History of Kaliningrad. Former Koenigsberg, and now Kaliningrad - history, legends, interesting places of the ancient city

Kaliningrad is the most contrasting Russian city. The history of Kaliningrad-Königsberg is full of interesting facts, outstanding names, significant world events and legends.

The westernmost region of Russia

The Kaliningrad region is the westernmost point of the Russian Federation, which is completely cut off from the country. It was formed in 1945 after the Potsdam Conference, by the decision of which the northern part of the liquidated East Prussia passed to the Soviet Union.

The first inhabitants of the territory - the Prussians

One of the first inhabitants of this territory (the beginning of the Middle Ages) were the Prussians, who got their name from the ancient name of the Curonian Lagoon - Rusna. Prussian culture was close to the Letto-Lithuanians and the ancient Slavs.

Date of foundation of Königsberg September 1

September 1, 1255 is considered the founding day of Königsberg - the date when the Königsberg fortress was built on the site of the burned settlement of Twangste. The fortress was laid by Master of the Teutonic Order Peppo Ostern von Wertgaint and King of the Czech Republic Premysl I Otakar.

The name of the city is King's Mountain

The city of Kaliningrad was called Königsberg until 1946, which translates from German as “royal mountain”. This name is associated with the Royal Castle on the hill, which the surrounding people called differently: the Lithuanians Karaliaučius, the Poles Krulevets, the Czechs Kralovets.

What is the oldest surviving building?

The oldest surviving building in Kaliningrad is Yudditen-kircha (1288). Located on st. Shady alley 39 b.

How long was the Cathedral built?

The most significant historical and architectural object of Kaliningrad is the Cathedral, founded on September 13, 1333 and under construction for half a century.

Whose residence was Koenigsberg in the 15th century?

In 1457, the Königsberg fortress became the capital and residence for the leader of the Teutonic Order after the loss of Marienburg during the Thirteen Years' War.

By the merger of which cities was Königsberg formed and when?

The city of Königsberg was formed on July 13, 1724 by the merger of the cities of Altstadt, Löbenicht and Kneiphof by decree of the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm I. Before that, it was a lot of small towns.

How many forts did Königsberg have in 1900?

Königsberg is called a museum of fortification due to the construction of a system of fortifications in 1900, which consisted of 12 large and 5 small forts.

Who and when destroyed Koenigsberg?

In 1944, Königsberg was hit by a devastating bombardment during Operation Retribution. British bombers bombarded the city center - civilians were injured, the old city and many cultural sites were destroyed. The four-day assault forced the commandant of the city, General Otto von Lyash, to capitulate, and in 1945 the Soviet troops stormed Koenigsberg.

Ratings of the Kaliningrad region by area and population

The Kaliningrad region has the most modest area in Russia - 15.1 thousand square meters. km. But in terms of population density, the region is the third in the federation - 63 people / sq. km.

How many streets are there in Kaliningrad?

Kaliningrad is small in terms of population - less than 500 thousand people. But at the same time, the city is rich in streets - more than 700 streets have Russian and old German names.

What fossils are remarkable for the Kaliningrad region?

The Kaliningrad region was dubbed the "land of amber" - here is the world's largest deposit of this stone (village Yantarny). This is evidenced by pieces of amber constantly carried ashore.

Which Kaliningrad museum has the largest collection of one kind of exhibit in the world?

The city has the Amber Museum, which has the world's largest collection of "sun stone" in more than 1.5 thousand copies. Among them is the largest piece of this mineral in Russia (4.5 kg), as well as the world's largest panel of amber "Rus" (70 kg, 2984 fragments, 276 by 156 cm).

What is the most famous lake in the Kaliningrad region?

In the Kaliningrad region is the oldest lake of glacial origin - Vishtynets. It is believed that it is 10 thousand years older than the Baltic Sea.

Birds of Kaliningrad

Kaliningrad is a bird region, where there are many storks and swans, including rare black swans. Through the Curonian Spit, which is called the "Bird's Bridge", passes the oldest route of bird migration from the northern regions of Europe to the south.

German architecture and infrastructure

Many German parks, paved roads, communications and houses with characteristic tiles have been preserved in the city and the region. These German islands explain why the private sector is not located on the outskirts, but is dispersed throughout the city.

What was the name of the very first university in modern Russia?

Königsberg University "Albertina", founded in 1542, is the first institution of higher education in the territory of modern Russia.

The most famous philosopher of Koenigsberg?

Koenigsberg is the birthplace of the outstanding philosopher Immanuel Kant, who never left his beloved city.

