Former Konigsberg, and now Kaliningrad - history, legends, interesting places of the ancient city. An excursion into history. How Konigsberg became Kaliningrad
Western outpost of Russia: on April 7, 1946, the Königsberg region was formed as part of the RSFSR, today - the Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation
The westernmost point of Russia, an enclave surrounded by the territories of not too friendly to us Poland and Lithuania, a war trophy received by the right of a victor in World War II ...
It would be a mistake to call part of the former East Prussia, which became the Kaliningrad region first of the USSR, and later of Russia, exclusively a trophy - lands taken, albeit by the right of the victor, but by force. Two centuries earlier, Koenigsberg had already managed, albeit not for long, to be part of the Russian Empire, and of his own free will: during the Seven Years War in 1758, the townspeople swore allegiance to Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, the city and the surrounding area became the Russian governor-general.
Later, when a turning point had already taken place on the Kursk Bulge during the Second World War, and the defeat of Germany became inevitable, during a meeting on December 1, 1943 at the Tehran Conference, Joseph Stalin justified the need to transfer this territory to the USSR to the allies: “The Russians do not have ice-free ports on the Baltic Sea ... Therefore, the Russians would need the ice-free ports of Königsberg and Memel and the corresponding part of the territory of East Prussia. Moreover, historically these are primordially Slavic lands. "
"The Russians have a historical and well-founded claim to this German territory," Churchill agreed, "(even during the First World War) the land of this part of East Prussia was stained with Russian blood." The anti-Hitler coalition recognized in absentia the right of Russia to Königsberg and adjacent lands. There was little left to do - to recapture East Prussia from Germany.
The assault on the Konigsberg fortifications began on April 6, 1945. There was only a month left before the victory, the German forces were running out, but the city, considered a first-class fortress, did not surrender without a fight. The Soviet army, hardened over the long years of war, having lost about 3,700 people killed against the 42-thousandth casualties of the enemy, took Konigsberg "not by number, but by skill." On April 9, the garrison of the fortress capitulated on the square that today bears the name of Victory, and the red banner of the victors was raised on the Der Dona tower (now the Kaliningrad Amber Museum is located there).
Securing the results of World War II, the Potsdam Conference first transferred the north of East Prussia to the temporary control of the USSR, and soon, during the signing of the border treaty, it finally legalized the right of the Soviet Union to this territory. On April 7, 1946, by the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Konigsberg region was formed in the territory of the district as part of the RSFSR.
It was necessary to rename the conquered city in order to finally close the page of its German history. Initially, it was supposed to call Koenigsberg a neutral name Baltiysk, even a draft of the corresponding decree was prepared. But on July 3, 1946, the “All-Union Headman” Mikhail Kalinin died, and although there was already a city named in his honor (present-day Korolev) in the Moscow region, the decision to rename was made: this is how the city became Kaliningrad.
In the postwar years, Kaliningrad became one of the most militarized regions of the Soviet Union. The non-freezing ports of the region remained the largest base of the Baltic Fleet of the USSR, and later of Russia. With the collapse of the Union, the Kaliningrad region, although cut off from the rest of the country by the territory of Lithuania and Poland, remained a part of Russia: unlike Crimea, which ceded to Ukraine in 1991, Kaliningrad has always remained a part of the RSFSR.
The creation of the Schengen area, the gradual aggravation of relations with the EU countries, international sanctions have complicated the life of the "Russian island on the map of Europe." Against the background of the annexation of Crimea to Russia, some European politicians have recently allowed themselves to come up with a proposal to "revise the provisions of the Potsdam Treaty" and return the Kaliningrad region to Germany. There is only one answer to this: for those who propose to “revise” the results of the Second World War, Russia can “re-show” them.
How German Prussia became Soviet
On April 9, 1945, the Red Army took the German Königsberg, which later became the center of the westernmost region of Russia. How Königsberg became Kaliningrad not only in name, but also in essence, and what problems accompanied the integration process, read the article "Yoda".
Occupation of East Prussia
Historically, the present Kaliningrad region joined our country quite recently. Less than 70 years ago. The history of the entry of the Prussian territory was tragic. This was Germany's payment for the defeat in World War II. In just a few decades of the 20th century, the area of the former Königsberg has seriously changed - the composition of the population has changed almost completely and the appearance of cities has changed. The initial goals of the accession were purely rational.
Proposals to annex East Prussia - a region of Germany - to the USSR were made back in 1941. In December, at a meeting between Stalin and Molotov with British Foreign Minister Eden, the Soviet side spoke of the possibility of annexing part of East Prussia to the USSR and Poland for 20 years as compensation for losses from the war. The next notable step was the statement by the Soviet delegation at the 1943 Tehran Conference. In the capital of Iran, Stalin called East Prussia "primordially Slavic lands" and declared the need for the "Russians" to seize ice-free ports on the Baltic Sea. In July of the following year, 1944, with the consent of the allies, the USSR signed a border agreement with the Polish émigré government: the situation that arose in 1939 remains, and East Prussia is divided along the "Curzon Line" (a direct continuation of the border between Poland and the USSR to the west). The Polish government, located in London, having learned a few months earlier about Stalin's plans, according to Churchill, received a moral blow, but the British government sided with the Soviet side.
The operation to liquidate a group of Nazi troops in East Prussia began on January 13, 1945, after the liberation of the Baltic republics, by the forces of the 3rd Byelorussian and 1st Baltic fronts. From the sea, the land forces were supported by the Baltic Fleet. By the end of January, German troops stationed in East Prussia were cut off by land from the main army formations. The approaches to Königsberg were seriously fortified by three lines of defense, the city was called a first-class fortress, which made it difficult to further defeat. At the beginning of April, the defensive structures of the city were bombed by Soviet aviation for four days, allowing civilians to leave the encirclement earlier. The assault on Koenigsberg began on April 6 and ended four days later. The surrounded German command did not immediately surrender - the proposal of the front commander, Vasilevsky, to surrender on April 8, was rejected, but already on the 9th, “Akhtung! Ahtung! Attention attention! The city and fortress of Königsberg surrenders! " The garrison surrendered in the square now called Victory Square. For another week, those hiding in the basements and ruins surrendered to captivity. But these were not all the remnants of the German army - on April 17, Soviet troops occupied the city of Fishhausen (modern Primorsk), on April 25 - the port of Pillau (Baltiysk), which is located west of Konigsberg and has strong fortifications. The Baltic bridgehead was neutralized.
Prior to the decision of the Potsdam Conference in August 1945, East Prussia was considered an occupied territory, which was planned to be included in the USSR and Poland. Potsdam confirmed the decision - two-thirds of the territory was ceded to Poland, one-third to the Soviet Union with the inclusion of the RSFSR.
Technician "Nevsky Lenin Plant" Ilyin, "TRUTH", AUGUST 7, 1945:
Königsberg has long been the main focus of Prussian militarism and a springboard for an attack on our country. The decision of the conference to transfer the Königsberg area to the Soviet Union significantly strengthens international security. The three powers are united in their desire to severely punish those responsible for the calamities and suffering of the peoples of Europe.
The Klaipeda region, annexed by Germany from Lithuania in 1939, will be handed over to the Lithuanian SSR. Formally, this happened in 1950, when the region was separated from the RSFSR, but legally, the action was not impeccable. The final question of the borders of the region was decided only in 1997. In Soviet times, Lithuanians could have transferred more districts of the Kaliningrad region, but the republic's leadership repeatedly refused this. The renaming of the city of Königsberg and the region of the same name took place in the summer of 1946. Initially, it was supposed to call them "Baltiysk" and "Baltiyskaya". The draft of such a decree was already ready, but these days the former chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet and the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, Mikhail Kalinin, died. He was connected with the Baltic states only by the fact that for several years in exile, at the beginning of the century, he worked in an Estonian factory, was married to an Estonian woman. The date of death and the decision to rename came together - this is how the city became Kaliningrad, although by that time the current city of Korolev near Moscow had already borne the same name. In the same year, other cities of the region received their new names. The renaming of the streets took longer. So, in 1950, a number of names of German artists were replaced by Russians: Kaliningrad Goethe Street became Pushkin Street, Mozart - Repin, and Strauss - Rimsky-Korsakov. How to name the villages and streets was not indicated "from above". “As a rule, they asked the residents themselves,” recalled the migrant Nikolai Chudinov. - They say: "In our homeland there was such and such a district, name the village the same." Or a chauffeur was driving, he says, passing by some village, there is a tall fern. Well, let's call it Ferorotnoye ... Dobrovolsk was named so because volunteers were traveling here, to the region. The commission sent new names to the region, from there - to the Supreme Soviet. And there they already issued a decree on renaming. "
German population
The war unwittingly helped to evict most of the German population from East Prussia. If in 1939 a little more than a million people lived in the part that was annexed to the USSR after the war, then by mid-1946 only 170 thousand. At the same time, the city of Königsberg accounted for 61 thousand. In the year since September 1945, the German population has declined by 30%, accounting for 2/3 of the total population of the area. A shortage of labor has provoked a struggle for the Germans among the military and civilian institutions. For a short time, competition arose between them - workers were outbid, hired to work without civilian administration orders. The hiring rules were violated by the military command. It was necessary to introduce measures: the obligation of the military to transfer unregistered German workers and fines for civilian institutions (100 marks per working day) and the Germans themselves (100 marks for unauthorized departure).
