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'Kętrzyn' (; ; former ) 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

History

People

Gallery

Twin towns

External links

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, 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.

People

★ Karl Bogislaus Reichert, German anatomist

★ Oskar Schmoling, Youngest POW of WWII

★ Wilhelm Wien, physicist, Nobel Prize winner

Gallery

Twin towns

Volodymyr-Volynskyi, Wesel, Zlate Hory

External links

★ Municipal webpage

★ Kętrzyn