Which most famous German cultural figures lived in Königsberg?

The romantic writer Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann was born and studied in Königsberg, who changed his name "Wilhelm" to "Amadeus" in honor of Mozart. Eminent German scientific and cultural figures also worked here: composer Wagner, philosophers Johann Gottfried Herder and Johann Gottlieb Fichte, sculptor Käthe Kollwitz and sculptor Hermann Brachert.

Prominent personalities of Russia in Koenigsberg

Many outstanding personalities of Russia have left their imprint in the history of the city. It was visited by Peter I, Catherine II, commander M.I. Kutuzov, poets N.A. Nekrasov, V.V. Mayakovsky, V.A. Zhukovsky, writer A.I. Herzen, historian N.M. Karamzin and artist K.P. Bryullov.

Peace place of Napoleon and Alexander I

On the territory of today's Sovetsk (Tilsit), one of the cities of the Kaliningrad region, the Treaty of Tilsit was concluded between Napoleon and Alexander I.

Russian historical ally

In history, Prussia more often acted as an ally of Russia than an enemy. After the Seven Years' War, Russia owned the city for 4 years. Napoleon was defeated in this territory for the first time in the battle of Preussisch-Eylau (Bagrationovsk) in 1807.

Proximity to Europe

From Kaliningrad to the border with Poland is 35 km, with Lithuania - 70 km, and to the Russian city of Pskov as much as 800 km. Not surprisingly, there is no Russian accent in the local dialect, but there is a German, Polish or Lithuanian word.

Kaliningrad weather

The Kaliningrad climate is characterized by high humidity and frequent rains (about 185 days a year). At the same time, the climate is mild with an average annual temperature of 8 ° C - higher only in the southernmost cities of Russia.

Kaliningrad time

Kaliningrad time plus 1 hour to Moscow time, so Kaliningraders celebrate the New Year one hour later.

Green City

The city is surrounded by greenery due to numerous parks, there is a botanical garden and an arboretum, orchards. In spring, everything turns into a blooming paradise - trees bloom, a lot of snowdrops.

Diversity of cultures and traditions

Kaliningrad is a city where residents of the entire territory of the former USSR live. From 1945 to the present day, special programs for immigrants have been operating.

About cars

In Kaliningrad, you rarely see a domestic car - the majority of the townspeople drive imported cars.

Passports

The special location of the city forces every Kaliningrader to issue a passport almost from birth. Otherwise, they will not be able to get to Russia by land, but only by plane.

Kaliningrad-Kenigsberg is an amazing city that you want to unravel and explore.

How to save money on renting a house in Kaliningrad?

Instead of hotels, we rent apartments (1.5-2 times cheaper on average) on AirBnB.com, a very convenient worldwide and well-known apartment rental service.
From us, as regular customers of this service, a bonus of 2100 rubles upon registration and booking. Follow the link to receive the bonus.

royal gate

Kaliningrad is one of the most mysterious and unusual cities. This is a place where old Koenigsberg and modern Kaliningrad coexist at the same time. Shrouded in secrets and legends, this city attracts a large number of tourists. Famous people such as the great philosopher Immanuel Kant lived here, and the fantastic stories of Ernest Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann are known to many around the world. This place is also remarkable for the fact that magnificent coronations of kings took place here, scientific discoveries were made, and precious works of art were kept. The historical past is still felt at every step: cobblestone streets, forts, church churches, order castles, the neighborhood of German, Soviet and modern architecture.

History of Kaliningrad

The history of Kaliningrad (Königsberg) and the Kaliningrad region has more than 8 centuries. Prussian tribes lived on this land for a long time. In the XIII century. The Knights of the Teutonic Order came to the territory of the South-Eastern Baltic and conquered the autochthonous population living here. In 1255, a fortress was built on the elevated bank of the Pregel River and named "Königsberg", which means "Royal Mountain". There is a version that the fortress is named after the Czech king Przemysl (Pshemysl) II Ottokar, who led the crusade to Prussia. Near the castle, three small but closely connected cities gradually formed: Altstadt, Kneiphof and Löbenicht. In 1724, these cities officially merged into one city with the common name of Königsberg.

In 1544, the Albertina University was built in the city by the first secular ruler, Duke Albercht, making Königsberg one of the centers of European science and culture. It is reliably known that the Russian Tsar Peter I visited Koenigsberg as part of the Great Embassy.

In 1657, the Duchy of Prussia freed itself from feudal dependence on Poland, and in 1701 Frederick III, Elector of Brandenburg was crowned Frederick I, making Prussia a kingdom.

