Prussian Holland

Pasłęk
Gothic town hall
Flag Coat of arms
Pasłęk
Coordinates: 54°3′N 19°40′E / 54.050°N 19.667°E / 54.050; 19.667
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Warmian-Masurian
County	Elbląg
Gmina	Pasłęk
Area
• Total	11.39 km2 (4.40 sq mi)
Population (2006)
• Total	12,179
• Density	1,100/km2 (2,800/sq mi)
Postal code	14-400
Climate	Dfb
Website	http://www.paslek.pl

Pasłęk ([ˈpaswɛŋk]; German:  Preußisch Holland , "Prussian Holland", Old Prussian: Pāistlauks) is a town in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland, with 12,195 inhabitants (2004).

The town was founded by settlers imported from Holland by the Teutonic Order in the late 13th century — hence its original name, Preußisch Holland, meaning Prussian Holland. It is located in the Prussian historical region of Hockerland, and was the location of "The Great Sleigh Drive", a military operation in 1678.

Part of the Prussian province of East Prussia, it became part of the German Empire in 1871. Following the defeat of Germany in the First World War and the Versailles Treaty, the town became the seat of the district or county (landkreis) of the same name at the western edge of the newly made exclave of East Prussia, in proximity to the Polish Corridor. During the Third Reich the town remained the seat of Landkreis Preußich Holland within Gau East Prussia. With the arrival of the Red Army in early 1945 and the end of the war, Preußisch Holland became part of the People's Republic of Poland. It was renamed Pasłęk and the surviving ethnic Germans were expelled. The modern Polish name was derived from the Old Prussian place name Passis Lukis, which was in 1393 mentioned by a frater Heinricus de Castro alias Pasloci.