Kaliningrad Oblast
Kaliningrad Oblast (Russian: Калинингра́дская о́бласть), informally called Yantarny kray (Янта́рный Край, meaning Amber region) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) on the Baltic coast, with no land connection to the rest of Russia; it is a non-contiguous exclave of Russia surrounded by Lithuania, Poland and the Baltic Sea. As Lithuania and Poland both are members of the European Union and NATO, the oblast is, as well, surrounded by territories of these organizations. It is the westernmost part of Russia. Its largest city is Kaliningrad (formerly known as Königsberg or, in Polish Królewiec), which has historical significance as both a major city of Prussia and the capital of the former German province East Prussia, of which the region remains the core remnant.
- Population: 968,200 (2004)
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Politics
The incumbent governor (since 2005) of the Kaliningrad Oblast is Georgy Valentinovich Boos. Up until then, Vladimir Yegorov was the governor.
History
Prussian people
In prehistory this area had been inhabited by Eastern Balts (eastern parts - most of the territory) and the Western Balts (Sambian peninsula and the areas nearby). Over time, the Western Balts consolidated into the Prussian nation (not to be confused with East Prussian, which means local German), while the Eastern Balts consolidated into a part of the Lithuanian nation.
At the time when the area belonged to Prussians the current capital, Kaliningrad, was a town known as Tvanksta.
The indigenous Prussians were pagans and the Teutonic order entered the area under the pretext of spreading Christianity. According to the Teutonic chronicles, the centre of Baltic paganism, which was also adhered to by the Lithuanians, Samogitians and various other Baltic nations, was a sacred wood known as Romuva (by XVIII century scribbling and later interpretation close to Roman word "Rome" or by XX centurry linguistic research to Baltic stem "rom-us, rom-ybė" - "Romovė" (quiet, sacred place) in the Prussian lands. This may well have been inaccurate because, unlike Christianity, the Baltic religion had no central authority.
Although this is still not surely proven (nevertheless serious attempts exist), and might have varied at different times, as with Christianity throughout history.
Teutonic Order State
Unlike other Baltic nations, the Prussians were unable to establish their own state and thus their lands were quickly overrun by the Teutonic Knights and formed the bulk of the Teutonic Order State. Germans colonized many cities and the German language was dominant in government affairs. The Latvians were also colonised by the Order. The Prussians had more nationalistic tendencies, which led to several organised revolts against the Teutonic Order, including the famous revolt led by Herkus Mantas. These uprisings ultimately failed, resulting in the eventual destruction of the original Prussian culture, as the nation became thoroughly Germanised.
The Prussian language is known to have survived into the early modern period (16th and 17th centuries) as some Bibles from these periods (after the Protestant Reformation) were written in the Prussian language for people who did not speak German. The west of Königsberg was a centre for this language before it eventually died out.
In the 13th century, the Teutonic Order as well conquered what is now eastern half of the Kaliningrad Oblast - that area was previously ruled by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Warfare between the Order and the Grand Duchy, however, continued for several centuries (with some interruptions), and many battles took place in this area.
The Second Treaty of Thorn in 1466 left western Prussia under Polish control under the name of "Royal Prussia", while the Knights retained control of eastern Prussia, although it became a Polish fief. In 1525, the Order's Grand Master secularised the Prussian branch of the Teutonic Order and established himself as the Duke of Prussia and as a vassal of the Polish crown.
East Prussia
Gradually, Ducal Prussia passed to the electors of Brandenburg, forming Brandenburg-Prussia. The elector-dukes freed themselves of their Polish vassaldom in the Treaty of Wehlau in 1660. They established the Albertina University, one of the most important centres of German-language education, in Königsberg (1544).
The Hohenzollern dynasty transformed their state into the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701 and annexed an area of Poland known as Warmia in 1773. Prussian kings were crowned at Königsberg Castle, although the area was briefly overrun by Russians during the Seven Years' War.
By this point Lithuanians made up the majority of the population in more than a half of what is currently Kaliningrad Oblast (eastern part of it) and significant minorities elsewhere. As a result this area was sometimes called Lithuania Minor. It was, however, not a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (only the eastern half of what is now Kaliningrad Oblast was briefly ruled by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 13th century, but then conquered it was by the Teutons). The Lithuanians living in Lithuania Minor (Lietuvininks) were Lutherans and not Catholics like Lithuanians in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
The four counties where Lithuanian was spoken were referred to collectively as the Lithuanian province (map). In this province church sermons were predominantly preached in Lithuanian; there were Lithuanian schools as well, but the number of them decreased over time (due to the Germanisation and government regulations).