In 1756, the Seven Years' War began, during which Russian troops occupied the territory of the kingdom, after which the inhabitants of Prussia took an oath of allegiance to the Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna. Thus, until the death of the Empress, this territory was part of the Russian Empire. In 1762, Prussia was again returned to the German crown. After the partitions of Poland in the 18th century. Prussia received part of the Polish territories. Since that time, the territory on which the Kaliningrad region is now located has become known as East Prussia.

View of the Cathedral

Before World War II, Königsberg was a large and beautiful city with a developed infrastructure. Residents and guests of the city were attracted by numerous shops, cafes and fairs, beautiful sculptures, fountains, parks - there was a feeling of a garden city. In 1933 A. Hitler came to power in Germany. The Second World War began. In August 1944, as a result of two British air raids, most of the city was turned into ruins. In April 1945, Russian troops stormed Koenigsberg. After World War II, on the basis of the decisions of the Yalta and Potsdam conferences, since 1945, a third of the former East Prussia began to belong to the USSR, and from that moment a new stage in the history of the amber region begins. By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated April 7, 1946, the Königsberg region was formed here, which became part of the RSFSR, and on July 4 its administrative center was renamed Kaliningrad, and the region was renamed Kaliningrad.

Today, many wonderful corners of the former Königsberg, artifacts of the past, create a unique aura of Kaliningrad. Königsberg, like the disappeared Atlantis, beckons and calls for searches and new discoveries of the already known and still unknown. This is the only city in Russia where you can find genuine Gothic, Romano-Germanic style of architecture and the modernity of a big city.

70 years ago, on October 17, 1945, by decision of the Yalta and Potsdam conferences, Königsberg with adjacent lands was included in the USSR. In April 1946, the corresponding region was formed as part of the RSFSR, and three months later its main city received a new name - Kaliningrad - in memory of the "All-Union Starosta" Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin, who died on June 3.

The inclusion of Königsberg with the adjacent lands into the Russia-USSR was not only of military-strategic and economic importance, and was Germany's payment for the blood and pain inflicted on the Russian superethnos, but also had a deep symbolic and historical significance. After all, since ancient times, Prussia-Porussia was part of the vast Slavic-Russian world (super-ethnos of the Rus) and it was inhabited by the Porussian Slavs (Prussians, Borossians, Borussians). Later, the Prussians living on the shores of the Venedian Sea (the Wends are one of the names of the Slavic-Russians inhabiting Central Europe), "historians" rewriting to the needs of the Romano-Germanic world, were recorded in the Balts. However, this is a mistake or a deliberate deception. The Balts stood out from the single super-ethnos of the Rus as the latest. Even in the XIII-XIV centuries. the Baltic tribes worshiped gods common with the Rus, the cult of Perun was especially powerful. The spiritual and material culture of the Rus (Slavs) and the Balts did not differ much. Only after the Baltic tribes were Christianized and Germanized, suppressed by the matrix of Western civilization, were they separated from the Rus superethnos.

The Prussians were cut out almost completely, as they put up extremely stubborn resistance to the German "dog-knights". The remnants were assimilated, having lost their memory, culture and language (finally in the 18th century). As before, the kindred Slavs-Lutichi and Obodrichi were exterminated. Even during the centuries-old battle for Central Europe, where the western branch of the Rus superethnos lived (for example, few people know that Berlin, Vienna, Brandenburg or Dresden were founded by the Slavs), many Slavs fled to Prussia and Lithuania, as well as to Novgorod land. And the Novgorod Slovenes had thousands of years of ties with the Rus of Central Europe, which is confirmed by anthropology, archeology, mythology and linguistics. It is not surprising that it was the western Russian prince Rurik (Falcon) who was invited to Ladoga. He was not a stranger in the Novgorod land. Yes, and during the battle of the Prussians and other Baltic Slavs with the "dog-knights" Novgorod supported relatives, supplied.

In Russia, the memory of a common origin with the Porussians (Borussians) was preserved for a long time. The great princes of Vladimir derived their origin from the Rus (Prussians) of Ponemanya. This was written by Ivan the Terrible, an encyclopedist of his era, who had access to chronicles and annals that did not reach our time (or were destroyed and hidden). Many noble families of Russia derived their genealogy from Prussia. So, according to the family tradition, the ancestors of the Romanovs went to Russia "from Prussia". The Prussians lived along the Rossa (Rus) River, as the Neman was called in the lower reaches (today the name of one of the branches of the river is preserved - Rus, Rusn, Rusne). In the XIII century, the Teutonic Order conquered the Prussian lands. The Prussians were partly destroyed, partly forced into neighboring regions, partly reduced to the position of slaves. The population was Christianized and assimilated. The last speakers of the Prussian language disappeared at the beginning of the 18th century.

