Ełk

Ełk lies beside a glacial lake among the forests of Masuria. The town grew around a Teutonic castle and was settled by people from Mazovia; it was recorded in 1398 and gained town rights in 1445. During the Thirteen Years' War its allegiance and possession were contested, and after 1466 it formed part of the Order's lands under Polish suzerainty.

In 1537 Duke Albert of Prussia gave the Polish printer Jan Malecki an estate for a printing house. Ełk became an important centre of Polish education and print in Masuria. In 1820 Fryderyk Tymoteusz Krieger took charge of the local school and defended the use of Polish in education against pressure to replace it with German. The town's cultural life reflected the languages of its surrounding countryside.