Osterode in East Prussia/Ostróda
Osterode in East Prussia/Ostróda
Etymology
The town’s name, originally often written as ‘Osterrode’, means ‘a cleared area of woodland situated to the east’. It is thought to refer to the town of Osterode am Harz.
Location
Osterode lies at an altitude of 112 metres above sea level, at 53° 42' north latitude and 19° 58' east longitude, 36 kilometres west of Allenstein/Olsztyn.
Topography
Osterode lies at the mouth of the River Drewenz (Drwęca) where it flows into Lake Drewenz (Jezioro Drwęckie), the largest body of water in the Iława Lake District (Pojezierze Iławskie), which stretches to the north of the town. Other lakes within the town’s current boundaries include Lake Schmording (Jezioro Smordy [Jakuba]), Lake Großes Zehmen (Jezioro Sajmino) and Lake Pörschken (Jezioro Perskie); to the north, it borders Lake Pauze (Jezioro Pauzeńskie). Approximately 12 km south of the town lies Kernsdorf Hill (Dylewska Góra, 312 m above sea level), the highest point in East Prussia.
Political and administrative affiliation
Poland. A municipality and the administrative centre of a district (powiat) in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship (Województwo Warmińsko-Mazurskie). From 1818 to 1945, there was an Osterode district within the Allenstein administrative region in the Province of East Prussia (1829–1878: Province of Prussia).
Common symbolism
The coat of arms depicts, on a red horse striding to the right with a blue saddlecloth, a Knight of the Teutonic Order clad in golden armour, holding a lance and a sword, and bearing a silver order shield bearing a black cross. In the 19th century, the knight was reinterpreted as St George, piercing a reclining green lindworm. This reinterpretation was reversed in 1904. The current coat of arms of the Polish town once again depicts the shieldless horseman and the lindworm.
Middle Ages
The site was originally thought to have been a settlement of members of the Prussian Sassen tribe, situated on a trade route between Masovia and the Baltic Sea. An initial settlement, comprising mainly settlers from central Germany and Lower Saxony in the vicinity of the Harz Mountains, may have been established around 1270. Osterode was probably founded in 1330 – the founding charter has been lost – under Kulm law by the Commander of Christburg/Dzierzgoń and later Grand Master of the German Order, Luther of Brunswick (c. 1275–1335). The charter was renewed in 1335 and 1348. The Teutonic Order’s castle predated the town; it is first mentioned in 1332. It served as a border and defensive stronghold from which the Elbing/Elbląg–Ortelsburg/Szczytnoroad could be monitored. The town was built on an island between two of the three branches of the River Drewenz, immediately before they flowed into Lake Drewenz. In addition, several isthmuses between the nearby lakes protected both the town and the castle.
The office of steward of Osterode is mentioned in 1332. In 1341, Osterode became the seat of a commander. The commandery of Osterode, whose territory largely corresponded to the region of Sassen, comprised the castles (chamber offices) of German Eylau/Iława, Gilgenburg/Dąbrówno, Hohenstein/Olsztynek, Neidenburg/Nidzica, Soldau/Działdowo and (at times) Willenberg/Wielbark.[2]
In 1381, the castle was raided and partially destroyed by Lithuanians under Prince Kęstutis (c. 1297–1382). Following the Battle of Tannenberg on 15 July 1410, in which the Osterode Commander Gamrath von Pinzenau (year of birth unknown) was killed, the town and castle were occupied by the Polish-Lithuanian army; after two months, they were recaptured by the Teutonic Knights. For a very short time during the Thirteen Years’ War, in 1454, the castle came under the control of the Prussian Confederation. Under the Second Peace of Toruń (1466), Osterode remained part of the Teutonic Order. In 1519, it was briefly occupied by Polish troops.
Modern times
In 1525, following the establishment of the secular Duchy of Prussia, Osterode became the seat of a district captain. In the mid-16th century, Slavic Mazovians settled in the area. The surrounding countryside of Osterode became Polish-speaking.
In 1628–1629, Osterode was under Swedish occupation. In 1636, Elector Georg Wilhelm of Brandenburg (1595–1640) pledged Osterode Castle to Duke Johann Christian of Brieg (1591–1639), who was in exile.
After the Russian army, under Count Villim Villimovič Fermor (1702–1771) and Field Marshal Count Stepan Fëdorovič Apraksin (1702–1785), had invaded East Prussia during the Seven Years’ War, in the summer of 1757, Tsarina Elizabeth I (1709–1762) declared East Prussia to be Russian territory on 31 December 1757. Her successor, Tsar Peter III (1728–1762), concluded a peace treaty with Prussia on 5 May 1762 at the Treaty of Saint Petersburg and returned the annexed East Prussia without compensation. Osterode became Prussian once more.
