Wojciech Kętrzyński

Wojciech Kętrzyński (born Adalbert von Winkler; 11 July 1838 – 15 January 1918), was a Polish historian and the director of the Ossolineum Library in Lemberg, then the capital of Galicia, Austrian Empire. He focused on Polish history at a time when Poland was partitioned between foreign powers. He opposed the idea of Germanization and assisted in the January Uprising for Poland's cause. In 1861 he legally changed his name and became a Polish national.

Biography

The Kętrzyński-family is of Kashubian origin and settled in Pomerania since the sixteenth century. In 1821 his father had changed his surname to "von Winkler", a direct translation of "Kętrzyński", while he served in the Prussian Army. After he left the military his father became a Prussian policeman (gendarm) at Lötzen in Masuria where he married a local German wife and died in 1846.

Kętrzyński was born in Lötzen (Lec, modern Giżycko) as Adalbert von Winkler, Province of Prussia, within the Kingdom of Prussia, and grew up under the care of a German family after his father's death. He was sent to a military school for soldier orphans at Potsdam in 1849 but returned to Masuria and passed his Abitur at Rastenburg (Rastembork, modern Kętrzyn). In 1856 his sister had discovered the family's ancestry and informed him about it, which caused his decision to identify himself as a Pole, even though he did not read or write Polish and knew only a few words and expressions. In Olsztyn a scientific institute was established named after him in 1963, called Ośrodka Badań Naukowych im. Wojciecha Kętrzyńskiego. Its primary mission is to document and research the history of Masurians and their culture in Warmia and Masuria, concentrating on their efforts to oppose Germanization. Another important subject of its research is the structure and administration of Royal Prussia.

He was the father of Stanisław Kętrzyński.

Works "Szkice Prus Wschodnich" zamieszczone w "Przewodniku Naukowym i Literackim" Lwów 1876. "Nazwy miejscowe polskie Prus Zachodnich, Wschodnich i Pomorza wraz z ich przezwiskami niemieckimi" Lwów 1879. "Gazeta polska z początku XVIII w.(Poczta Królewiecka 1718-1720) Lwów 1880. "Aus dem Liederbuch eines Germanisierten (1854-1862)" 1883 - confiscated by Prussian and Austrian authorities. "O ludności polskiej w Prusiech niegdyś krzyżackich" Lwów 1882. "O powołaniu Krzyżaków przez księcia Konrada" Saint Petersburg 1903.