Kętrzyn

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Image:2005-09 - Kętryzn kościół.JPG

Image:Ltspkr.png Kętrzyn (German: Rastenburg (help·info)) 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 very roughly near latitude 54°N, longitude 021°E. It is the capital of Kętrzyn County.

Before 1945, Kętrzyn was in the German province of East Prussia, and was known as Rastenburg, which was rendered in Polish as Rastembork. After World War II, the German residents who had not fled or been killed were expelled to Germany. Along with the rest of southern East Prussia, the town was transferred to Poland. The town was renamed Kętrzyn in honor of Wojciech Kętrzyński, a Polish patriot from the area, and resettled by Poles.

Adolf Hitler's wartime military headquarters, the Wolfsschanze, was located in the forests east of the town. The ruins of the Wolfsschanze, blown up by the retreating Germans in 1945, are an important tourist attraction.