On several occasions during the 17th and 18th centuries, the plague claimed the lives of many Osterode residents. In 1788, a devastating fire raged through the town, destroying the vast majority of public and private buildings. Immediately afterwards, the town walls and gates were demolished.
In November 1806, King Frederick William III of Prussia (1770–1840) and Queen Luise (1776–1810) stayed at the Ordensschloss for a few days. At that time, the king convened the so-called Osterode War Council and made decisions of vital importance to the war effort; amongst other things, he initiated the reorganisation of the Prussian army. In 1807, Osterode was occupied by French soldiers. From February to April 1807, the palace served as the headquarters of Emperor Napoleon I (1769–1821) for six weeks. After the Battle of Preußisch-Eylau/Bagrationovsk (7–9 February 1807), Napoleon gathered his troops in Osterode. Coins bearing the inscription ‘Napoléon à Osterode’ were minted.
In 1844, ground was broken for the (Elbing) Upper Land Canal (kanał ostródzko-elbląski), which was completed in 1852.
During the First World War, at the end of August 1914, many residents of Osterode fled from the advancing Russian troops. The town, which – unlike the eastern parts of the Osterode district – had been spared destruction, became the headquarters of the Army High Command under Paul von Hindenburg (1847–1934) and Erich Ludendorff (1865–1937). Following the so-called ‘Battle of Tannenberg’ from 26 to 30 August 1914, Osterode became the first German town to confer honorary citizenship on Hindenburg. Between 1924 and 1927, the ‘Tannenberg National Monument’ was erected in the eastern part of the district, west of Hohenstein, near the site of the battle.
In the referendum on 11 July 1920, out of 47,482 eligible voters in the Osterode district, with 47,428 valid votes cast: in favour of remaining part of Germany: 46,377 (97.8 per cent); in favour of annexation to Poland: 1,047 (2.2 per cent). In the town of Osterode, 8,663 votes were cast in favour of Germany and 17 in favour of Poland. In the district, four out of 248 municipalities and estate districts voted by a majority in favour of Poland; three of these – the only ones in the East Prussian referendum area – were ceded to Poland. Prior to the referendum – as the last of several similar rallies in the voting area – a ‘German Day’ had taken place in Osterode on 10 July 1920, featuring a parade of clubs and associations and attended by 12,000 people. Enthusiastic citizens welcomed Hindenburg for the first time on 25 May 1922, and Adolf Hitler on 16 July 1932.
Contemporary History
In July 1933, the National Socialists forced the newly re-elected mayor, Willy Kühn (1876 – year of death unknown), out of office. Under the National Socialists, Osterode’s Jewish population was forced to emigrate or was deported to concentration camps and murdered. As early as 1932, there had been a bomb attack on a Jewish department store; during the November pogroms of 1938, the synagogue was destroyed by arson and the Jewish cemetery was ravaged.
On 21 January 1945, Osterode – which had remained unscathed during the Second World War until then – was captured by Soviet troops and the town centre was almost completely burnt to the ground. In accordance with orders, it was not until 20 January that most of the inhabitants of the town and district set out to flee – mostly on foot or in horse-drawn carts; many were overrun by the advancing troops and sent back. On 21 January, four overcrowded goods trains transported around 10,000 refugees from Osterode towards the west. Some residents of Osterode were murdered or deported to the Soviet Union. Those who returned and those who remained in the town were forcibly resettled, unless they opted to become Polish citizens. Between 1945 and 1949, Poles settled in the town. In 1950, 26 per cent of Osterode’s population came from the formerly eastern parts of Poland, whilst 18 per cent were people who had remained in the country.[4]
Population
The total population of Osterode from the 18th to the 21st century was:
| 1756 | 1775 | 1778 | 1788 | 1811 | 1818 | 1841 | 1900 | 1939 | 2014 |
| 1,058 | 1,319 | 1,539 | 1,152 | 1,519 | 2,098 | 2,523 | 13,163[5] | 19,519[6] | 33,872[7] |
The decline in 1788 was attributable to the town fire that year, whilst the sharp increase in the second half of the 19th century was due to industrialisation and the economic boom.