Königsberg was founded on a hill on the high right bank in the lower reaches of the Pregel River on the site of a Prussian settlement in 1255. Otakar and the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Poppo von Ostern founded the Königsberg order fortress. The troops of the Czech king came to the aid of the knights who were defeated by the local population, who, in turn, were invited to Prussia by the Polish king to fight the pagans. Prussia for a long time became the West's strategic foothold in the fight against Russian civilization. First, the Teutonic Order fought against Russia-Russia, including Lithuanian Russia (the Russian state in which Russian was the official language), then Prussia and the German Empire. In 1812, East Prussia became the place where a powerful grouping of French troops was concentrated for a campaign in Russia, shortly before which Napoleon arrived in Königsberg, where he held the first reviews of troops. The Prussian units were also part of the French troops. During the First and Second World Wars, East Prussia was again a springboard for aggression against Russia and more than once became the scene of fierce battles.

Thus, Rome, which was then the main command post of Western civilization, acted according to the principle of "divide and conquer", pitting the peoples of the Slavic civilization against each other, weakening them and "absorbing" part by part. Some Slav-Russians, like the Lutiches and Prussians, were completely destroyed and assimilated, others, like the Western glades - Poles, Czechs, submitted to the Western "matrix", becoming part of European civilization. We have observed similar processes in the last century in Little Russia (Little Russia-Ukraine), especially they have accelerated in the last two or three decades. The West is rapidly turning the southern branch of Russians (Little Russians) into "Ukrainians" - ethnographic mutants, orcs who have lost the memory of their origin, are rapidly losing their native language and culture. Instead, the death program is loaded, the "orcs-Ukrainians" hate everything Russian, Russians and become the spearhead of the West for a further attack on the lands of Russian civilization (super-ethnos of the Rus). The masters of the West set them one goal - to die in battle with their brothers, weakening Russian civilization with their death.

The only way out of this civilizational, historical catastrophe is the return of Little Russia to a single Russian civilization and the denazification of the “Ukrainians”, the restoration of their Russianness. It is clear that this will take more than one decade, but as the history and experience of our enemies shows, all processes are manageable. Kharkov, Poltava, Kyiv, Chernigov, Lvov and Odessa must remain Russian cities, despite all the intrigues of our geopolitical opponents.

The first time Koenigsberg almost became Slavic again was during the Seven Years' War, when Russia and Prussia were adversaries. In 1758, Russian troops entered Königsberg. The inhabitants of the city swore allegiance to the Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna. Until 1762 the city belonged to Russia. East Prussia had the status of a Russian governor-general. However, after the death of Empress Elizabeth, Peter III came to power. Once in power, Emperor Peter III, who did not hide his admiration for the Prussian king Frederick II, immediately stopped hostilities against Prussia and concluded the Peace of Petersburg with the Prussian king on conditions that were extremely unfavorable for Russia. Pyotr Fedorovich returned to Prussia the conquered East Prussia (which by that time had already been an integral part of the Russian Empire for four years) and abandoned all acquisitions during the Seven Years' War, which was practically won by Russia. All the victims, all the heroism of the Russian soldiers, all the successes were crossed out in one fell swoop.

During World War II, East Prussia was the Third Reich's strategic foothold for aggression against Poland and the Soviet Union. East Prussia had a developed military infrastructure and industry. The bases of the German Air Force and Navy were located here, which made it possible to control most of the Baltic Sea. Prussia was one of the most important areas of the German military-industrial complex.

The Soviet Union suffered huge losses during the war, both human and material. Not surprisingly, Moscow insisted on compensation. The war with Germany was far from over, but Stalin looked to the future and expressed the claims of the Soviet Union to East Prussia. As early as December 16, 1941, during negotiations in Moscow with A. Eden, Stalin proposed attaching a secret protocol to the draft agreement on joint actions (they were not signed), which proposed separating East Prussia and transferring part of it with Koenigsberg to the USSR for a period of twenty years as guarantees of compensation for the losses suffered by the USSR from the war with Germany.

At the Tehran Conference, in his speech on December 1, 1943, Stalin went further. Stalin emphasized: “The Russians do not have ice-free ports on the Baltic Sea. Therefore, the Russians need the ice-free ports of Königsberg and Memel and the corresponding part of East Prussia. Moreover, historically these are primordially Slavic lands. Judging by these words, the Soviet leader was not only aware of the strategic importance of Koenigsberg, but also knew the history of the region (the Slavic version, which was presented by Lomonosov and other Russian historians). Indeed, East Prussia was a "primordially Slavic land." During a conversation between the heads of government during breakfast on November 30, Churchill stated that "Russia needs to have access to ice-free ports" and "... the British have no objection to this."