Repatriation (or deportation, opinions differ) of the German population began only in 1947. Previously, representatives of the anti-fascist movement and those with relatives in the Soviet zone of occupation received permission to leave. About 4 thousand people left under these pretexts. The mass repatriation began in the fall, for good reason.
May Day demonstration. 1947 year. Photo: State Archives of the Kaliningrad Region As of May 1947, 36.6 thousand out of 110 thousand people worked among the German population. The rest were in a dire situation, since they did not receive food (social support from the new government concerned people with disabilities and inmates of orphanages). Soviet citizens often had to feed the Germans dying of hunger. Lack of food sometimes forced people to feed on the bodies of fallen animals. According to one of the eyewitnesses, once "a German found a dead stork, sat and plucked it, dead." Crime grew: robberies, theft of food, arson, poisoning of livestock. Sometimes the Germans set fire to their own houses, not wanting to give them up for the needs of the new government and settlers. Although, in general, there was little resistance and aggression, according to eyewitnesses, there were rumors about the German avengers. There were attacks on settlers, but they were not systemic. It should be noted that echelons with new settlers were attacked, but not from the Germans, but from the Lithuanians.
In addition, as noted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which became the main initiator of the early repatriation, the Germans had a negative impact on Soviet citizens and military personnel, and contributed to the "emergence of unwanted ties." This could be due to the discrepancy between the ideas of the new inhabitants about the Germans and the discovered reality. It was difficult for the settlers to communicate with the Germans - the language barrier interfered. Violence against the Germans was punished and manifested itself mainly after the end of hostilities, as in the rest of the occupied territories. East Prussia was considered a region with a long military tradition (“Prussian military clique”), which gave the NSDAP the majority of votes in the last competitive German elections. Several dozen Germans were condemned under the article on anti-Soviet agitation. The Germans interfered with the necessary cultural changes. Unlike the Japanese on Sakhalin, who even took part in holiday rallies after the war, the Germans had no time for political life.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs was responsible for organizing the mass relocation. Since January 1945, the territory was led by military commanders. Civil directorates have been established since October 1945. Party organs appeared in 1947. In the fall of 1947, 30.3 thousand people officially left the region for the occupation zone. Next year - another 63 thousand. The composition of the deported: 50% women, 17% men and 33% children. Until the 1950s, no more than a thousand Germans survived in the Kaliningrad region. Basically, these were irreplaceable specialists. A small part of the "Germans" were able to correspond with the Lithuanians.
The migrants were allowed to take with them up to 300 kilograms of property per family that met the requirements of customs. But these rules were not always followed in practice. Transportation was carried out by rail and sea, taking into account weather conditions. According to the reports of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, during the entire period of the mass deportation, 48 people died on the way. At the place of arrival, rations were issued for 15 days according to the standards of the workers. The rules of deportation were strict - Germans from mixed unofficial marriages could not stay in the USSR. The settlers in this regard recalled stories with opposite endings. In one case, an officer bought a certificate of Lithuanian nationality for his beloved and pounded the doors of his superiors - five days later, an order came from Moscow to issue her a Soviet passport. In another, the lieutenant committed suicide after the deportation of his concubine (no marriages with German women were registered) with their three children.
I. Kim ("Development of the territories annexed to the USSR after the Second World War)
New residents
Soviet settlers came to the new territory in several ways. Some were repatriates - Soviet citizens who during the war worked in German enterprises and ended up in the Konigsberg distribution camps. The other part is demobilized or active military. It was possible to come from the territory of the Soviet Union voluntarily or, in fact, forcibly (according to a party ticket, according to distribution).
Arrival of a train with immigrants. 1947 year. Photo: State Archives of the Kaliningrad Region Volunteers were lured in with benefits. They were similar to those that would later be provided to migrants to another territory annexed to the USSR - South Sakhalin. At first, not everyone was taken in a row: because of the border area of the region, it was necessary to select the most reliable: the best in production, demobilized. The first official civilian settlers from the "mainland" were fishermen. They were given not only housing with a plot (with payment in installments and the obligation to work for 10 years), but also clothes. It was allowed to bring up to 50 kg of luggage per family member. Livestock could be transported in trains. An allowance was issued: 2 thousand rubles for an employee and 250 rubles for other family members (the average salary in the country in those years was 442 rubles, in agriculture - half as much). There were also those who independently tried to settle in the region, but they were not entitled to benefits. Mass relocation began in the second half of 1946. The settlers were paid a lump sum, the amount of which depended on the salary. Depending on the specialty of the worker and other conditions, the size of a loan for housing (with a land plot of up to 0.6 hectares) for settlers ranged from 10 to 20 thousand rubles (military personnel gave only half). But the same as for the fishermen who arrived in 1945, provided they work for 10 years. Not everyone did it. In the first five years after the annexation of the region, the share of “retired” residents was 35%. In 1950, there were two visitors for every person leaving.
Source: Y. Kostyashov ("Returning in the process of settling the Kaliningrad region in the post-war years"). Absolute figures, taking into account intraregional movement
Since the cities and villages were severely damaged, visitors often lacked housing. They were sealed in houses with the Germans, whom they tried to quickly evict. Whole buildings were enough only for the first settlers. Those who came a year or two after the end of the war had less chances of getting comfortable housing by the standards of that time. At first, cities and villages experienced serious problems with electricity and water. During the retreat, the German army tried to disable strategic objects. It was difficult to heat buildings (especially in the cold winter of 1946/47); everything that could burn was used. There was a case that a street toilet built by the Germans was dismantled into planks. Unofficial trade flourished (note that nationalization ended in the summer of 1946). The distressed Germans were ready to sell their property or exchange it for food.
One of the motivations for moving to the new area was rumors about the rich life of the Germans, often brought back from the war veterans who returned from Europe.
There was a lot of destruction in the cities. Königsberg during the war was subjected to massive bombing several times. But they could not hide the fact that the standard of living in these territories was higher than the Soviet one, and the cities were well-groomed. For example, washing machines could be found in wealthy homes. The neatness of the Germans, who took care of the cleanliness even in the midst of the devastation around, added to the impression. “Even from the remains of buildings you could see how beautiful the city was before the war,” recalled Anna Kopylova, a displaced person. “The streets are paved with cobblestones, green with trees. And, in spite of the ruins, a feeling of some kind of awe came over me. It was evident that earlier people lived here who appreciated nature, beauty and their comfort. "
Opening of the first post-war cinema "Pobeda". 1946 year. Photo: State Archives of the Kaliningrad Region
The attitude to life among the Germans was different: more practicality and order. In the abandoned houses one could find expensive furniture (a lot had to be used for firewood), in the courtyards there was well-groomed land. This was especially noticeable in the countryside, where the abandoned farms were occupied by the arriving collective farmers. They say that before the war the Kaliningrad land was more fertile due to the difference in soil cultivation technologies and inept management of the land reclamation system. The collective farmers restored agriculture ineffectively: the reports noted a lack of tools, irrational use of buildings and low interest in labor.
At the castle. Around 1949 Photo: State Archives of the Kaliningrad Region The immigrants were impressed by the quality of the roads, which was very different from what was, for example, in the outback of central Russia. Some visitors were curious for the first time in their lives to familiarize themselves with the asphalt and the order of planting trees along the roads. “On the streets of Königsberg and near houses there were many bicycles of various models and types,” recalled the assistant to the district military commander Pyotr Chagin about entering the city in April 1945. turned out to be mined. Some streets had special bike paths. ”Many Western notions, such as bike paths, were new to the people. One of the managers who restored the green economy of Kaliningrad, Aleksey Talyzin, recalled his surprise at the sight of a German landfill, where the garbage was sorted, most of it was taken for recycling, and the smaller part was thrown into the swamp allotted for this.