Figures for the non-German population of the town vary across the 18th and 19th centuries: in 1790, ‘only a few’ residents of Osterode were said to be Polish, whereas by 1815 ‘half the town’s population’ were Polish; in 1825, none out of 2,366 inhabitants; in 1837, approximately one in ten (237) out of 2,383 inhabitants.[8] Following the 1846 census, it was officially stated that in the district of Osterode, one third spoke German and two thirds spoke Polish.[9] According to the 1900 census, the district’s population stood at 71,856; of these, the following stated their mother tongue(s) as: approximately 33 per cent Polish (23,731 people), approximately 11 per cent Masurian (7,801 people), approximately 3 per cent German and Polish (2,344 people), and approximately 0.6 per cent German and Masurian (454 people).[10]
Jewish people may have lived in Osterode from as early as 1716, and there is documented evidence of their presence from 1732. At that time, two Jews were contractually settled in Osterode as cloth merchants. In 1735, three married Jews lived there. In 1812, Osterode had 15 Jewish citizens; in 1848, the figure was 106; in 1871, 204; and in 1900, 242. In 1933, the Jewish community numbered 123; by 1937, this had fallen to 75.[11]
At the turn of the century, Osterode boasted a vibrant community life. Of particular significance was the craftsmen’s association, which was dedicated to public education.
Today, there is a small German minority in the town, organised within the ‘German Society “Tannen” Osterode’ (Stowarzyszenie Mniejszości Niemieckiej ‘Jodły’ w Ostródzie).
Economy
From 1895 to 1945, there was a Reichsbahn repair workshop in Osterode; there was also a machinery factory, a spirit distillery, a brewery, steam-powered sawmills and flour mills, as well as cattle markets. Trade centred on timber, grain, spirit and wool.
The Oberland Canal, running from Lake Drewenz to the Vistula Lagoon (Zalew Wiślany), was opened to shipping in 1860 and has connected Osterode with the Baltic Sea town of Elbing ever since. It remains a tourist attraction to this day.
In 1872, Osterode was connected to the railway network. In 1873, the Prussian State Railway linebetween Thorn/Toruń–Osterode–Allenstein was completed. In 1894, the branch line between Elbing–Osterode–Hohensteinwas opened.
Surrounded by forests and bodies of water, the town was regarded as the ‘Pearl of the Oberland’; tourism was – and is once again today – an important economic sector.
History of Religion and the Church
In 1846, there were 2,553 Protestants, 154 Catholics and 108 Jews living in Osterode. In 1900, 10,878 people were Protestant, 1,979 were Roman Catholic, 60 were other Christians and 242 were Jewish.
During the German period, Osterode had two Protestant churches (a town church and a‘Polish’church for the rural parish), a Catholic church and a synagogue. Following the demolition of the old‘Polish’rural church in 1884 (see Art History), the old‘German’town church served as a place of worship for both the town and rural congregations until 1909. Thereafter, a new building took over the function of the town church; this now serves as a Methodist church. The old town church became the rural church, where sermons were regularly delivered in Polish until the 1920s.
Today, the town has two Roman Catholic churches (the Church of the Immaculate Conception [Kościół Niepokalanego Poczęcia Najświętszej Maryi Panny] and the former rural church [Kościół św. Dominika Savio]) as well as three Protestant places of worship – the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Augsburg Confession (Parafia Ewangelicko-Augsburska w Ostródzie), the Methodists (Kościół Ewangelicko-Metodystyczna Łaski Bożej w Ostródzie) and the Baptists (Zbór Kościoła Chrześcijan Baptystów w Ostródzie) – as well as, for the Ukrainian population forcibly resettled from south-eastern Poland in 1947 as part of ‘Operation Vistula’ (akcja Wisła) in 1947 from south-eastern Poland, a Greek Catholic church (Cerkiew Ofiarowania Najświętszej Maryi Panny w Ostródzie).
Among the clergy of the Polish church was Gustav Gisevius (Gustaw Gisewiusz, 1810–1848), who campaigned for the preservation of the Polish language in Masuria and published Masuria’s first non-ecclesiastical journal. He has a memorial grave in Osterode and is regarded as the namesake of the town of Giżycko (Lötzen).
Education, cultural institutions, science
The humanistic grammar school, which had evolved from a secondary school for the upper classes (from 1907 onwards known as the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gymnasium, housed in a new building)[13] is today the ‘Jan Bażyński’ First General Secondary School [I Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Jana Bażyńskiego]; there was also a secondary school for girls (Empress Auguste Victoria Lyceum). A Protestant teacher-training college operated until 1926.