In a letter to Churchill dated February 4, 1944, Stalin again addressed the Koenigsberg problem: “As for your statement to the Poles that Poland could significantly expand its borders in the west and north, then, as you know, we agree with this with one amendment. I spoke about this amendment to you and the President in Tehran. We claim that the north-eastern part of East Prussia, including Königsberg, as an ice-free port, will go to the Soviet Union. This is the only piece of German territory to which we lay claim. Without satisfaction of this minimum claim of the Soviet Union, the concession of the Soviet Union, expressed in the recognition of the Curzon line, loses all meaning, as I already told you about this in Tehran.

Moscow's position on the question of East Prussia on the eve of the Crimean Conference is set out in a brief summary of the note of the Commission on Peace Treaties and the Post-War Organization “On the Treatment of Germany” dated January 12, 1945: “1. Changing the borders of Germany. It is assumed that East Prussia will partly go to the USSR, partly to Poland, and Upper Silesia to Poland ... ".

Great Britain and the United States for a long time tried to push through the idea of ​​decentralizing Germany, dividing it into several state entities, including Prussia. At the Moscow Conference of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain (October 19-30, 1943), British Foreign Minister A. Eden outlined the plan of the British government regarding the future of Germany. "We would like," he said, "the division of Germany into separate states, in particular we would like the separation of Prussia from the rest of Germany." At the Tehran Conference, American President Roosevelt proposed discussing the dismemberment of Germany. He said that in order to "stimulate" a discussion on this issue, he would like to present the plan he had drawn up "personally two months ago for the partition of Germany into five states." So, in his opinion, “Prussia should be possibly weakened and reduced in size. Prussia must constitute the first independent part of Germany…”. Churchill put forward his plan for the dismemberment of Germany. He proposed, first of all, to "isolate" Prussia from the rest of Germany. "I would keep Prussia in harsh conditions," said the head of the British government.

However, Moscow was against the dismemberment of Germany and eventually achieved a concession to part of East Prussia. Britain and the United States agreed in principle to meet Moscow's proposals. In a message to I.V. Stalin, received in Moscow on February 27, 1944, Churchill indicated that the British government considers the transfer of Königsberg and the adjacent territory to the USSR “a fair claim from Russia ... The land of this part of East Prussia is stained with Russian blood, generously shed for a common cause ... Therefore, the Russians have a historical and well-founded claim to this German territory.

In February 1945, the Crimean Conference took place, at which the leaders of the three allied powers practically resolved issues related to the future borders of Poland and the fate of East Prussia. During the talks, British Prime Minister W. Churchill and American President F. Roosevelt declared that, in principle, they were in favor of the dismemberment of Germany. The British Prime Minister, in particular, again developed his plan for the separation of Prussia from Germany and "the creation of another large German state in the south, whose capital could be in Vienna."

In connection with the discussion at the conference of the “Polish question”, it was essentially decided that “the whole of East Prussia should not be transferred to Poland. The northern part of this province with the ports of Memel and Koenigsberg must go to the USSR. The delegations of the USSR and the USA agreed to provide Poland with compensation "at the expense of Germany", namely: parts of East Prussia and Upper Silesia "up to the line of the Oder River".

Meanwhile, the Red Army had practically resolved the issue of the liberation of East Prussia from the Nazis. As a result of successful offensives in the summer of 1944, Soviet troops liberated Belarus, part of the Baltic States and Poland and approached the German border in the region of East Prussia. In October 1944, the Memel operation was carried out. Soviet troops not only liberated part of the territory of Lithuania, but also entered East Prussia, surrounding the city of Memel (Klaipeda). Memel was taken on January 28, 1945. The Memel region was annexed to the Lithuanian SSR (Stalin's gift to Lithuania). In October 1944, the Gumbinnen-Goldap offensive operation was carried out. The first assault on East Prussia did not lead to victory. The enemy had too strong a defense here. However, the 3rd Belorussian Front advanced 50-100 kilometers and took over a thousand settlements, preparing a bridgehead for a decisive attack on Koenigsberg.