Ruins of the Royal Castle, 1949 Photo: still from the film "Meeting on the Elbe" Until 1947, there was no large-scale plan for the development of the Kaliningrad region. There were systemic errors that disrupted the pace of recovery. The military authorities did not want to transfer the infrastructure to civilians, the preservation and expansion of production was not always the goal - often resources were taken out as if from the occupied territory.
At the end of May 1947, acting from Moscow recently arrived. First, the head of the regional organization of the CPSU (b), Pyotr Andreevich Ivanov, in a secret letter to Stalin, complained about the appalling situation in the region's economy. The leader listened to the report and sent a commission to Kaliningrad with the approval of Ivanov as the first leader. But he did not live to see the commission's arrival. According to his wife Maria, Ivanov spoke on the phone one evening, saying: “Yes, Comrade Stalin. It will be done, Comrade Stalin ... ”, lay down in the bath and shot himself. The plan for the development of the region and the restoration of industry for the next three to four years was then adopted without it.
Film about Kaliningrad, 1949. Director G. Levkoev
Peter Ivanov, AND ABOUT. HEAD OF VKP (B) KALININGRAD REGION. FROM A LETTER TO STALIN, MAY 28, 1947:
The accounting and protection of the premises of the trophy property were not really organized. Valuables were taken away, housing stock and premises were destroyed ... Representatives of various ministries and departments who were in the region viewed East Prussia as an occupied territory, dismantled equipment, took out materials from factories ... The Germans, accounting for 25 percent of the population, represent more than 100 thousand of extremely angry people , ready to do anything to undermine, weaken security, delay the economic development and development of the region.
It took a long time to decide what to do with the ruins of buildings and cultural objects. There were proposals to break everything so that there would be no traces of the last stay of the Germans. This is partly what happened, but not for ideological reasons, but for economic reasons. Huge volumes of bricks were obtained by dismantling houses and rubble. It was proposed to create a republican trust for dismantling buildings in the Kaliningrad region, but the idea did not find support.
P.V. Timokhin,CHIEF ARCHITECT OF KALININGRAD:
Here on the spot, the question does not receive the respect it deserves. I ask you to give instructions to create a republican center for dismantling buildings in Kaliningrad, which could centrally supply building materials obtained from dismantling ... any construction projects in the country only in Kaliningrad can receive about two billion pieces of bricks from dismantling destroyed buildings, which can save basic capital investments for the construction of 20-25 brick factories.
(Note addressed to the Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) Malenkov, 1952)
The destroyed houses and districts were dismantled by prisoners of war, Germans and Soviet workers. "Sunday" ("subbotniks" on Sundays) were held. This business was often dangerous: there was a real chance to get from above with a fallen beam or brick. Large-scale rebuilding of the city began in the 1950s. The general plan was supposed to make Kaliningrad rather a typical regional center, preserving the radial-ring structure of the city. Whenever possible, we tried to finish building houses by adding floors. Other cities were more fortunate with the preservation of German architecture. How old German buildings looked like can be seen not only in photographs. In 1949 Aleksandrov's film "Meeting on the Elbe" was released, which was filmed in Kaliningrad and in other districts of the region.
"Meeting on the Elbe", 1949:
The remains of the Royal Castle, which stood in the center of the city, were first tried to blow up and partially dismantled into bricks. There was a rumor that the final point on the issue of the castle was put by Prime Minister Alexei Kosygin, who visited the city - so that there would be no museum for “Prussian militarism”. The castle was blown up in 1967. Now in its place is the unfinished House of Soviets. Much earlier, monuments to German statesmen (Emperors Wilhelm I, Chancellor Bismarck), soldiers of the First World War and, for example, the composer Schubert, were removed or destroyed. After the war, a shifted slab and inscriptions were found on Kant's grave. One of them read: "Now you understand that the world is material?" In April 1947, the party city committee ordered to put the grave in order within a week. Churches were restored very rarely, rather, on the contrary, they were destroyed. But the large Cathedral, which was burned out during the war, has survived and stands in the center of the city to this day, but without the original interior decoration.
In Koenigsberg, they found many objects of art, exported by the Germans from the territory of the Soviet Union. The first information about the possible location of the famous amber room appeared in 1945. Then the local art critic Alfred Rode pointed out that the room was burned down in the Royal Castle. In 20 years, a special government commission will be created, the investigation of which will not lead to the discovery of a work of art. The industry and, most importantly, the ice-free ports, which were the original purpose of the accession, managed to be brought into working order within several years. Many enterprises had to be built, in fact, anew. In decades, the Kaliningrad region will become the leader of the fishing industry and the stronghold of the Baltic fleet.
A film about Kaliningrad (1949, directed by G. Levkoev):
The Kaliningrad region is still a special economic zone. Most recently, there have been active resettlement programs for Russians. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the region became an enclave, but retained its geopolitical significance. The residents and authorities of Kaliningrad love to look into the German past. But the city did not become a new "window to Europe".
Alexander Uspensky
70 years ago, on October 17, 1945, by decision of the Yalta and Potsdam conferences, Königsberg with the 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 headman" Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin, who died on June 3.
The inclusion of Koenigsberg and the adjacent lands into 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 super-ethnos, but also had a deep symbolic and historical significance. Indeed, since ancient times, Prussia-Porussia was part of the vast Slavic-Russian world (super-ethnic group of the Rus) and was inhabited by Slavs-Porussians (Prussians, Borossians, Borussians). Later, the Prussians living on the shores of the Venedian Sea (the Wends are one of the names of the Slavs-Rus inhabiting Central Europe), the "historians" rewriting history to meet the needs of the Romano-Germanic world were recorded in the Balts. However, this is a mistake or deliberate deception. The Balts were the last to emerge from the single super-ethnos of the Rus. Back in the XIII-XIV centuries. Baltic tribes worshiped common gods with the Rus, the cult of Perun was especially powerful. The spiritual and material culture of the Rus (Slavs) and the Balts hardly differed. Only after the Baltic tribes were Christianized and Germanized, suppressed by the matrix of Western civilization, they were separated from the super-ethnos of the Rus.
The Prussians were cut out almost completely, as they showed extremely stubborn resistance to the German "knight-dogs". The remnants were assimilated, having lost their memory, culture and language (finally in the 18th century). As before, their kindred Slavs-lyutichi were exterminated and encouraged. Even during the centuries-old battle for Central Europe, where the western branch of the super-ethnos of the Russians 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 the Novgorod land. And Novgorod Slovenia had many thousands of years of ties with the Russes of Central Europe, which is confirmed by anthropology, archeology, mythology and linguistics. It is not surprising that it was the western Russian prince Rurik (Sokol) 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 "knight-dogs" Novgorod supported relatives, supplied weapons.
In Russia, the memory of the common origin with the Porussians (Borussians) was preserved for a long time. The great Vladimir princes derived their origin from the Rus (Prussians) Ponemania. This was written by Ivan the Terrible, an encyclopedist of his era, who had access to chronicles and chronicles that did not reach our time (or were destroyed and hidden). Many noble families of Russia derived their ancestry from Prussia. So, according to the ancestral tradition, the ancestors of the Romanovs left for Russia "from Prussia." The Prussians lived along the Rossa (Rusa) river, as the Neman was called in the lower reaches (today the name of one of the river's branches - Rus, Rusn, Rusne - has survived). In the XIII century, the Prussian lands were conquered by the Teutonic Order. The Prussians were partly destroyed, partly driven into neighboring regions, partly relegated 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, laid the foundation for the Order's fortress of Königsberg. 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 a strategic foothold of the West in the struggle against Russian civilization. First, the Teutonic Order fought against Rus-Russia, including Lithuanian Rus (a Russian state in which the official language was Russian), then Prussia and the German Empire. In 1812, East Prussia became the place of concentration of a powerful grouping of French troops for a campaign in Russia, shortly before the start of which Napoleon arrived in Konigsberg, where he held the first reviews of troops. The French troops also included Prussian units. During the First and Second World Wars, East Prussia was again a springboard for aggression against Russia and more than once became the arena of fierce battles.