Today, Osterode has several libraries: the MunicipalPublic Library (Miejska Biblioteka Publiczna), the DistrictPublic Library (Powiatowa Biblioteka Publiczna) and the District Pedagogical Library (Powiatowa Biblioteka Pedagogiczna). The castle houses the former local history museum (Muzeum w Ostródzie).
Osterode was the birthplace of the physicians Jakub Fryderyk (Jakob Friedrich) Hoffmann (1758–1830, botanist and doctor), Paul Dahlke (1865–1928, doctor and pioneer of Buddhism in Germany), Konrad Biesalski (1868–1930, orthopaedic surgeon and organiser of care for people with disabilities). The physician, hygienist and Nobel Prize winner Emil von Behring (1854–1917) attended grammar school in Osterode.
Art History
The Osterode Commander’s Castle[14] is regarded as the only castle in today’sWarmian-Masurian Voivodeship that fully embodies the convent castle model. The brick structure (construction of which is thought to have begun in 1349 and was completed by 1381 at the latest) replaced an original timber-and-earth structure. It was later partially destroyed on several occasions by wars and fires and underwent numerous alterations. Following the devastating fire of 1945, reconstruction began in 1977; the work is not yet complete.
The city wall, crowned with towers, was interrupted by three gates; following the city fire of 1788, it was demolished except for a few remains (the Church Gate, demolished in 1811).
The Protestant‘German’town church, later the regional church (see History of Religion and the Church), whose origins date back to around 1270, was reconstructed after the town fire of 1788 (completed in 1802); renovation work took place in 1897–98. Following its destruction during the Second World War, it was restored in 1982–1983 and is now a Roman Catholic church dedicated to St Dominic Savio. The Protestant‘Polish’country church, an 18th-century half-timbered building, was demolished in 1884. In 1856, the Roman Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception was built outside the old town in the Neo-Gothic style. It housed the oldest ‘Pietà’ east of the Vistula, a wooden sculpture (late 14th century). In 1909, a Protestant town church, also in the Neo-Gothic style and featuring two connected spires, was built in the vicinity of the Catholic church.
A small synagogue was built in 1856, followed by a new, larger one in 1893 (destroyed during the Night of Broken Glass in 1938).
The town hall, dating from 1791 – unlike the district office, built in 1878 (and extended in 1901) – has not existed since 1945. The district court, built in 1920, now houses the Evangelical Lutheran parish. East Prussia’s first Bismarck Tower has stood in the town park near the lake since 1902. A fountain on the triangular Neuer Markt, inaugurated in 1907, commemorated the ‘Year of the Three Emperors’ in 1888; it was reconstructed in 2004 and dedicated to the town twinning with Osterode am Harz and to European unification.
Literature, music, press
Christian Jakob Kraus (1753–1807), a pupil of Kant, professor of practical philosophy and cameralistics, and rector of the University of Königsberg, was born in Osterode. The bestselling author Hans Hellmut Kirst (1914–1989) also hailed from Osterode. Born in the district of Osterode were the theologian and linguist Christoph Cölestin Mrongovius (Krzysztof Celestyn Mrongowiusz, 1764–1855, Hohenstein), the writer and teacher of Buddhism Paul Dahlke (1865–1928), the actor Albert Lieven (1906–1971, Hohenstein), and the literary scholars Hans-Gert Roloff (Hohenstein) and Hubert Orłowski (Podleiken/Podlejki). Osterode was home to the regional historian Hugo Bonk (1861–1936), Chair of the Oberland Historical Society and editor of the *Oberländische Blätter*, as well as, whilst a grammar school pupil, the director and writer Curt Elwenspoek (1884–1954).
In 1834, the *Osteroder Zeitung* was founded as the first daily newspaper in southern East Prussia. Since 1954, it has continued as the title of the biannual newsletter for Germans originating from Osterode. From 1835, the *Osteroder Kreisblatt* was published in Osterode; it was later merged with the *Osteroder Zeitung *. The first local printing works was run from 1845 by J. G. Rautenberg, a relative of the Rautenberg family of printers in Mohrungen/Morąg. Newspapers with a wider regional reach published in Osterode included the *Preußische Städte-Zeitung* – the official organ of the Association of Towns for the Province of Prussia – and the *General-Anzeiger*, a daily newspaper covering southern East and West Prussia.
Bibliography
- Abe, Kinya: The Osterode Commandery of the German Order in Prussia 1341–1525. Cologne, Berlin 1972 (Studies in the History of Prussia 16).
