Konitz

Konitz, a town of Germany, in the province of West Prussia, at the junction of railways to Schneidemühl and Gnesen, 68 m. S.W. of Danzig. Pop. (1905), 11,014. It is still surrounded by its old fortifications, has two Evangelical and two Roman Catholic churches, a new town-hall, handsome public offices, and a prison. It has iron-foundries, saw-mills, electrical works, and manufactures of bricks. Konitz was the first fortified post established in Prussia by Hermann Balk, who in 1230 had been commissioned as Landmeister, by the grand-master of the Teutonic order, to reduce the heathen Prussians. For a long time it continued to be a place of military importance.