The second assault on East Prussia began in January 1945. During the East Prussian strategic operation (it was subdivided into a number of front-line operations), Soviet troops broke through the German defenses, reached the Baltic Sea and liquidated the main enemy forces, occupying East Prussia and liberating the northern part of Poland. On April 6 - 9, 1945, during the Königsberg operation, our troops stormed the fortress city of Königsberg, defeating the Königsberg group of the Wehrmacht. The 25th operation was completed by the destruction of the Zemland grouping of the enemy.

At the Berlin (Potsdam) conference of the leaders of the three allied powers on July 17 - August 2, 1945, which took place after the end of hostilities in Europe, the issue of East Prussia was finally resolved. On July 23, at the seventh meeting of the heads of government, the question of transferring the Königsberg region in East Prussia to the Soviet Union was considered. At the same time, Stalin stated that “President Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill, at the Tehran Conference, gave their consent to this matter, and this issue was agreed between us. We would like this agreement to be confirmed at this conference.” In the course of an exchange of views, the US and British delegations confirmed their consent, given in Tehran, to the transfer of the city of Königsberg and the area adjacent to it to the USSR.

The minutes of the Potsdam Conference said: “The Conference considered the proposals of the Soviet government that, until the final solution of territorial issues in a peaceful settlement, the part of the western border of the USSR adjacent to the Baltic Sea would pass from a point on the eastern shore of the Danzig Bay to the east - north of Braunsberg-Goldan to at the junction of the borders of Lithuania, the Republic of Poland and East Prussia. The Conference agreed in principle with the proposal of the Soviet Union for the transfer to it of the city of Königsberg and the area adjacent to it, as described above. However, the exact boundary is subject to expert investigation.” In the same documents, in the "Poland" section, the expansion of Polish territory at the expense of Germany was confirmed.

Thus, the Potsdam Conference recognized the need to exclude East Prussia from Germany and transfer its territory to Poland and the USSR. "Expert studies" did not follow because of the changing international environment, but this does not change the essence of the matter. The allied powers did not set any deadlines (“50 years”, etc., according to some anti-Soviet historians) for which Königsberg and the adjacent region were allegedly transferred to the USSR. The decision was final and indefinite. Königsberg with the surrounding area became Russian forever.

On August 16, 1945, an agreement on the Soviet-Polish state border was signed between the USSR and Poland. In accordance with this document, the Mixed Soviet-Polish Demarcation Commission was formed, and in May 1946 demarcation work began. By April 1947, the line of the state border was demarcated. On April 30, 1947, the corresponding demarcation documents were signed in Warsaw. On April 7, 1946, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued a Decree on the formation of the Königsberg region on the territory of the city of Königsberg and the adjacent region of the Königsberg region and on its inclusion in the RSFSR. On July 4, she was renamed Kaliningradskaya.

Thus, the USSR eliminated a powerful enemy bridgehead in the northwestern direction. In turn, Königsberg-Kaliningrad became a Russian military-strategic foothold in the Baltic. We have strengthened the sea and air capabilities of our armed forces in this direction. As Churchill, who was an enemy of Russian civilization, but a smart enemy, correctly noted, this was a just act: “The land of this part of East Prussia is stained with Russian blood, generously shed for a common cause ... Therefore, the Russians have a historical and well-founded claim to this German territory.” The Russian superethnos returned part of the Slavic land that had been lost many centuries ago.

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If you are told that there is nothing to see in Kaliningrad, do not believe it. Yes, his old city with world masterpieces has sunk into oblivion and is built up with the worst examples of Soviet architecture, and yet in modern Kaliningrad somewhere around 40% of Koenigsberg. The city is now only slightly larger than it was on the eve of the war (430,000 against 390), and, as it were, turned inside out: there is almost no antiquity in the center, but on the outskirts there is enough for several provincial cities. Yes, and this antiquity itself is not ours, and since in its very essence - it is interesting and unusual here that which in Russia would have passed by without noticing. Here - and.

Two medieval buildings have survived from Königsberg (including the Cathedral), a bit of the 18th century, a grandiose belt of fortifications of the 19th century, but most of its architecture dates back to the 1870-1930s, be it the garden city of Amalienau, the villas of Marauniengof, the proletarian Rathof and Ponart , airfield Devau, stations and railway infrastructure and individual buildings are everywhere. There is also the grandiose Museum of the World Ocean, where there are four ships alone. I suddenly accumulated materials about Kaliningrad for about 12-15 posts, a little less than about Lvov. And in the first of them - basically what did not fit in the rest: I deliberately do not show bright monuments yet - only the everyday buildings of pre-war Königsberg.