Thus, Rome, which was then the main command post of Western civilization, acted on the principle of "divide and rule", pitting the peoples of the Slavic civilization against each other, weakening them and "absorbing" part by part. Some Slavic Russians, like the lutichi and the Prussians, were completely destroyed and assimilated, others, like the western glades - Poles, Czechs, submitted to the Western "matrix", becoming a part of European civilization. We observe 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 transforming 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 the Russian civilization (the super-ethnos of the Russians). The masters of the West set them one goal - to die in battle with their brothers, weakening Russian civilization by 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 show, all processes are controllable. Kharkov, Poltava, Kiev, Chernigov, Lvov and Odessa should remain Russian cities, despite all the intrigues of our geopolitical opponents.
The first time Koenigsberg almost became Slavic again during the Seven Years War, when Russia and Prussia were opponents. In 1758, Russian troops entered Königsberg. Residents of the city swore allegiance to the Russian Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. Until 1762, the city belonged to Russia. East Prussia had the status of the Russian general-governorship. 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 ceased military operations against Prussia and concluded the Petersburg Peace with the Prussian king on conditions 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 refused all acquisitions during the Seven Years' War, 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 a strategic foothold for the Third Reich for aggression against Poland and the Soviet Union. East Prussia had a well-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.
During the war, the Soviet Union suffered huge losses, 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 Soviet Union's claims to East Prussia. As early as December 16, 1941, during negotiations in Moscow with A. Eden, Stalin proposed to attach to the draft agreement on joint actions a secret protocol (they were not signed), in which it was proposed to separate East Prussia and part of it with Koenigsberg to transfer to the USSR for a period of twenty years as guarantees of compensation for losses incurred by the USSR from the war with Germany.
At the Tehran Conference, in his speech on December 1, 1943, Stalin went further. Stalin stressed: “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 not only realized 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 a breakfast on November 30, Churchill said that "Russia needs to have access to ice-free ports" and "... the British have no objection to this."
In a letter to Churchill of 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 amendment. I told you and the President about this amendment in Tehran. We are claiming that the northeastern part of East Prussia, including Königsberg, as an ice-free port, would go to the Soviet Union. This is the only piece of German territory that we claim. Without satisfying this minimal 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 issue of East Prussia on the eve of the Crimean Conference is set out in a short summary of the note of the Commission on Peace Treaties and the Post-War Order “On the Treatment of Germany” dated January 12, 1945: “1. Changing the borders of Germany. It is assumed that East Prussia will go partly to the USSR, partly to Poland, and Upper Silesia to Poland ... ".
Great Britain and the United States have long tried to push through the idea of decentralizing Germany, dividing it into several state entities, including Prussia. At the Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers of the USSR, USA and Great Britain (October 19-30, 1943), British Foreign Minister A. Eden outlined the British government's plan for 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, US President Roosevelt proposed to discuss the issue of dismembering Germany. He said that in order to "stimulate" the discussion on this issue, he would like to outline the plan he had drawn up "personally two months ago for dividing Germany into five states." So, in his opinion, “Prussia should be possibly weakened and reduced in size. Prussia should be 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 have kept Prussia in tough conditions," said the head of the British government.
However, Moscow was against the dismemberment of Germany and eventually achieved the concession of part of East Prussia. Britain and the United States agreed in principle to satisfy Moscow's proposals. In a message to JV Stalin, received in Moscow on February 27, 1944, Churchill indicated that the British government considered the transfer of Konigsberg and the adjacent territory to the USSR to be “a just claim from Russia ... The land of this part of East Prussia was 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 was held, 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 said that, in principle, they were in favor of the dismemberment of Germany. The British prime minister, in particular, again developed his plan to secede Prussia from Germany and "create 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 "all of East Prussia should not be transferred to Poland. The northern part of this province with the ports of Memel and Königsberg should 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 Oder River line."
Meanwhile, the Red Army practically resolved the issue of the liberation of East Prussia from the Nazis. As a result of the 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 East Prussia region. 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 springboard for a decisive attack on Konigsberg.
The second assault on East Prussia began in January 1945. During the East Prussian strategic operation (it was divided into a number of front-line operations), Soviet troops broke through the German defenses, reached the Baltic Sea and eliminated the main enemy forces, occupying East Prussia and liberating northern Poland. On April 6-9, 1945, during the Königsberg operation, our troops stormed the fortress city of Königsberg, defeating the Königsberg grouping of the Wehrmacht. Operation 25 ended with the destruction of the enemy's Zemland grouping.
Soviet fighters storm Konigsberg
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 Konigsberg region in East Prussia to the Soviet Union was considered. Stalin said at the same time that “President Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill at the Tehran Conference gave their consent on this score, and this issue was agreed upon between us. We would like this agreement to be confirmed at this conference. " During an exchange of views, the delegations of the United States and Great Britain reaffirmed their consent, given in Tehran, to the transfer of the city of Konigsberg and the adjacent area to the USSR.
In the minutes of the Potsdam conference it was 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 East Bank of the Danzig Bay to the east - north of Braunsberg-Goldan to the junction of the borders of Lithuania, the Republic of Poland and East Prussia. The conference agreed in principle with the Soviet Union's proposal to transfer to it the city of Königsberg and the surrounding area, as described above. However, the exact border is subject to expert scrutiny. ” In the same documents, in the section "Poland", the expansion of Polish territory at the expense of Germany was confirmed.
Thus, the Potsdam Conference recognized it necessary to exclude East Prussia from Germany and transfer its territory to Poland and the USSR. This was not followed by "expert research" due to the changing international situation, but this does not change the essence of the matter. The allied powers did not set any terms ("50 years", etc., as some anti-Soviet historians assert), for which Koenigsberg and the adjacent region were supposedly transferred to the USSR. The decision was final and indefinite. Königsberg with the adjacent area forever became Russian.
On August 16, 1945, an agreement was signed between the USSR and Poland on the Soviet-Polish state border. In accordance with this document, the Mixed Soviet-Polish Demarcation Commission was formed, and in May 1946 demarcation work began. By April 1947, the state border line was demarcated. On April 30, 1947, the relevant 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 Konigsberg region on the territory of the city of Königsberg and the adjacent district of the Königsberg region and on its inclusion in the RSFSR. On July 4, it was renamed Kaliningrad.
Thus, the USSR eliminated a powerful enemy bridgehead in the northwestern direction. In turn, Koenigsberg-Kaliningrad became the Russian military-strategic bridgehead 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 an intelligent enemy, correctly noted, it was a fair 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 super-ethnos returned part of the Slavic land, which had been lost many centuries ago.
A rare city in Russia can boast such a rich history as Konigsberg-Kaliningrad. 759 years is a serious date. "Komsomolskaya Pravda" offers a light version of the centuries-old history.
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PRUSSIANS ...
Long ago, the tribes of the Prussians lived on the territory of today's Kaliningrad region. Historians are still arguing whether these Prussians were Slavs, or the ancestors of modern Lithuanians and Latvians, that is, the Balts. The latest version is the most preferable and officially recognized.
The Prussians fished, roamed the dense forests in search of game, cultivated fields, mined amber, which was then sold to merchants from the Roman Empire. The Romans paid for solar stones with sonorous silver, as evidenced by the numerous finds of Roman denarii and sesterces on the territory of the Kaliningrad region. The Prussians worshiped their pagan gods - and the main god Perkunas - in the sacred grove of Romov, located somewhere in the area of modern Bagrationovsk.
The Prussians, in general, were real savages and, apart from their amazing gods, they worshiped nothing and no one saint. Therefore, they easily crossed the border and invaded neighboring Poland. To rob. Today we go to the Poles for food, and they come to us for gasoline. That is, we carry out a kind of exchange. A thousand years ago, trade relations were not established, local cross-border cooperation did not exist, but the devastating raids of the Prussian leaders on Polish villages were commonplace. But the Prussians themselves sometimes had a hard time. From time to time, Vikings landed on the Prussian coast - severe blondes in horned helmets. They mercilessly plundered Prussian settlements, mocked Prussian women, and some of these blue-eyed people even founded their own settlement on our land. One of these villages was unearthed by archaeologists in the present Zelenograd region. It is called Kaup. True, later the Prussians rallied, attacked Kaup and razed it to the ground.
... AND THE KNIGHTS
But back to Prussian-Polish relations. The Poles endured, endured the atrocities of the Prussians and at some point could not stand it. We wrote a letter to the Pope with a request to organize a crusade against the pagans. Dad liked this idea. By that time - and it was in the middle of the XIII century - the crusaders were well piled on the Holy Land, and the crusader movement was rapidly declining. And so the idea to subdue the Prussian savages was continued. Moreover, about 300 years earlier, the Prussians brutally dealt with the missionary Adalbert, who peacefully tried to convert them to the Christian faith. Today a wooden cross stands at the site of the alleged death of the saint.
