Olsztyn (pronounce: Olsztyn.ogg, German Allenstein) is a city in north-east Poland, historically capital of Warmia, on the Lyna River, with a population of 173,350 (2004). Olsztyn is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodship, previously Olsztyn Voivodship.

Geography

The town is beautifully situated in a lake region of forests and plains, barely touched by man. There are 11 lakes inside the administrative bounds of the town and many more surrounding it: (Krzywe, Dlugie, Zbik, Redykajny and others).

Economy

For industry, it features a tire company, Stomil , a subsidiary of Michelin. There are also food processing plants and furniture manufacturers.

Buildings

• FM- and TV-mast Olsztyn-Pieczewo, height 360 metres, since the collapse of the Warsaw radio mast the tallest construction in Poland

Education

• Uniwersytet Warmińsko Mazurski - http://www.uwm.edu.pl/
• Wyższa Szkoła Informatyki i Ekonomii TWP - http://wsiie.olsztyn.pl/
• Olsztyńska Szkoła Wyższa im. Józefa Rusieckiego - http://www.osw.olsztyn.pl/
• Olsztyńska Wyższa Szkoła Informatyki i Zarządzania im. Tadeusza Kotarbińskiego - http://www.owsiiz.edu.pl/

Sports

• PZU AZS Olsztyn - men's volleyball team playing in Polish Volleyball League (Polska Liga Siatkówki, PLS)
• OKS 1945 Olsztyn - men's football team, (8th season in Polish Ekstraklasa as Stomil Olsztyn )
• Warmia Traveland Olsztyn - men's handball team (1st league seria B in season 2004/2005)

Famous people

• Nicolaus Copernicus for some time lived at the Olsztyn castle, where he was administrator and was in charge of the King's of Poland forces to defend the city against the Teutonic Knights .

• Lucas David, a historian of Olsztyn wrote a number of volumes on Prussian history, some are in the collection (Prussica Sammlung Trunz) started by Dr. August Trunz (1875-1963) of Olsztyn.

• Erich Mendelsohn, architect
• August Trunz, founder of the Prussica-Sammlung Trunz
• Hans-Jürgen Wischnewski, politician
• Johannes Knolleisen

Politics

Olsztyn constituency

Members of Parliament (Sejm) elected from Olsztyn constituency

• Mieczysław Aszkiełowicz, Samoobrona
• Jerzy Czepułkowski, SLD-UP
• Jerzy Dziewulski, SLD-UP
• Sebastian Florek, SLD-UP
• Tadeusz Iwiński, SLD-UP
• Halina Nowina-Konopka, LPR
• Joanna Sosnowska, SLD-UP
• Aleksander Szczygło, PiS
• Marek Żyliński, PO

Postage stamps

5-pfennig stamp

Originally the town was in a district of the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights In 1920 a plebiscite was held to determine whether the people wished to become part of East Prussia or Poland. In order to avoid bias, and to advertise the plebiscite, special postage stamps were produced by overprinting German stamps and sold from 3 April. One kind of overprint read PLÉBISCITE / OLSZTYN / ALLENSTEIN, while the other read TRAITÉ / DE / VERSAILLES / ART. 94 et 95 inside an oval whose border gave the full name of the plebiscite commission. Each overprint was applied to 14 denominations ranging from 5pf to 3m.

The plebiscite was held on 11 July, and produced 362,209 votes (97.8 percent) for Germany and 7,980 votes (2.2 percent) for Poland. The stamps became invalid 20 August. Despite the short period of use, almost all the types of these stamps are cheaply available both used and unused. The relatively large portion of southern East Prussia contained in the plebescite area thus remained part of Germany until after World War II, when it was transferred to Poland.

External links:

• Olsztyn's City Hall
• Official City Information Service
• Virtual Olsztyn