- Antoni, Michael (ed.): Dehio Handbook of Artistic Monuments: West and East Prussia. The former provinces of West and East Prussia (the Prussian territories of the Teutonic Order) including the Bütow and Lauenburg regions. Munich, Berlin 1993, pp. 460–463.
- Bürger, Klaus: District Book of Osterode, East Prussia. Published by the Osterode East Prussia District Association (e. V.), Osterode am Harz. Kiel [1977].
- Knafla, Alfred (ed.): Flight and Expulsion from the District of Osterode, East Prussia, 1945. A Documentation. Published by the Osterode East Prussia District Association e. V., Osterode am Harz. Leer 2005.
- Kowalski, Wolfgang: Osterode in East Prussia 1335–1935. [Osterode 1935] (Osteroder Zeitung, Special Publications 2). Photomechanical reprint: Osterode East Prussia District Association e. V., Osterode am Harz. Kiel 1980.
- Mey[höfer, Max]: Osterode. In: Erich Weise (ed.): Handbook of Historical Sites: East and West Prussia. Stuttgart 1966. Reprint 1981 (Kröners Taschenausgabe 317), pp. 166ff.
- Müller, Johannes: Osterode in East Prussia. Accounts of the History of the Town and the District. Osterode, East Prussia, 1905. Reprint, Leer, 1971.
- Sajkowski, Ryszard (ed.): Ostróda. Siedem wieków dziejów miasta [Osterode, East Prussia: Seven Centuries of the Town’s History]. Ostróda 2005.
- Wakar, Andrzej [et al.] (eds.): Ostróda. Z dziejów miasta i okolic [Osterode, East Prussia: On the History of the Town and its Surroundings]. Pojezierze, Olsztyn 1976.
- Westphal, Walter (ed.): 50 Years of the Osterode Ostpr. District Association e. V. 1950–2000. Published by the Osterode Ostpr. District Association, Osterode am Harz. Lübeck 2000 (Osteroder Zeitung, Special Publications 6)
Web links
- www.ostrodaflesz.pl/ (News from the town of Osterode/Ostróda).
- www.ostroda2012.pl (Further official website)
- smn-tannen.vdg.pl/index-de.php (Website of the German Society ‘Tannen’ Osterode, the organisation representing the German minority)
- mitglieder.ostpreussen.de/osterode/index.php (Website of the Osterode Ostpr. e. V. district association, Osterode am Harz)
- ostpreussen.net/ostpreussen/orte.php (private East Prussia portal, including information on Osterode)
Notes
[1] The original Polish name was Ostród.
[2] Abe: Komturei Osterode, p. 16ff.
[3] Cf. E[mil] Schnippel: ‘Napoleon in East Prussia’. In: Walter Westphal (ed.): 50 Years of the District Community, pp. 90–143.
[4] Halina Murawska: Demographic Changes in the Olsztyn Region after 1945 and the Formation of the Identity of the Inhabitants of Ostróda. In: Sajkowski (ed.): Ostróda, pp. 175–193, here p. 193.
[5] Müller: Osterode, pp. 363ff., 442.
[6] Westphal (ed.): 50 Years of the District Community, p. 18.
[7] pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostr%C3%B3da
[8] Müller: Osterode, p. 199; the figure for 1825 is taken from August Baron von Haxthausen: The Rural Constitution in the Provinces of East and West Prussia. Königsberg 1839, pp. 80ff.
[9] Müller: Osterode, p. 200.
[10] The census of 1 December 1900 in the German Empire. Compiled by the Imperial Statistical Office. Berlin 1903 (Statistics of the German Empire 151), Part 2, pp. 397, 738.
[11] Bürger: District Book of Osterode, pp. 592ff.
[12] Müller: Osterode, p. 442.
[13] Cf. Klaus Bürger: School-leavers and Teachers at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gymnasium in Osterode, East Prussia (1877–1945). Hamburg 1978 (Special Publications of the Association for Family Research in East and West Prussia e. V. 39).
[14] Tomasz Torbus: The Convent Castles in the Teutonic Order’s Prussia. Munich 1998 (Publications of the Federal Institute for East German Culture and History 11), pp. 217–219, 565–573; Małgorzata Jackiewicz-Garniec, Mirosław Garniec: Castles in the Teutonic Order’s Prussia. Pomesania, Oberland, Warmia, Masuria. Olsztyn 2009, pp. 318–328.
Citation
Jens Stüben: Osterode in East Prussia/Ostróda. In: Online Encyclopaedia on the Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe, 2017. URL: ome-lexikon.uni-oldenburg.de/p44315 (as at 25 June 2021).
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