Dfyjkt

Gołdap
Water fountain
Coat of arms
Gołdap
Coordinates: 54°18′58″N 22°18′34″E / 54.31611°N 22.30944°E / 54.31611; 22.30944
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Warmian-Masurian
County	Gołdap County
Gmina	Gmina Gołdap
Town rights	1570
Government
• Mayor	Tomasz Luto
Area
• Total	17.2 km2 (6.6 sq mi)
Population (2007)
• Total	15,600
• Density	910/km2 (2,300/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	19-500
Area code(s)	+48 87
Car plates	NGO
Website	http://www.goldap.pl/

Gołdap [ˈɡɔu̯dap] (German: Goldap (help·info) or variant Goldapp; Lithuanian: Geldupė, Geldapė) is a town and the seat of Gołdap County in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in Poland. It is located on the Gołdapa River, between the Szeskie Hills (Szeski Garb, Seesker Höhen) and the Puszcza Romincka forest. It has a population of 15,600 (as of 2007^[update]). Its coat of arms depicts the House of Hohenzollern and Brandenburg.

History

Gołdap Co-cathedral

Beginnings

Masurians began to settle the region in the 16th century while it was part of the Duchy of Prussia. Systematic settlement began in 1565, while the town was officially founded by Caspar von Nostitz on May 15, 1570. Located at a profitable location on the crossing of several trade routes near the Prussian border with Lithuania, Goldap grew rapidly. It became a part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701 and the German Empire in 1871.

Plague and Resettlement

From 1709-11 eastern Prussia suffered from a plague. The deceased were replaced by Germans from Brandenburg, Pomerania, Magdeburg, Halberstadt, the Electorate of the Palatinate, and Nassau, as did Swiss and Lithuanians. In 1732 Protestants expelled from Salzburg also resettled the area.

In the 18th and 19th centuries Goldap 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 Landkreis Goldap. In 1879 the town was linked to a railway.

World War I and II

During World War I Goldap was a scene of fierce fighting on the Eastern Front, which passed through the town twice. As a result, it was almost completely destroyed. The town was rebuilt, and soon after the war ended it reached a similar number of inhabitants it had had before.

During World War II Goldap was planned by the German staff as one of the strongholds guarding the rest of East Prussia from the Red Army on the Eastern Front. As a result of heavy fighting for the city and the regions directly east of it, in August and September 1944, 90% of the town was yet again destroyed. According to German war-time reports, about 50 civilians were murdered (some raped) by the Red Army on its initial entry into Goldap in October 1944. It was the first town of Nazi Germany to fall. However, in November 1944 the Wehrmacht reconquered Goldap and would be able to keep it until the end of December of the same year. In January, the German positions in far-eastern East Prussia broke down completely.

Poland

After the war, the town—together with the southern two-thirds of East Prussia—was placed under Polish administration according to the 1945 Potsdam Conference. The remaining German-speaking populace, including Masurians, who had not evacuated were subsequently expelled westward and replaced by Poles. The town, renamed from the German Goldap to the Polish Gołdap, 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.

Notable residents

• 
  Johannes Thiele (1860–1935), German zoologist


• 
  Erich Sack (1887–1943), Protestant Pastor and resistance fighter


• 
  Alfred Partikel (1888–1945?), Painter


• 
  Gotthard Fischer (1891–1969), general


• 
  Sylwester Czereszewski (born 1971) a Polish footballer

International relations

Twin towns — sister cities

Gołdap is twinned with:

• 
  Ano Syros, Greece since 2000.^[1]


• 
  Giv'at Shmuel, Israel
  


• 
  Gusev, Russia
  


• 
  Stade, Germany
  


• 
  Šakiai, Lithuania
  

See also

• Evacuation of East Prussia


• Nemmersdorf

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gołdap.

• 
  Municipal webpage (in Polish)
  


• Geschichte der Stadt Goldap (in German)
  


• German documentary movie about Battle of Goldap

Coordinates: 54°18′58″N 22°18′34″E / 54.31611°N 22.30944°E / 54.31611; 22.30944