Peter the Great visited Konigsberg in 1697. Most of all he was impressed by the fortifications. In particular, the Friedrichsburg fortress. “I’ll build myself the same one,” thought Peter. And he built it.
As a result, at the beginning of the 13th century, knights of the Teutonic Order with black crosses on white cloaks appeared on the shores of the Baltic, which began to conquer Prussia with fire and sword. In 1239, the first castle was built on the territory of our region - Balga (its ruins on the coast of the bay can still be seen by an enchanted wanderer). And in 1255, Koenigsberg appeared. At that time, the Teutonic knights offered to lead the campaign to the Bohemian king Ottokar II Přemysl. They say that it was in honor of the king that the city was named, or rather the castle, even more precisely, a wooden fortress, which appeared on the high bank of the Pregel River, a stone's throw from the Prussian settlement of Twangste. It is generally accepted that Konigsberg was founded in January 1255, at the end of Ottokar's campaign, although some historians doubt this: no construction could have begun in the months of January, when the Prussian hills and plains were buried in snow! Probably, it was like this: in January, Ottokar, together with the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Poppo von Osterna, climbed the hill and said:
The castle will be laid here.
And he stuck a sword into the ground. And the actual construction work began in the spring.
A few years later, near the wooden castle, which was soon rebuilt in stone, civil settlements appeared - Altstadt, Lebenicht and Kneiphof.
HOW MASTER BECAME A DUKE
At first, the Teutonic Order was friends with Poland, but then fell out. The Poles, like air, needed access to the sea, and all coastal lands, including the territory of the present Pomeranian Voivodeship, belonged to the knight brothers. The matter could not end in peace, so in 1410 the Great War began between the Order and Poland. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania also took the side of the latter, which even before that greatly annoyed the crusaders. For example, in 1370, the troops of the two Lithuanian princes Keistut and Olgerd did not reach Konigsberg some miserable 30 kilometers - they were stopped by the knights in the battle of Rudau (the battlefield is located in the vicinity of the village of Muromskoe). In general, the guys were formidable, these Lithuanians. Do not be surprised: now Lithuania is the size of a thimble, but then it was quite a powerful state. And even with imperial ambitions.
Immanuel Kant loved to walk in the historical center of Königsberg. It was in these walks that Critique of Pure Reason was born. And everything else too.
But back to 1410. Then Poland and Lithuania united and laid the Teutonic Order on their shoulder blades in the epic battle of Grunwald. After this blow, where the good and the best part of the crusader army, led by the Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen, fell, the Order did not recover. A few decades later, the Thirteen Years War began, as a result of which the Teutonic Order lost most of its lands, including the capital - Marienburg Castle. And then the Grand Master moved to Konigsberg, which accordingly became the capital. In addition, the Order fell into vassal dependence on Poland. In this position, the spiritual state existed for about 75 years, until the Grand Master Albrecht Hohenzollern, who had turned from Catholic to Protestant by that time, abolished the order and founded the Prussian Duchy. At the same time, he himself became the first duke. However, this circumstance did not eliminate the dependence on Poland. But I must say that if Albrecht was burdened, it was only in matters of foreign policy. Therefore, Albrecht put a fat cross on foreign policy and took up domestic politics. Under him, the Albertina University of Königsberg was created, under him the growth of enlightenment, the development of art and all kinds of crafts was noted.
After Albrecht, John Sigismund ruled. After John Sigismund, Friedrich Wilhelm became the duke. Under him, Konigsberg, as well as the whole of Prussia, finally got rid of Polish dependence. Moreover, with the Duke of Prussia united with the German state of Brandenburg, and Konigsberg lost its capital status. Berlin, which is gaining momentum, has become the capital of the newly formed state. And in 1701, already under the next Hohenzollern - Frederick I - the state was transformed into the Kingdom of Prussia. Not long before that, by the way, a very remarkable event took place. Konigsberg was visited by the young Russian Tsar Peter as part of a diplomatic mission known as the Grand Embassy. He settled in one of the private houses of the Kneiphof and was mainly engaged in the inspection of fortifications. I looked, studied and went further - to Holland.
KANT, NAPOLEON AND THE FIRST TRAM
In 1724, Altstadt, Lebenicht and Kneiphof merged into one city, and from this moment the history of the city of Konigsberg begins in the full sense of the word (before that, only the castle was called Konigsberg). This year has generally turned out to be eventful. In 1724, the great philosopher Immanuel Kant was born - the most famous Konigsberger in its entire centuries-old history. Kant taught at a local university, was indifferent to women (as they say) and loved to walk along the narrow streets of the central part of Konigsberg, which, alas, do not exist today. And in 1764, the philosopher even became a subject of the Russian Empire. The thing is that during the Seven Years War, a good half of Europe took up arms against the Prussian king Frederick the Great. Including Russia. Having defeated the Prussians at the Battle of Gross-Jegersdorf (in the present Chernyakhovsky region), Russian troops entered Konigsberg a little later, in 1758. East Prussia passed to the Russian Empire and remained under the canopy of a two-headed eagle until 1762, when the Russian Tsar Peter III made peace with Prussia and returned Konigsberg to the Prussians.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Prussia and Konigsberg fell on hard times. And all thanks to Bonaparte! The earth became the arena of fierce battles. In early February 1807, Napoleon's armies and Russian troops under the command of Bennigsen, reinforced by a 10,000-strong Prussian corps, met near Preussisch-Eylau (today's Bagrationovsk). The battle was extremely fierce and bloody, lasted for many hours and did not bring victory to either side. Six months later, Napoleon clashed with the Russian armies near Friedland (modern Pravdinsk), and this time the French won. After that, the Treaty of Tilsit, beneficial to Napoleon, was concluded.
However, there were positive events in the century before last. For example, in 1807, the Prussian king abolished the personal dependence of the peasants on the landlords, as well as the privileges of the nobles to own land. From now on, all citizens received the right to sell and buy land. In 1808, the city reform was carried out - all the most important city affairs were transferred to the hands of elected bodies. The municipal services of the city also grew stronger, and, as they say now, the infrastructure developed. In 1830, the first water supply system appeared in Königsberg, in 1881 the first tram line was opened, in 1865 the first train went on the Königsberg-Pillau line. In 1895, the first tram line was opened. In addition, by the end of the 19th century, a defensive ring of fortifications, consisting of 12 forts, was built around Konigsberg. This ring, by the way, has survived to this day in a more or less tolerable condition.
The history of the last century is well known. Konigsberg survived two world wars, as a result of the second of them in 1946 it turned into Kaliningrad. And not long before that, perhaps the most tragic event in the history of the city happened - the British bombing. In August 1944, the entire central part of the ancient city turned to dust and ashes.
City, time, power
Three cities of Koenigsberg
It is known that in the winter of 1255 a detachment of crusaders invaded the northern part of Prussia and the Zemland peninsula. The most senior "in rank" in the detachment was the Czech king Otakar II Přemysl. The knights captured and destroyed the Prussian fortress Twangste, and a new fortification was erected in its place. The fortress was named Konigsberg, which means: Royal Mountain. Gradually, settlements arose near the fortress, which became cities.
The settlement between the fortress and the Pregel River was named Altstadt. From February 28, 1286, according to the letter of the Prussian Landmeister Konrad von Tyrenberg, Altstadt was officially called a city.
On May 27, 1300, the Konigsberg commander Bruchaven granted city rights to the second settlement. At first it was called Neustadt, but then another name stuck to it - Löbenicht. This city is located east of the fortress.
In April 1327, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, Werner von Orzeln, announced the granting of city rights to Kneiphof, which was located on an island formed by the branches of the Pregel River.
Over time, nearby craft settlements, villages and settlements began to join the Königsberg cities. Thus, a kind of urbanized conglomerate was formed at the mouth of the Pregel. It was dominated by a fortress-castle on the mountain, which, in fact, was called Konigsberg. It was adjoined by a small area to the north and northwest, which is the property of the Teutonic Order.
Near the castle, as already mentioned, three medieval towns are sheltered: Altstadt, Löbenicht and Kneiphof. They had a fairly wide range of privileges included in the concept of Kulm (Helm) law. The system of sovereign city rights was formed in Germany in the 13th century under the name "Magdeburg Law". Its Prussian version was guided by the highest courts of appeal in the city of Kulm (Helm), and then in the city of Thorn (Torun). City rights, guaranteeing relative independence from the feudal authorities, in a gradually declining value persisted until the 19th century.
