelligence service ( Fremde Heere Ost) under Reinhard Gehlen. As a result of the

treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...

, the 1920 East Prussian plebiscite was organized under the control of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

. During the preparations for the plebiscite, a German militia attacked a pro-Polish rally with around 1,000 people. Speakers and people attending the rally were severely beaten; the main pro-Polish leader of the rally Fryderyk Leyk was beaten so badly that he just barely survived. Afterwards the attitude of Polish population in the town was resigned and part of the population boycotted the vote while others openly voted for Germany fearing revenge;Giżycko: z dziejów miasta i okolic Irena Berentowicz, Andrzej Wakar - 1983 p.126 4,900 votes were cast to remain in East Prussia, and therefore Germany, and none for Poland. Afterwards aggressive

Germanisation Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, people, and culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nationalism went hand in hand. In l ...

was intensified, and during Nazi rule in Germany, there was practical ban on speaking Polish in public places in the town. In the 1930s Lötzen was the garrison of several military units of the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

as a Sub-area Headquarter of Wehrkreis I, which was headquartered at

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

. Staff-, maintenance- and guardtroops of Hitler's headquarter Wolfsschanze and the

Oberkommando des Heeres The (; abbreviated OKH) was the high command of the Army of Nazi Germany. It was founded in 1935 as part of Adolf Hitler's rearmament of Germany. OKH was ''de facto'' the most important unit within the German war planning until the defeat ...

(OKH, army high command) were also based in or nearby Lötzen. The OKH was based at the Mauerwald area, ca. 10 km north of Giżycko, an undestroyed bunker system. The town was occupied by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

in 1945 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and placed under Polish administration after the war ended. As part of territorial changes demanded by the

, Polish rule was accepted at the Potsdam Conference, however, on preliminary terms. The transfer was confirmed by the German–Polish Border Treaty. The German-speaking populace who had not been evacuated during the war were subsequently expelled westward in accordance with the

Potsdam Agreement The Potsdam Agreement () was the agreement among three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union after the war ended in Europe that was signed on 1 August 1945 and published the following day. A ...

. The remaining Polish populace was joined by Poles displaced from former eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union, particularly from the Vilnius Region. The town was renamed ''Giżycko'' in 1946 in honor of the Masurian folklorist Gustaw Gizewiusz, a 19th-century Evangelical-Lutheran pastor in southern

, who had greatly supported

Polish language Polish (, , or simply , ) is a West Slavic languages, West Slavic language of the Lechitic languages, Lechitic subgroup, within the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, and is written in the Latin script. It is primarily spo ...

and

Polish culture The culture of Poland () is the product of its Geography of Poland, geography and distinct historical evolution, which is closely connected to History of Poland, an intricate thousand-year history. Poland has a Catholic Church, Roman Catholic ma ...

and stood against

of Masuria.

Demographics

Up to the 19th century, the Polish population formed a majority in the city, with a small presence of Germans. By the middle of 19th century German minority became much more numerous and Germanization made rapid progress in the city.

Sports

When Poland made the so far only international appearance in

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two team sport, teams wearing Ice skates#Bandy skates, ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The playin ...

, the city was represented. The local

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team is . It competes in the lower leagues.

Education

Primary school

* Szkoła Podstawowa nr 4 im. I Dywizji Piechoty * Szkoła podstawowa nr 5 * Szkoła Podstawowa nr 6 * Szkoła Podstawowa nr 7 im. Janusza Korczaka

Middle school

* Gimnazjum nr 1 w Giżycku im. Jana Pawła II * Gimnazjum nr 2 w Giżycku im. Chwały Oręża Polskiego * Katolickie Gimnazjum im. św. Brunona z Kwerfurtu * Zespół Szkół nr 1 im. Mikołaja Kopernika

High school

* I Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Wojciecha Kętrzyńskiego * II Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Gustawa Gizewiusza * Zespół Szkół Elektronicznych i Informatycznych im. Komisji Edukacji Narodowej * Zespół Szkół Kształtowania Środowiska i Agrobiznesu * Zespół Szkół Zawodowych * Katolickie Liceum im. św. Brunona z Kwerfurtu

College

* Medyczne Studium Zawodowe im. Hanny Chrzanowskiej * Prywatna Wyższa Szkoła Zawodowa

Notable residents

* Marcin Giersz (1808–1895), Masurian activist, publicist of Polish literature * Gustaw Gizewiusz (1810–1848), Polish pastor, folklorist, and translator * Wojciech Kętrzyński (1838–1918), Polish historian and activist * Paul Davidson (1867–1927), German film producer * Jan Bułhak (1876–1950), Polish pioneer of photography in Poland * Franz Pfemfert (1879–1954), German publisher * Lothar Gall (1936–2024), German historian *

Łukasz Broź Łukasz Broź (born 17 December 1985) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a defender for IV liga Masovia club Tygrys Huta Mińska. Career statistics International Honours Kmita Zabierzów * III liga, group IV: 2005–06 ...

(born 1985), Polish footballer * Mateusz Broź (born 1988), Polish footballer * Marcin Budziński (born 1990), Polish footballer * Patryk Kun (born 1995), Polish footballer * Jakub Kochanowski (born 1997), Polish volleyball player, 2018 World Champion

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Giżycko is twinned with:

Gallery

File:Bruno of Querfurt Cross in Giżycko.jpg, Bruno of Querfurt Hill and Cross in Giżycko. View from Lake Niegocin File:POL Gizycko Twierdza Boyen 39.jpg, Boyen fortress File:Замок Гижицко.JPG, Swing bridge and the castle File:Giżycko, ul. Kolejowa 22.jpg, Music school File:Kościół ewangelicki w Giżycku 4.jpg, Evangelical church File:GIŻYCKO. AB-009.JPG, Town hall

References

External links

Municipal website

Tourism websiteLocal Gizycko information

Full text of "Monumenta historiæ Warmiensis, oder, Quellensammlung zur Geschichte Ermlands"
festeboyen.pl
(Polish)
Jewish community of Giżycko
on Virtual Shtetl {{DEFAULTSORT:Gizycko Suwałki Voivodeship Cities and towns in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship Giżycko County Masuria (region) Populated lakeshore places in Poland Populated places established in the 14th century