The center of Königsberg was destroyed by three blows.
The first was an Anglo-American Air Force raid in August 1944. Like Dresden, Hamburg, Pforzheim and many others, Koenigsberg got into the program of "psychological bombing": the Anglo-Saxons knocked out the historical center with precision. without touching either the stations, or the port, or the factories, or the forts. The scale was, of course, not Dresden - and yet 4,300 people died here in one night ... and most of the historical center.
The next blow was the assault on the city by the Red Army in 1945. Königsberg was one of the most powerful fortresses in the world, and the destruction in that assault was especially large-scale in the north and east. However, oddly enough, this blow to the old city was the least destructive of the three. However, after the war, the city seemed to have shifted to the west, to the former Amalienau, Hufen, Rathof, Juditten. It was these areas, built up at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, that became the historical center of Kaliningrad, while the old Königsberg lay in ruins for another twenty years. Indeed, even 10 years after the war, the city was about half the size of the pre-war one, and therefore there were quite enough surviving houses. In the ruins they searched for valuables; children played; they shot a movie about the war, the houses were gradually dismantled into bricks, and in general, many here still remember what the Royal Castle looked like.
Only in the 1960s did the authorities take care of using the "dead city", and this was the third, control strike on the old Königsberg - its ruins were simply demolished, and the vacated place was built up with high-rise buildings. And in general, having arrived in Kaliningrad and found a panel district of the worst kind on the site of Altstadt, Lobenicht, Kneiphof, it is easy to think that there is nothing more interesting further. And this is not true at all:

I lived for two weeks north of Amalienau, in a kind of "dormitory area" of the 1920s and 30s between Karl Marx Avenue and Borzov Street. Their architecture in German is simple and rhythmic. On the first day of my stay, it rained cold from morning to evening. Katerina taiohara led me deep into an unfamiliar and incomprehensible city, talking about how, after the First World War, the devastated, but not broken in spirit, Germans invented an "ideal city" for ordinary people:

As you can see, there is a lot in common between the German pre-war period (mainly of the "Weimar" era) and early Soviet architecture - the same low-rise buildings, the same spacious courtyards-squares and wide green streets. But in the USSR, cottages were almost never built - and here they are all outskirts, and I lived in one of these (not these specifically):

One of the first discoveries for me was these houses - sort of townhouses of the 1920s:

The main "feature" of which is the bas-reliefs and sculptures that adorn each entrance. According to Katerina, there was an art academy nearby, and the workshops attached to it supplied the entire area with such decorations. Most of the sculptures have long been broken, "Child and Cat" from the opening frame - one of just a few surviving examples. But the bas-reliefs - what will happen to them? Interesting - the owner of each apartment hung them to his liking, or was the house originally designed that way?

Another notable object in the area is the clock tower. It seems to be (for sure, none of those with whom I spoke knows) - a car repair plant of the 1920s:

Such is the realm of types - both German and Soviet. There are also individual houses of individual projects in this area - again, both new buildings and German ones:

The area to the south looks completely different, between Karl Marx and Mira Avenues, connecting the center with Amalienau. It was formed clearly before the First World War, and it can be correlated with the provincial cities of the Russian Empire, only instead of Art Nouveau there is Jugendstil, and instead of stylizations under Ancient Russia - stylizations under Old Hansa.

However, there are also many houses here, similar to the interwar period - but still not massive, as in the neighboring area.

One of the many old German schools. As I already wrote, in the German Empire they were numerous and grandiose:

An impressive building on Sovetsky Prospekt, a little short of the main square:

And this, for comparison, is literally the opposite end of the former Königsberg, the Haberberg district near the South Station:

Like , Königsberg impressed me with its details. And as it has been said more than once, the German and Austrian approaches here were radically different: if the Austrians almost every house was, in fact, a stand for details, the Germans remember the houses with some one - but very catchy detail. The only exception, perhaps, is these wonderful houses on Komsomolskaya Street (formerly Luisenallee) near the intersection with Chekistov Street, literally strewn with "saz" bas-reliefs. Note that it is very easy to mistake them for Stalinists:

On the same "storyteller houses" there are also such metal gizmos - I don’t even know their purpose:

But more often the Koenigsberg house "does" something like this:

If in Lviv I was most impressed with the details of the doors, in Königsberg - portals:

Moreover, the virtuoso mastery of rhythm made it possible to make them beautiful even near completely utilitarian buildings. And here on the right is a modern creative:

There are a lot of German "artifacts" in Königsberg, including inscriptions (they want him far from the small towns of the region here!):

A collection of stone slabs from one of the houses, the location of which I do not remember. They look suspiciously like tombstones...