It should be noted here that, in addition to Altstadt, Löbenicht and Kneiphof, medieval community villages located outside the Königsberg cities also had quite wide powers. Some of them had their own office work, seal and coat of arms. These included the Königsberg suburbs: Burgfreiheit, Tragheim, Hinter-Rossgarten, Forder-Rosgarten, Neue-Sorge; Altstadt related: Steindamm, Neu-Rosgarten, Laak, Lastadi, Lomse; related to Loebenicht: Anger, Zakheim; related to Kneiphof: Forder-Vorstadt, Hinter-Vorstadt, Haberberg, Alter Garten. Expanding, the fortress and cities absorbed new territories.
How did the administrative services work in the Königsberg cities? The entire urban population, as a rule, was divided into several classes. The group of large burghers consisted of merchants and brewers. Artisans and shopkeepers belonged to the category of small burghers. Separate strata were made up of other groups of the population. At first, only the elite of the city had the right to vote; over time, the majority of citizens received the right to choose.
In each city, a city council was elected in the amount of just over ten people. The City Council, in turn, elected the burgomaster and vice burgomaster, appointed officials responsible for the work areas. I must say that the members of the Council did not receive wages at first, working, as we would say, on a voluntary basis. From this it follows that city officials were quite wealthy people, they served not for gold, but for conscience, however, then disinterested service for the benefit of the townspeople has outlived its usefulness. At the beginning of the 18th century, burgomaster Altstadt, for example, received 300 thalers a year. Compare: Immanuel Kant, working in about the same years as an assistant librarian, received 62 thalers a year, the highest state salary that I. Kant received as a professor did not exceed 620 thalers a year, and the house of the philosopher after his death was sold for 130 thalers ...
Of course, there was no division into districts in medieval Koenigsberg cities. There were communities of citizens that usually coincided in territory with church communities. The civic communities were headed by elected elders. The opinion of the elders often played a decisive role in the discussion of tax policy issues at the city council. To consider cases concerning the life of the three cities of Konigsberg, representatives of the three city halls and all city and suburban communities came together.
Lack of space does not allow me to describe in detail the administrative structure of each city and community, especially since the system of interactions and relationships between the authorities at all levels was quite complex. Democratic freedoms were combined with the dictates of a centralized system. Therefore, I will not delve into the jungle, especially since all this refers to the affairs of bygone days. For the sake of interest, I will only note that in 1700 in the Altstadt City Council, among other elective posts, there was one life-long position of a clerk, who, not being a member of the Council, nevertheless worked in its composition.
Unification of cities
On June 13, 1724, the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm I signed a decree uniting three cities and suburban communities into a single city of Konigsberg. At the turn of the XIX-XX years, a certain control system was formed in Konigsberg.
In the city municipality, there were about a hundred elective deputies, elected by three estates for a period of six years. The procedure for the elections was organized in such a way that a third of the composition was re-elected every two years. The members of the municipality elected the city council of 21 people. The chairman of the Council was called mayor, his deputy - mayor. Councilors in charge of city services were appointed.
District division, as already mentioned, in our understanding of the word, in Konigsberg was not. In police terms, Koenigsberg was divided into 12 districts. In some areas, there were additional posts and departments. In parallel with the police, seven criminal commissariats and two criminal instances functioned in the city.
The church divided the territory of the city in its own way. The most influential evangelical church had more than 30 parishes, the Catholic church had 6 parishes, the New Apostolic church had 5 unions, and so on. There was a small Orthodox community in Konigsberg. Some parts of Konigsberg bore traditional historical names that made it easier to navigate the city.
After all the introductory words, you can go directly to the Konigsberg mayors. It should only be borne in mind that the official position of the mayor was introduced in 1809, before that the head of the city was called the mayor. I will tell my story about the mayors from 1724, since I have not studied the personal composition of the burgomasters of the cities of Altstadt, Löbenicht and Kneiphof.
Taking this opportunity, I would like to remind you that 1994 will mark the 270th anniversary of the founding of the united city of Konigsberg.
Konigsberg city governors
1. In 1724 burgomaster Altstadt, Doctor of Law, 3. Hesse became the first mayor of the newly formed city of Konigsberg. In this position, Z. Hesse spent six years until his death in 1730.
It must be assumed that a lot of all the worries associated with the establishment of a single urban mechanism fell on his shoulders. The population of Koenigsberg was more than 40,000 people, which was quite large at that time. The consequences of the terrible plague of 1709-1710, when about 18,000 people died out from the epidemic, were not completely eliminated in the city.
A few months before the unification, in April 1724, Immanuel Kant was born in the Kneiphof suburb of Vorstadt. It is a pity that burgomaster Z. Hesse was not destined to learn about the great fate of the brilliant peer of the glorious city of Konigsberg.
2. Royal Commissioner I. Fokkeradt replaced the deceased 3. Hesse. He served for two years. Residents of Konigsberg should have been very grateful to him for the fact that oil lanterns were installed in the city with him. After all, before that late walks around the city at night turned into a complete nightmare. Wealthy people hired torchbearers. And when in 1704 it was forbidden to use flammable torches, they walked with small flashlights, or without lights at all.
3. In 1732, the post of mayor went to J. Gruba. During his seven years in office, he had trouble with the arrival of immigrants from distant Salzburg to Konigsberg. Lutheran refugees, unable to endure the oppression from the Catholic environment, were forced to leave their homes and go to the shores of the cold, as it seemed to them, the Baltic. Salzburgers played a positive role in the industrial development of Königsberg, as there were many business people, skilled artisans and skilled craftsmen among them.
4. Ernst von Müllenheim did not stay in office for long, only a few months at the turn of 1739 and 1740. He got a very harsh winter. Even the usually non-freezing Baltic Sea was covered with ice, snow fell on May 7. The residents' supplies of fuel were quickly melting, they were freezing and needed help.
5. In 1740, I. Schroeder was elected the head of Konigsberg, who ruled the city for five years. The beginning of his career in the honorary post coincided with the beginning of the reign of King Frederick the Great. The Prussian king did not like Konigsberg very much. The avaricious monarch very modestly conducted the traditional coronation in Konigsberg, although he donated a thousand thalers for the poor. After the coronation, the king ordered the creation of a large park in the city north of the castle on the site of the old royal garden.
6. The next mayor in 1746 was I. Kizevetter (until 1751). On the one hand, this burgomaster promoted the development of the printed word: during his reign in Konigsberg, a large newspaper and printing business of Hartung was founded. But on the other hand, there was no proper supervision over the city bridges. As a result of negligence, the rotten racks at the Green Bridge collapsed, and he collapsed into the river along with four bystanders. But this loss did not significantly affect the urban population - it reached 50,000 people.
7. In 1752 Daniel Ginderzin took over as mayor. He stayed in office for 28 years, breaking the record for the duration of all the mayors of Konigsberg and Kaliningrad. But these years were not the calmest in the life of the city.
In 1758-1762, Königsberg, during the Seven Years' War unsuccessful for Prussia, became part of the Russian Empire. German self-government bodies needed to establish contacts with the Russian administration. Although the city privileges of Konigsberg remained intact, the Prussian eagles on the coats of arms installed on the facades of some buildings were replaced by the two-headed Russian eagle. Only on the tower of the Orphanage in Sackheim is the Prussian eagle preserved.
On January 24, 1756 - on the birthday of the Prussian king Frederick the Great - the ceremony of taking the oath of allegiance to the Russian Empress Elizabeth was held in Konigsberg. King Frederick did not like this turn of events very much, he was terribly offended by Konigsberg and never came to East Prussia again.
The Russian governor of Corfe, who replaced the governor of Fermor, favored the city and even completed the eastern wing of the Royal Castle. In July 1762, power in the city again passed completely to the German administration and Russian troops began to leave Konigsberg. The Russian commandants of Konigsberg during this period were General Rezanov and Brigadier Treiden.
But it was not only the concerns of relations with the Russians that worried the burgomaster. Severe fires in 1756, 1764, 1769, 1775 led to great disasters. The cold winter of 1761 created certain problems. The unfavorable economic situation led to a slight decrease in industrial production in Konigsberg. But in contrast to this, there has been a revival of cultural life in the city.
8. In 1780, Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel was appointed burgomaster of Konigsberg. He was born in 1744 in Gerdauen (now the village of Zheleznodorozhny) and made a career as a successful official. His hobby is literature, where he achieved noticeable success. Close acquaintance with I. Kant makes T. Hippel a great honor. His fine collection of paintings later became the property of Koenigsberg.
