Olecko

Olecko (German: Treuburg until 1945, Marggrabowa until 1928, also Oletzko) is a town in Masuria, in the Warminsko-Mazurskie voivodship of Poland, near Elk (Lyck) and Suwalki.

It is situated at the mouth of the Lega river into the Great Olecko Lake (Jezioro Oleckie Wielkie, Großer Treuburger See) on its south-western shore.

History

Marggrabowa was founded as a town by the Duke of Prussia, Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach on January 1, 1560. The town's name comes from the German word Markgraf, the duke's title as the margraviate of Brandenburg's prince. At the same place there has been since 1544 a hunting lodge called Oletzko. At a peninsula towards the lake, across the Lega river, in 1619 the Castle of Oletzko (Schloss Oletzko) was established as a regional administrative seat.

Between 1818 and 1945, Marggrabowa was the head of the Prussian Oletzko County (Kreis Oletzko, later named Kreis Treuburg) of the Prussian province Ostpreußen, usually known as East Prussia.

Sights

The town's beautiful market square was held to be the biggest in Germany. In its northern part, a Catholic (formerly Lutheran) church is situated on a tree-covered hill.

Transportation

The Train Station in the western part of town is a regional railway junction: there are main lines to Goldap, Elk (Lyck) and Suwalki. The local railway connections to Mieruniszki (Merunen), Kruklanki (Kruglanken) and Sulejki (Suleiken) are out of service or dismantled.

Education

• Wszechnica Mazurska
  

  Olecko (district)

History

The area to a large extent was populated by Masurians, an ethnic group with a language of Slavic origin. Since the 18th Century, cultural orientation strongly changed towards German and the number of Masurian-speaking people decreased.
1818 - over 90% of population (according to Polish sources),
1900 - 33.5% (Prussian census)

In 1888, German language was fully established in the schools of all levels.

In 1920, a plebiscite was held in the area by the League of Nations on remaining in East Prussia or affiliation with the recreated state of Poland. After an overwhelming result of 28,625 pro-German votes against 2 pro-Polish, the county remained with Germany. In respect to this, in 1928 the name of the town of Marggrabowa was changed to Treuburg (German: treu for faithful, Burg for castle). In 1933, the name of the County of Oletzko was also changed to County of Treuburg (Kreis Treuburg).

In January 1945, the area was overrun by the Soviet Army. Most of the inhabitants were violently expelled, killed, or deported to Russia by the communist regimes. Afterwards the area was given to Polish administration by the Soviets to become a part of Poland. Treuburg was renamed to Olecko and resettled with Polish expatriates expelled from the eastern parts of Poland (currently in Ukraine) taken by the Soviet Union after the Molotov-Ribbentrop_Pact.

Population