Olsztyn

Olsztyn (German Allenstein) is a city in northeast Poland, historically capital of Warmia, on the Lyna River, with a population of 173,850 (2005). Olsztyn is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodship, previously Olsztyn Voivodship.

The town is beautifully situated in a lake region of forests and plains, barely touched by man. There are 13 lakes inside the administrative bounds of the town and many more surrounding it: (Krzywe, Długie, Żbik, Redykajny and others).

500 B.C(circa) Prussian tribes settle the area
1226 Teutonic Knights start their invasion of Prussian lands
1348 first mentioned.
1353 town located.
1410 captured temporary by Polish army
1414 captured temporary by Polish army
1440 Olsztyn accessed pro-Polish Union of Prussia
1454 Uprising against Teutonic Knights. Olsztyn and Union of Prussia ask Polish King for incorporation of the city into the Polish Crown.
1455 captured by Teutonic Knight mercenaries
1463 recaptured by Polish army
1464 officially annexed to Poland
1466 Treaty in Toruń confirms that Olsztyn belongs to Poland
1655 captured temporarily by Swedish army
1708 burned down by Swedes
1709 epidemic
1772 to Prussia
1807 visit of Napoleon
1846 population 4000
1867 city hospital founded
1871 German Empire
1873 railway connection to Toruń
1875 population 6000
1886 "Gazeta Olsztyńska" Polish newspaper in Warmia founded
1890 city gas infrastructure founded
1892 first telephone line
1895 population 25 000
1898 water system
1907 electricity
1914 start of WWI. Russian army captures the city
1920 Olsztyn remains in Germany in exclave of East Prussia
1921 Polish activists emigrate to Poland
1933 Nazis in power – persecutions of Poles and Jews.
1935 The German Wehrmacht made Allenstein the home of the 11th Infanterie Division; the 217th Infanterie Division; and the 11th Artillery Regiment.
The 11th Infanterie Division was commanded by Lieutenant General Karl Burdach. The unit was involved in the German invasion of Poland in 1939, and moved eastward in the Invasion of Russia. It was made up of the 2nd, 23rd, and 44th Grenadier Regiments; the 11th Artillery Regiment; the 11th Pioneer Battalion, the 11th Panzer Jäger Abteilung; the 11th Aufkl. Abteilung; and the 11th Nachrichten Abteilung.
The 217th Infanterie Division was commanded by Lieutenant General Poppe. The unit was organized in 1939 at Allenstein, of East Prussians of the Landwehr age group. It took part in the invasions of Poland, France, and Russia, where it remained at least until the Normandy Invasion. The division consisted of the 311st, 346th, and 389th Grenadier Regiments; the 217th Artillery Regiment; and Pioneer, Panzer Jäger, Aufkl., and Nachrichten units of the same number.
1935-1939 fast development of the city.
1939 October 12 German Wehrmacht established an Area Headquarters of Wehrkreis I that controlled the subareas of Allenstein, Lötzen, and Zichenau/Ciechanòw.
1939 population 50 000
1939 deportation of Polish minority to concentration camps (see Union of Poles in Germany)
1939 WWII German invasion of Poland
1945 Olsztyn captured by Red Army (January 22)
1945 (May 23)with the return of Polish administration Olsztyn becomes Polish again after 173 years of Prussian and German rule resulting from forced dismemberment of Poland.
1946 population 23 000
1950 population 45 000
1967 tyre manufacturing plant founded
1980-1981 Solidarity revolution
1989 democratic elections