Germans formed a strong majority in the city of Königsberg and the areas around it. Curonian spit and some villages in the east of the Curonian lagoon as well as ones on the coast of the Baltic Sea were inhabited by the Courlandians.
Since Germans had been the ruling ethnic group in East Prussia since the conquest of the area by the Teutonic Order, the German language was primarily used by the government. Other nationalities, despite inhabiting large chunks of land, were mostly peasants, while landowners were primarily German. Thus the Lithuanian-speaking areas gradually became Germanised due to the migration of wealthy Germans from other parts of the country into the Lithuanian areas and the fact that the German language was perceived to be more prestigious than Lithuanian. Lithuanian-speaking areas were getting smaller over time; the same could be said about the Courlandian area. In the 18th century Germans already made a majority of population in the southwest of what is now Kaliningrad Oblast and significant minorities in the other parts of the area as well.
East Prussia was an important centre of German culture. Many important figures, such as Immanuel Kant, originated from this region. The cities of Kaliningrad Oblast, despite being heavily damaged during World War II and after, still bear the typical German architecture, such as Jugend Style (German form of Art Noveau), which shows the rich German history and cultural importance of the area.
Despite the Germanisation, Lithuania Minor remained an important centre of Lithuanian culture. Due to Lutheranism (not as conservative as was Catholicism at the time) being the main religion and as well due to the policies of the government of Prussia, which promoted science, culture and education, Lithuania Minor advanced faster scientifically and culturally than the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (which was a direct part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). Thus, the Lithuanian national revival at first happened here rather than in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (where there were less educated Lithuanians and Polish language was preferred over Lithuanian). First printed books in Lithuanian language were written and published in Koenigsberg in 16th century; the northern half of East Prussia (primarily Koeningsberg and the cities of Lithuania Minor) remained for long the place where the most of books and periodicals written in Lithuanian language were published. The numbers of publications were increasing and they furtherly increased after the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was annexed to Russia (and especially after the use of Lithuanian language in print and public performance was banned by Russian authorities in the mid 19th century) as then the books and periodicals were printed not only for the local market but as well to be smuggled across the border.
The Lithuanian-speaking population continued to diminish due to further Germanisation and in the 20th century Lithuanians made up a majority only in the northeast of what is now Kaliningrad Oblast, the rest of the area becoming predominantly German-speaking.
When the Nazis came to power in Germany in the 1930s they radically altered about a third of the topology of this area by eliminating all names of Polish or Lithuanian origin in 1938.
Kaliningrad Oblast
The Soviet Red Army entered the eastern-most tip of Prussia on August 29 1944. Rumours of massacres committed by the Soviet troops spread panic in the province and caused a mass flight westward. More than two million people were evacuated, many of them via the Baltic Sea.
The Yalta Conference of world powers assigned northern East Prussia to the Soviet Union. Sir Winston Churchill remarked that "this part of East Prussia is red from the Russian blood liberally shed for the common cause. Therefore the Russians have historical and well grounded claims on this German area" [1].
The northernmost part of the assigned area (Klaipėda region, known in German language as Memelland), which was a part of Lithuania in the interwar period and had been occupied by Germany in 1939, was added to Lithuanian SSR.
According to some documents written during the administration of Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet government had planned to make the rest of the area a part of the Lithuanian SSR. The area was administered by the planning committee of LSSR, although the area had its own Party committee. However, the leadership of the Lithuanian SSR (especially Antanas Sniečkus) refused to take the territory mainly because of its devastation in World War II. Instead the region was added to the Russian SFSR and since 1946 it has been known as Kaliningrad Oblast.
The Soviet government changed city names into Russian ones and encouraged Russians to migrate to the area along with Ukrainians and Belarusians (see the demography section). After the collapse of the USSR Germans once again began to migrate to the area, especially Volga Germans from other parts of Russia. Almost none of the original Lietuvininks (Lithuanian) population remains in Kaliningrad Oblast. Some Lithuanians were moved into the area from elsewhere after World War II. Ethnic Lithuanians currently comprise 1.9% of the population of Kaliningrad Oblast.
During the time of the USSR, the use of the Russian language was heavily promoted. There were no schools that taught in German, Lithuanian or other languages, and few cultural activities for minorities. In recent times the situation has slowly changed as the people of Kaliningrad begin to look back to their past. Germany and Lithuania have renewed contact with Kaliningrad Oblast through twin towns and other projects. This has helped to promote interest in the past and the culture of the East Prussian and Lietuvinink communities.
Geography
Time zone
Kaliningrad Oblast is located in the Kaliningrad Time Zone (Russia Zone 1). UTC offset is +0200 (USZ1)/+0300 (USZ1S).