Theodor Hippel served as mayor until his death in 1796. His name was given to one of the streets of the city. Now this street is called Omskaya.
After a series of large fires during the previous burgomaster, the city was gradually establishing a normal life. Already in 1781, there were 224 breweries in Königsberg with excellently tasty beer. The trouble came from the other side: overcrowding of the population, inadequate sanitation - led in 1794 to an epidemic of cholera. With the onset of winter, the cholera subsided, but again very severe colds came.
The next coronation in Konigsberg took place on September 17-23, 1786. The new king Frederick Wilhelm II, paying great attention to East Prussia, did not bypass Konigsberg. True, the city did not receive any special bounty from him. But Konigsberg very wisely and skillfully began to use the important privilege provided to him by the previous king, Frederick II. This is the right of "marriage", that is, the ability to determine the quality of goods passing through the city, which brought great benefits, given the presence of port facilities in Königsberg and the transit of goods.
9. Bernhard Gervais, who replaced T. Hippel, served as burgomaster until 1808. It is possible that the French sound of his surname had some positive influence on the state of the city during the confrontation with the French emperor Napoleon. After all, it is known that in 1807, French troops entered Konigsberg, after a short battle. The Emperor Napoleon himself honored the city with his visit.
Natural disasters were added to the war troubles. In the fall of 1801, severe hurricanes led to flooding that flooded the Kneiphof. In 1803, there was a big fire, and in December 1806, a terrible hurricane hit the city again. In 1807, war travelers - epidemics of typhus and dysentery - killed 10,000 people from the city. Yet, despite the misfortunes, the population grew steadily and by 1800 it was about 55,000 people.
The royals often visited Koenigsberg, although, admittedly, many visits were forced. The coronation of Frederick William III took place at the Royal Castle from 3 to 9 June 1798. And then, from December 1806 to January 1807, the royal couple, forced to leave Berlin, lived in Konigsberg. The military situation in the fight against France was clearly not in favor of Prussia. Therefore, from January 1808 to December 15, 1809, Queen Louise had to live in Königsberg most of the time, and here on October 4, 1809, her son Albrecht was born.
10. Martin Deetz, who took office in March 1808, since 1809 was officially called Mayor of the Oberburg. But it is not a place that paints a person, but a person a place. M. Deets saw that, even with a new title, he could not cope with an avalanche of difficult cases, and had the courage to resign the following year.
11. August Heidemann took control of the city with great energy during the difficult times of the de facto French occupation of Königsberg. In the summer of 1812, Napoleon again arrived in Konigsberg, and from here he set off on his inglorious Russian campaign.
The defeat of Napoleon in Russia caused a panic retreat of the French through Konigsberg and brought a lot of troubles to the city. In this difficult situation, A. Heidemann showed patriotism and statesmanship, trying to preserve the city. Fortunately, in January 1813, Russian troops, pursuing the French, entered Konigsberg. Units of the Prussian Liberation Army also entered Königsberg.
Military expenditures were a heavy burden on the inhabitants of Königsberg. To pay the indemnity to the French conquerors, they transferred 1,784,450 thalers to the city treasury. The Prussian government later paid off this huge debt to its people to the citizens of Königsberg until 1901!
Nevertheless, public life in Königsberg did not freeze. In 1809, the construction of the city opera house was completed on the territory of the Royal Garden. In 1810, the astronomer F. Bessel came to Konigsberg and headed the observatory, built by 1813. In 1811, the University Botanical Garden was created. But the strongest fire of 1811 destroyed 144 houses and went down in the history of the city as one of the biggest disasters.
In 1811, the streets of Königsberg received official names, and all houses were numbered according to a single system.
August Heidemann died on December 15, 1813. A small street in Zakheim, now Cherepichnaya Street, is named after him.
An interesting message flashed in the press that for a short period from the beginning of 1813 the Russian mayor of Konigsberg, Major Pyotr Semenovich Stepanov, was appointed. But confirming. no documents have been found yet. But it is absolutely certain that Russian Lieutenant General Karl Karlovich Sivers was appointed commandant of the Konigsberg fortress at that time. However, the stay of the Russians in Konigsberg was short-lived this time.
12. Karl Horn became mayor of Königsberg on March 23, 1814 at the age of 35. He had work experience: for three years he held the position of burgomaster, the second in importance. His patriotic sentiments during the French invasion were widely known and respected. Karl Horn served as mayor until 1826 and died five years later. His name was given to the street, which is now called the street of Sergeant Koloskov.
Oberburgomist Horn paid much attention to the organization of city management and streamlining the work of city services. And of course, it was not his fault that in January 1825 there was a severe flood in the city, caused by a hurricane of the westerly wind.
13. Under this number in June 1826 mayor. Königsberg became Johann Liszt, who ruled the city until 1838. Natural disasters did not leave Konigsberg. A flood in April 1829 flooded the western part of the Kneiphof, and a cholera epidemic in 1831 killed 1,327 people. A cholera riot broke out in the city, as a result of which more than 30 people died. In July 1832, frosts occurred, destroying part of the harvest, but in the summer of 1838 it was so hot that the plants bloomed twice.
Königsberg gradually changed its medieval appearance. The first attempts are made to replace old city wells with water supply. The first steamer sailed along the Pregel River.
14. Rudolf von Auerswald was the mayor of Konigsberg for four years (1838-1842). The city continued to grow, incorporating suburbs outside the ramparts. Its population has reached 70,000.
But the fires continued to plague the residents. In 1839, there was a massive fire in Altstadt, which caused great losses.
The coronation in Konigsberg of Friedrich Wilhelm IV took place on September 10, 1840 in the usual manner.
15. In March 1843, the city council of Konigsberg was headed by August Kra. His concern for the welfare of the city extended to the founding of the City Resources Society, where private donations were concentrated. He tried to attract the townspeople to participate in the financial support of the city. Unfortunately, A. Kra died of cholera on October 9, 1848, not having time to complete all his plans.
Under him, a new building for the university was laid on the Parade-Platz. But the fires continued to rage: in 1845, 14 warehouses burned down. During the reign of A. Kra, the construction of a modernized ring of fortifications around the city with new gates began.
16. The case started by August Kra was continued by Karl Sperling. Initially, he served as the head of the city, and was officially elected on February 7, 1853. He was in office until 1864. The city began to quickly become involved in the benefits of civilization. In 1853, the first bright gas lanterns were installed, replacing the dull and smoky oil lanterns. With the glitter of gas lamps in August of the same year, the first train to Berlin departed from the new East Station. Telegraph devices were installed to communicate with the stations.
The winter of 1849 turned out to be cold; on January 11, the temperature dropped to minus 35 degrees. In 1857, cholera again visited Königsberg. For a more successful fight against fires, a professional fire brigade was created in the city in 1858.
In 1855, the city authorities intended to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the foundation of the Konigsberg fortress. But due to crop failure and illness, the king had to confine himself to church liturgy and a festive dinner for a limited number of invited guests.
The new Prussian constitution did not allow the next Prussian king William I to be officially crowned in Konigsberg. However, in a tribute to tradition, the royal couple visited the city in October 1861 and held a ceremony at the Royal Castle. Later, in 1864, construction began on a new castle tower 97.87 meters above sea level, which was finally built in 1866.
17. After the death of Karl Sperling, which followed on July 8, 1864, the burgomaster of Bigork (until August 8, 1865) performed the duties of the head of the city. Due to the short duration of his post, it is difficult to assess the results of his activities. I will only note that in 1865 a railway connection between Koenigsberg and Pillau (Baltiysk) was opened.
18. Then the duties of the mayor were assigned to the Commissioner of the Landrat Ernst von Ernsthausen, who remained in office until June 30, 1866.
19. And this short-term leapfrog of the authorities was completed by E. Retzenstein, who served as mayor until April 1, 1867. During his reign, cholera reminded of itself again: in 1866, 2,671 people died from it. By the same time, the construction of a new city gate was completed in Konigsberg.
20. The next mayor was the Commissioner of the Landrat F. Kischke (from 1867 to 1872). By this time, the population of Koenigsberg had reached 110,000 people. But the epidemics did not stop: in 1871 771 people were infected with smallpox, and 1790 people died from cholera.
In 1869 King Wilhelm deigned to visit Königsberg. During the high visit, a great misfortune happened: the railing of the bridge on the Castle Pond collapsed, 33 people died. And in the same year, there was a significant flood.
