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Pienięzno commune (Poland)

Braniewo county, Warmińsko-mazurskie vojvodship

image by Jens Pattke, 12 Nov 2008
adopted 22 May 2003

Pieniężno commune flag
Pieniężno Coat of Arms

See also:

Pieniężno commune flag

Pieniężno - urban-rural commune, Braniewo County, Warmińsko-mazurskie Voivodship - German name: Mehlsack.
Gmina Pieniężno is an urban-rural gmina (commune) in Braniewo County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodship, in northern Poland. Its seat is the town of Pieniężno, which lies approximately 27 kilometres (17 mi) south-east of Braniewo and 55 km (34 mi) north-west of the regional capital Olsztyn.
Area: 241.43 sq.km (93.2 sq.mi); Population: 6,789 (2006).

In ancient times there was a Prusian defensive settlement Melcekuke. Teutonic Knights exterminated the Prusians in the middle of XIII Century. The Knights started building first church in 1282 and in 1312 Mehlsack was granted the city rights.
Due to the near total destruction during WWII (90%) the city rights were lost, not to be recovered until 1973. Near Pieniężno, the Soviet General, Iwan Czerniachowski, commander of the 3rd Byelorussian Front and the youngest general of the Red Army, was killed by the artillery shrapnel.
The city in the Kaliningrad Oblast was renamed after him.
After the war, known as a persecutor of Polish Home Army (AK) officers and soldiers. There is a monument in his honor in Pieniężno.
In the spring of 2001 the monument was covered with slogans "Murderer of AK".
Czerniachowski was buried in Vilnius, but after Lithuania recovered its independence the Russian were asked to take his remains to Moscow, together with them.

Arms and flag adopted on May 22, 2003 (resolution # VII/39/03).
"Arms: on the blue shield there is a silver sword and a golden key (attributes of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, patrons of the local church).
Between the sword and the key are three silver sacks of flour, a play on the words Mehl = flour and Sack = sack.
There is a legend saying that during the Swedish siege of the town, the invaders wanted to starve the town defenders into submission.
The town folk spread the remaining supplies of flour on the heads of the Swedish soldiers below.
The Swedes, believing the town's people have ample reserves of food, abandoned their siege and went away.

Flag: is composed of three equal horizontal bands: yellow-white-blue with the Arms placed in the middle of the flag."
Chrystian Kretowicz, 12 Nov 2008

Pieniężno Coat of Arms

image by Jens Pattke, 12 Nov 2008
adopted 22 May 2003