But the most memorable are the German bomb shelters that mark hundreds of courtyards here. Königsberg was bombed from the first months of the war, its surroundings were the "patrimony" of the Luftwaffe, and Soviet journalism did not call it the "citadel city" for nothing. Bombari (as they are called here) is one of the most characteristic features of Koenigsberg. This one is in front of the school:

The reminders of those who died storming this citadel are also characteristic. Monuments and almost mass graves in the yards here are a common thing:

And there is a military memorial here in almost every district:

A few more random sketches. A street in the former Altstadt, not far from the place where the famous warehouses of Lastadia stood.

One of the rivers crossing the city, not every old-timer knows the names of most of them:

As in the countries of Eastern Europe, graffiti is popular here - compared to "mainland" Russia, they are more numerous, meaningful and noticeable:

Characteristic TV tower-mast. I came across these somewhere in a dozen and a half cities, most of which are in the western regions of the former USSR:

A very unusual building. There is "flaming gothic", and here - "flaming postmodernism":

And from Koenigsberg there was also paving stones, which looks very strange against the backdrop of Khrushchev.

And old mossy trees with the seal of complex destinies. Trees and pavements - they remember everything:

In the next three posts - about the ghosts of Koenigsberg. What was and what is left.

FAR WEST-2013

October 17, 1945 by
decision of the Potsdam Conference, the German city of Koenigsberg with adjacent
territories was temporarily included in the USSR. At the same time, the southern part
East Prussia went to Poland.

Later in April 1946
years, the corresponding region was formed as part of the RSFSR, and after another three
month, its capital - Koenigsberg - was renamed Kaliningrad ( in memory of the deceased on June 3 "All-Union
headman "M.I. Kalinin).

As a result of entry
territory into the USSR from the 370 thousand Germans who once inhabited it in the region
only 20 thousand remained, the rest were deported to their homeland in Germany. Gradually
the city was settled by Soviet citizens. Started here at a fast pace
restore production.

New stage of development
Kaliningrad region fell on the 90s of the twentieth century, when the Soviet Union,
in fact, it no longer existed. Since 1991, Kaliningrad began to cooperate with
many foreign countries, primarily Germany and Poland. So opened
a new page in the history of the western frontier of the modern Russian Federation.

However, it would not
it is true to say that the very history of Koenigsberg as part of Russia began precisely
from the moment of its accession to the USSR. Do not forget that the city, like
the territory adjacent to it was once part of the Russian Empire. It was
This is during the Seven Years' War. In 1758, the inhabitants of Koenigsberg swore allegiance
Empress Elizabeth Petrovna and until the spring of 1762, until the conclusion of peace,
East Prussia had the status of a Russian governor-general. It is even known
that in 1758 Immanuel Kant himself, the famous city dweller, addressed the Empress
Koenigsberg, with a request to give him a professorship in the local
university.

As part of Russia with
time Kaliningrad began to flourish. Today he enters twenty-five
largest industrial centers of the country. Mechanical engineering is actively developing here,
metallurgy, light industry, printing industry, fisheries. Several
years in a row, in 2012, 2013 and 2014, according to the rating of the Kommersant magazine
Sekret Firmy”, Kaliningrad was recognized as the best city in Russia. According to RBC
for a long time he was the most beautiful, and according to the Forbes magazine rating, he was the most favorable for
business city of the country.

True, today in the background
reunification of Crimea with Russia, there were increasing calls for
return Kaliningrad to Germany. Among others, the Estonian
Analyst of the Center for Eastern European Studies Laurynas Kasciunas. Recently an expert
made a proposal to revise the Potsdam Treaty and recalled that the Kaliningrad
the region was given to the USSR for 50 years for administration. This period, according to
Kashchyunas, has already expired, which means that there is again a reason "to raise this issue."

In response to this from
Russia was asked to revise the agreement on the transfer of the Lithuanian
Republic of the city of Vilna and the Vilna region and on mutual assistance between the Soviet
Union and Lithuania. Simply put, modern Vilnius was offered to be returned back
Poland, “because Lithuania does not comply with the requirements of the treaty on the protection
state borders. And in case Poland refuses, Vilna was recommended
return to the "fraternal Belarusian people". By the way, the proposal to transfer it to Belarus
sounded back in 1939...

From myself I would like
add that the Estonian analyst we mentioned did not take into account another very important historical
a detail capable of nullifying all his arguments: when signing agreements on
borders, the Kaliningrad region was fully recognized as the possessions of the Soviet
Union, so there was no question of any temporary use even then.

Text: Marina
Antropova, Bureau of Information Notum

The material was prepared for
based on open sources.