Goldap
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Gołdap (sometimes also spelt Gołdapia) is a Polish town and a seat of a powiat in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodship. It is located between the Szeskie Hills and the Puszcza Romnicka forest. It has a population of 13,600 (1998).
Historically the city has also been known as Goldap in German. At one time it also had a significant Lithuanian population which called the town Geldapė in Lithuanian.
History
The decision to found the city was made by Albert of Prussia in 1565. The first inhabitants arrived in 1566, from Lithuania. The city, located in a profitable location on the crossing of several trade routes, grew rapidly and by 1570 it was granted a city charter. A part of the Ducal Prussia, Goldap shared its fate. After The Deluge it became a part of Kingdom of Prussia and then, in 1871, of Imperial Germany.
The town, known as Geldapė in Lithuanian, by the time was at the south of Lithuanian-speaking part of Prussia, known as Lithuania Minor. In the town in the late middle ages there were majority of Lithuanians and a minority of Germans and Mosurians; surroundings were Lithuanian as well. This situation lasted until early 19th century. Both voluntary Germanisation and moving of ethnic Germans in the Lithuania Minor was intense, and although Geldapė was not touched by it before, it started to Germanise quite rapidly by early 19th century. By the early 20th century less than 5% of people of Geldapė were ethnic Lithuanians (by the time only in the north of Lithuania Minor there remained territories with majorities or significant minorities of Lithuanians).
In 18th and 19th centuries the town was a notable centre of commerce and production of various goods for the local market, as well as an important centre of grain production. In 1818 it became a seat of a county. In 1879 it was joined with the rest of the world by a railway.
During the World War I the town was a scene of fierce Russo-German fights and the fronts passed the city twice. As a result, the town was almost completely destroyed. It was rebuilt, and soon after the war ended it yet again reached a similar number of inhabitants it had had before.
During World War II it was planned by the German staff as one of the strongholds guarding the rest of German-held East Prussia from the Red Army assaults. As a result of heavy fighting for the city in August of 1944, 90% of the town was yet again destroyed. According to German war-time propaganda, there were ca. 50 civillians killed on purpose by the Red Army.
After the war the town, together with a large part of East Prussia, was granted to Poland and a large part of its inhabitants was resettled to West Germany. The remaining Masurians were soon joined by Poles transferred from the Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union. The town was rebuilt and retained its status as a seat of a powiat.
Today the town of Gołdap remains an important centre of local trade and commerce. There are several small food production facilities (milk plant, industrial slaughterhouse, mill) located there, as well as a paper mill and a small tourist equipment works. In addition, it is one of the centres of tourism, with many skiing, swimming, sailing and leisure centres located both in the town and around it.
External links
- Gołdap city government webpage (http://www.goldap.pl/)
- Gołdap web portal (http://www.goldap.info/)
- Gołdap on the map, via www.pilot.pl (http://www.pilot.pl/index.php3?Z_CITY_NAME=goldap&form_t=1&lang=pl)