Administrative divisions
Districts
Kaliningrad Oblast consists of the following districts (районы):
- Bagrationovsky (Багратионовский)
- Chernyakhovsky (Черняховский)
- Guryevsky (Гурьевский)
- Gusevsky (Гусевский)
- Gvardeysky (Гвардейский)
- Krasnoznamensky (Краснознаменский)
- Nemansky (Неманский)
- Nesterovsky (Нестеровский)
- Ozersky (Озерский)
- Polessky (Полесский)
- Pravdinsky (Правдинский)
- Slavsky (Славский)
- Zelenogradsky (Зеленоградский)
Cities and towns
Main article: List of cities of Kaliningrad Oblast
The territory also includes the following towns (old names in italics are German, Polish, and Lithuanian in that order):
- Bagrationovsk (Preußisch Eylau, Iława Pruska, Yluva/Prūsų Ylava)
- Baltiysk (Pillau, Piława, Piliava)
- Chekhovo (Uderwangen, no Polish name, Udravangis)
- Chernyakhovsk (Insterburg, Wystruć, Įsrutis)
- Dobrovolsk (Pillkallen/Schloßberg, no Polish name, Pilkalnis)
- Druzhba (Allenburg, Alembork, Alna/Alenburgas)
- Gusev (Gumbinnen, Gąbin, Gumbinė)
- Gvardeysk (Tapiau, Tapiawa, Tepliava)
- Kalinino (Mehlkehmen/Birkenmühle, Mehlkehmen, Mielkiemis)
- Kamenskoye (Saalau, Żuława, Želvai)
- Krasnolesye (Groß Rominten/Hardteck, Rominty, Raminta)
- Krasnoznamensk (Lasdehnen/Haselberg, no Polish name, Lazdėnai)
- Krylovo (Nordenburg, Nordenburg, Nordenburgas/Ašvėnai)
- Mamonovo (Heiligenbeil, Święta Siekierka, Šventapilis)
- Mayovka (Georgenburg, Sparge, Jurbarkas/Spargė)
- Neman (Ragnit, Ragneta, Ragainė)
- Nesterov (Stallupönen/Ebenrode, Stołupiany, Stalupėnai)
- Ozyorsk (Darkehmen/Angerapp, Darkiejmy, Darkiemis)
- Polessk (Labiau, Labiawa, Labguva)
- Pravdinsk (Friedland, Frydląd, Frydlandas/Romuva)
- Primorsk (Fischhausen, Rybaki, Žuvininkai/Skanavikas)
- Slavsk (Heinrichswalde, Jedrzychowo, Gastos)
- Sovetsk (Tilsit, Tylża, Tilžė)
- Ushakovo (Brandenburg, Pokarmin, Pokarviai)
- Yasnaya Polyana (Trakehnen, Trakenach, Trakėnai)
- Zheleznodorozhny (Gerdauen, Gierdawy, Girdava )
- Znamensk (Wehlau, Welawa, Vėluva)
Demographics
2002
According to the All-Russian Census (2002), the population of the region is 955,300; 78% urban, 22% rural. The Kaliningrad Oblast is the fourth most densely populated oblast in the Russian Federation (62.5 persons per sq.km).
97 nationalities and ethnic groups live in the region, including Russians - 78.1%, Byelorussians - 7.7%, Ukrainians - 7.6%, Lithuanians - 1.9%, Armenians - 0.8%, Germans - 0.6%, Poles - 0.5%.
References
History section:
- Simon Grunau, Preussische Chronik. Hrsg. von M. Perlbach etc., Leipzig, 1875.
- A. Bezzenberger, Die litauisch-preubische Grenze.- Altpreußische Monatsschrift, XIX–XX, 1882–1883.
- K. Lohmeyer, Geschichte von Ost- und Westpreußen, Gotha, 1908
- R. Trautmann, Die Altpreußischen Sprachdenkmaler,Göttingen, 1909
- L. David. Preussische Chronik. Hrsg. von Hennig, Königsberg, 1812
- M. Toeppen, Historische-comparative Geographie von Preußen, Gotha, 1958
See also
External links
- Official site
- Recent photos taken by Joost Lemmens of the Netherlands shows examples of small towns neglected under the Soviet Union around Kaliningrad Oblast. This site gives the Prussian German town names and the corresponding Russian names after 1945/49. It starts out with the gate of the horse breeding stables in Trakehnen, and hopeful signs of new beginnings for this devastated land.
- Kaliningrad oblast Town of Tilsit (now Sovetsk) website in English
