Dąbrówno
Dąbrówno is a village and the seat of a gmina in Ostróda County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in northern Poland. It lies approximately south of Ostróda and south-west of the regional capital Olsztyn.
By the 13th century the Old Prussians had constructed a fort on a narrow between the Great and Little Dąbrowa lakes. The Teutonic Order began fortifying the area as Gilgenburg in 1316, and the developing settlement received its town charter in 1326. During the 15th century, it was repeatedly destroyed through warfare.
In 1818 Gilgenburg was included in Landkreis Osterode in Ostpreußen. Despite being on the railway between Osterode and Soldau, Gilgenburg remained a tiny town with no more than 1,000 residents. After the separation of Działdowo from East Prussia, Dąbrówno became the southernmost town of the Masurian Oberland and was cut off from its regional connections.
Gilgenburg was heavily damaged during World War II. As a result of the Potsdam Conference, the town was transferred from Germany to Poland in 1945 and had its German inhabitants expelled and replaced with Poles, many themselves expellees from Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union. The settlement, renamed Dąbrówno, had its town charter revoked during the process. Because much of its medieval layout still exists, including its church and parts of its fortifications, Dąbrówno began to be reconstructed during the 1990s.People
