Kętrzyn

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Kętrzyn
Teutonic castle
Teutonic castle
Coat of arms of Kętrzyn
Coat of arms
Kętrzyn (Poland)
Kętrzyn
Kętrzyn
Coordinates: 54°5′N 21°23′E / 54.083, 21.383
Country Flag of Poland Poland
Voivodeship Warmian-Masurian
County Kętrzyn County
Gmina Kętrzyn (urban gmina)
Established 1329
Town rights 1357
Government
 - Mayor Grzegorz Waldemar Prokop
Area
 - Total 10.34 km² (4 sq mi)
Population (2006)
 - Total 28,000
 - Density 2,707.9/km² (7,013.5/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 - Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 11-400
Area code(s) +48 89
Car plates NKE
Website: http://www.ketrzyn.pl/

Kętrzyn [ˈkɛntʂɨn] (Image:Ltspkr.png listen) (German: Rastenburg (Image:Ltspkr.png listen); former Polish: Rastembork) is a town in northeastern Poland with 28,351 inhabitants (2004). Situated in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship (since 1999), Kętrzyn was previously in Olsztyn Voivodeship (1975-1998). It is the capital of Kętrzyn County.

Contents

[edit] History

Before 1945, the town was in the German province of East Prussia, and was known in German as Rastenburg and in Polish as Rastembork.

Adolf Hitler's wartime military headquarters, the Wolfsschanze (Wolf's Lair), was located in the forests east of Rastenburg. The bunker was the setting for the failed July 20 Plot against Hitler. The ruins of the Wolfsschanze, blown up by the retreating Germans in 1945, are an important tourist attraction.

Rastenburg was occupied by the Red Army in 1945 near the end of World War II. After the war ended, it was placed under Polish administration according to the Potsdam Conference. Its German residents who had not evacuated were subsequently expelled westward and replaced with Poles. The town was renamed Kętrzyn after the Masurian activist Wojciech Kętrzyński.

[edit] People

[edit] Gallery

[edit] Twin towns

Volodymyr-Volynskyi, Wesel, Zlate Hory

[edit] External links

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Coordinates: 54°05′N, 21°23′E