Ketrzyn

is a town in Warmia and Masuria. The city is located in one of the most beautiful parts of Poland. Away from the hustle and bustle of big city, it is the perfect place for rest and recreation.
Tourists meet here very interesting monuments and interesting places.
Actually, every season in the city can offer a wide range of tourist attractions – for example: Complex - Sports "Kętrzynianka" and lots of cultural - sports initiatives.
Ketrzyn is worth visiting, because it is the city of Wojciech Kętrzyński and Arno Holz, a place where father of German modernism was born, and history has created a melting pot of nations.
Furthermore Ketrzyn is irresistibly associated with the headquarters of Adolf Hitler The Wolf's Lair, located in the near Gierłoż.

Special attractions:

For tourists who follow history tracks it is be worth seeing:

• The Teutonic castle from XIV-XVI
• Basilica
• Evangelical Church p.w.Św. John of the fourteenth century
• Neo-Gothic building, the county built in 1896.
• Neo-Gothic church. Catherine (designed by Fritz Heitmann, 1895)
• Neo-Gothic town hall (1885)
• Classical lodge (1860-1864),
• partts of city walls from the fourteenth century,
• Kętrzyn undergrounds.

In the surrounding area beside Adolf Hitler's headquarters there is an important object with a completely different character - Saint Lipka - a small town away from Ketrzyn about 12 km, is famous Marian shrine to which pilgrims since the Middle Ages crowds of the faithful from the whole country.

Ketrzyn

is a city with a very rich and interesting history of over 650 years. Variety course of history has made, that the traditions of many nations met here. It is alive even today.
But let’s start from the beginning - Ketrzyn lies on tribal Bartow lands. However, there were not areas, in which live was safely. Many raids of the Teutonic Knights caused, that population resettlement, others were killed, and villages and towns were burned completely. Teutonic Knights in 1350 managed to rebuild the village and started to build fortifications. In the contour of the walls on the south side was built a fortified church Saint. George and the Teutonic knights castle. 13 towers were designed to defend the city. Two gates were built in the walls. During the operation of the Teutonic Order, Ketrzyn was the seat of prosecutor. Ketrzyn received city rights on November 11^th, 1357.
But in 1440 the burghers began to rebel against the Teutonic government and joined the Prussian Union. They have lifted obedience to the grand master of Teutonic and they seized the castle.
Pursuant to the Polish-Teutonic negotiations, Grand Master has agreed to an amnesty for citizens under the condition that the castle would belonged to the Teutonic again. After the Thirteen Years' War Ketrzyn belonged to Prussia. Only after the establishment in 1525 Ducal Prussia there was rapid development of the city. But the war with Sweden stopped it.
Later it was a period of Germanization of the land. During World War II, Hitler's headquarters - Wolf's Lair was built in the woods in Gierloża. It was the reason of many fights on this area. The bombing in 1942 and fights in 1945 led to very serious damage of the city. Castle and Old Town’s buildings have been burned by the Red Army soldiers.
Only in 1945 the town was incorporated into Poland. Most inhabitants were expelled to Germany Ketrzyn.