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Olecko commune (Poland)

Olecko county, Warmińsko-mazurskie vojvodship

image by Chrystian Kretowicz, 14 Nov 2008
adopted 31 Aug 2006

Olecko city and commune flag
Olecko Coat of Arms

See also:

Olecko city and commune flag

Olecko - urban-rural commune, Olecko County, Warmińsko-mazurskie Voivodship - German name: Treuburg (1928-45); older German name: Marggrabowa / Oletzko
Gmina Olecko is an urban-rural gmina (commune) in Olecko County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodship, in northern Poland. Its seat is the town of Olecko, which lies
approximately 135 kilometres (84 mi) east of the regional capital Olsztyn.
Area: 266.6 sq.km (102.9 sq.mi); Population: 21,413 (2006).
City of Olecko is a town in Masuria, near Ełk and Suwałki. It is situated at the mouth of the Lega river into the Great Olecko Lake (Jezioro Oleckie Wielkie) on its south-western shore.
Marggrabowa was founded as a town by Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Duke of the Duchy of Prussia, on January 1, 1560. The town's Masurian Slavic-sounding name is derived from the German word Markgraf, the duke's title as the margraviate of Brandenburg's prince. The city coats of arms still reflect the Brandenburg red eagle and the Hohenzollern black and white going back to Albert of Brandenburg Prussia. Probably Lutheran-Protestant Polish settlers from Mazovia saught refuge in the Duchy of Prussia.

At the same location as the town there has been since 1544 a hunting lodge called Oletzko. At a peninsula towards the lake, across the Lega river, in 1619 the Castle of Oletzko (Schloss Oletzko) was established as a regional administrative seat for the Dukes of Prussia.
In 1920, the East Prussian plebiscite was held in the area by the League of Nations according to the Treaty of Versailles on remaining in East Prussia or affiliation with the recreated state of Poland. In the whole district of Oletzko there were only 2 pro-Polish votes, so the county remained with Germany[1]. Thus the City was renamed "Treuburg" ("Loyal Castle") in 1928.

Between 1818 and 1945, Marggrabowa was the seat of Oletzko County (Kreis Oletzko) in the province of East Prussia in Prussia. Following the example of the town, in 1933 also the district was named Kreis Treuburg.
More on Olecko (in English) here.

Arms adopted on December 5, 2002 (resolution # II/8/02).
Flag adopted on August 31, 2006 (resolution # XLVII/376/06),
"Arms: red castle with three towers covered with blue roofs and golden balls.
On it, a shield divided vertically into two fields: on the right, silver field there is half of the Brandenburgian red eagle. On the left field there is black and white "chessboard" of the Hohenzollerns.

Flag: a white rectangle with two narrow red stripes at the top and the bottom of it.
Width of the red stripes is 1/7 of the total width of the flag.
The Arms are placed centrally on the white field. Ratio is 5:8."
Chrystian Kretowicz, 14 Nov 2008

Olecko Coat of Arms

image by Chrystian Kretowicz, 14 Nov 2008
adopted 5 Dec 2002

This is my attempt to blazon these arms:
"Argent a castle triple-towered gules (windowed Sable?) roofed Azure balled Or, an inescutcheon impaled Argent an eagle dimidiated displayed Gules beaked langued and membered Or, quarterly Sable and Argent".
Christopher Southworth, 17 Nov 2008