Meanwhile, in 1871, the state of Prussia ceased to exist, and Konigsberg became part of Germany, retaining the importance of the capital of the Prussian province. King William received the title of Emperor of Germany.
21. After the voluntary resignation of Friedrich Kischke in February 1872, Karl Shepanski performed the duties of the mayor. He was officially elected to office on November 5, 1872. He chaired the City Council for two years and did a lot of good deeds. Only cholera did not want to retreat in any way and in 1873 again visited Konigsberg. And the next year, the first line of water supply networks went into operation, which contributed to a significant improvement in the sanitary situation in the city.
22. After the voluntary resignation of K. Shepanski from October 1, 1874 to April 6, 1875, the City Council was headed by Brown.
23. In 1875, I. Zelke, who had previously been the mayor of Elblag, was approved as the head of Konigsberg. He was born in 1836, took part in the war with France in 1870/71. After becoming mayor of Konigsberg, Johann Zelke actively contributed to the development of the city. Under him, large-scale sewerage and gasification works were carried out.
In 1875, the construction of a trading exchange was completed, and in 1881 a horse-drawn tram began to move in Konigsberg - the transportation of passengers on rails in trailers driven by horses. This was the first sign of the beginning of democratic public transport.
Railway construction continued: in 1885, Konigsberg was connected by a line with Krantz (Zelenogradsk), in 1891 - with Tilsit (Sovetsk). In 1892, the Walter-Simon-Platz sports ground (now the Baltika Stadium) was built and the first 544 telephones were installed. In 1890, the city's first industrial power plant was built.
The population of Königsberg grew rapidly. If in 1880 the city had 140,000 inhabitants, then in 1890 there were 160,000 people.
I. Zelke died on June 29, 1893, and a street was named after him in the city, now it is Maly Lane.
24. Hermann Theodor Hoffmann was born in 1836 in the family of a Konigsberg merchant. From the beginning of the seventies he worked as a treasurer in the municipality, after 10 years he became burgomaster, and in 1893 - mayor. He died in 1902 and a small street in Konigsberg was named after him, now it is part of Epronovskaya and Krasnooktyabrskaya streets.
The activities of this mayor was quite intense, as can be seen from a simple listing of events, 1895 - a pulp mill in the Liep region and a meat processing plant in the Rosenau region were founded. In the same year, an electric tram route was launched. Königsberg became the first city in Germany where the tram was owned by the city. 1896 - opening of the zoo. 1897 - a construction school is opened on Schönstrasse. 1898 - a large student house was built - "Palestra Albertina". 1900 - the construction of the small railway Königsberg - Neuhausen (Gurjeven) - Curonian Lagoon was completed. In the same year, trains went on the Konigsberg - Neykuren (Pionersky) - Raushen (Svetlogorsk) line. 1902 - A new gas plant is built in Kosey and the construction of a modern harbor begins. Much of what was then built we still use today.
True, the elements did not give up. On February 12, 1894, a strong storm was accompanied by a large surge of water. Then there was a small outbreak of cholera, but this disease seems to have visited Königsberg for the last time. The heavy snowfall of 1899/1900 gave a lot of work to the cleaning service of the city.
The population of Koenigsberg at the beginning of 1900 was 190,000 people, the area of the city was 2,000 hectares.
Königsberg becomes a major trade center. More than 2,100 thousand tons of cargo passes through it annually. The revenue side of the city budget is expressed in the amount of 5,900 thousand marks per year.
25. Hermann Hoffmann died on June 30, from September 5, his deputy Paul Kunkel (1848-1925) began to act as mayor. When on February 3, 1903, 3 Kerte was elected chief burgomaster, Paul Kunkel remained his deputy until 1913 and rendered great assistance in the improvement of Konigsberg. Quite deservedly in 1933, a street was named after him - Kunkelstrasse, now it is a section of Karl Marx Street from Cosmonaut Leonov Street to Georgy Dimitrov Street.
26. The fate of Mayor Siegfried Körte was tragic. He was born in 1861 in Berlin in the family of a doctor, studied finance and law, then moved to Königsberg. In 1903 he was elected the head of the city.
The beginning of his management was going well. Although strong westerly winds in 1905 brought floods to the city seven times, they did not cause significant disasters. A snowy winter in 1908 forced the municipality to mobilize all its snow removal forces. A harsh winter broke out in 1911/1912, followed by a very hot summer. In 1913, as a result of a storm, the water in Pregel rose 163 centimeters higher than usual.
Konigsberg continued to modernize. In 1905, the Kaiser-Brücke bridge was built across the Pregel arm, connecting the island of Lomse with a densely populated area south of the island of Kneiphof. The next year, the bridge on the Castle Pond was reconstructed. In 1907, a powerful power plant was put into operation in the Kosee region, which gave a new impetus to the development of the industrial potential of Konigsberg. Since 1910, new suburbs have been added to the city, which lasted until 1939. Therefore, the population of Konigsberg immediately increased sharply and amounted to about 250,000 people.
The war that began in 1914 disrupted the peaceful course of events. The front approached Konigsberg. Russian troops approached Tapiau (Guards). Although they were soon forced to retreat, battles raged very close to the city.
Then came the days of revolutions. On November 10, 1918, Mayor Z. Körte held the last meeting of the magistrate. After that, power in the city passed into the hands of the Soviets of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies.
Suspension from work, the subsequent difficult operation, the death of his beloved daughter - undermined the strength of Z. Curte. He died on March 4, 1919, the day after the cessation of Soviet power in Konigsberg. In the city, one of the beautiful streets in the Amalinau area was named after him, which is now called Kutuzov Street.
We owe Oberburgomister Körte the abundant green spaces that have survived in our city to this day. It was under him that the urban gardening economy was founded, green zones were created and the ramparts were landscaped.
27. In the period from November 10, 1918 to January 1919, the leadership of the city council was taken over by Albert Borowski (1876-1945), manager of the Konigsberg branch of the Social Democratic Party. Albert Borovski was one of the organizers of consumer cooperation in the city and the surrounding area, for a long time he worked as a city councilor. In 1934 he retired and lived in Rudau (Melnikovo) and, apparently, died during the hostilities.
The difficult situation that developed in Konigsberg during the revolutionary events required the city authorities to exert maximum efforts to prevent anarchy. To their credit, it should be noted that relative order and tranquility were ensured in the city, there were no robberies and violence.
28. For some time, from January to October 27, 1919, the post of mayor of Konigsberg was performed by Erdmann, the city treasurer. At this time, the government troops of General Winning entered the city, and Soviet power in Konigsberg was liquidated.
29. In the same 1919, G. Lomayter, born in 1881, became the mayor of Konigsberg from 23 July. This was the last mayor elected democratically in Konigsberg. He did everything in his power to not only preserve the image and prosperity of the city in the conditions of a severe post-war crisis, but also bring it to a higher stage of development. In Königsberg, intensive urban construction continued, which began at the end of the 19th century. The Koenigsberg-Moscow airline opens, the city radio station begins to operate, and the East Prussian Fair is regularly held. In 1927, the city magistrate moved to a new building on the Hansa Platz (now Victory Square).
The area of Konigsberg in 1927 was 8474 hectares, the population was about 280,000 people. The revenue side of the city budget in 1925 amounted to 31.560 thousand Reichsmarks.
With the coming to power of the Nazis, G. Lomaiter was removed from office in 1933. He survived Hitler's regime, the destruction of Königsberg during World War II, and died in Berlin in 1968.
30. Helmut Bill was promoted to the post of Mayor of Königsberg by the Nazi Party in 1933 and remained in office until April 9, 1945, that is, until the city's surrender to the Red Army. After the surrender, H. Will was taken into Russian captivity, in which he stayed for about ten years.
At first, life in the city continued to develop in peacetime. The population of Koenigsberg in 1939, according to various estimates, ranged from 340,000 to 370,000 people, the latter figure, apparently, is more consistent with reality. In 1941, the city was home to about 380,000 people, the area of Königsberg was 193 square kilometers.
In 1939, World War II began. The following January was a very harsh winter. In June 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union.
Königsberg experienced the troubles of the air raid. At the end of August 1944, two massive air raids on the city turned its central part into ruins. The violent assault on Königsberg in April 1945 added destruction. The civilian population has experienced tremendous shock and hardship.
The surrender of the Konigsberg garrison opened another page in the history of the city.
Military administration
After the capture of Konigsberg by the Red Army in April 1945, the city smoked with fires and gaped with destruction. All power in Konigsberg was transferred to the military commander. On April 10, Major General M.V.Smirnov was appointed commandant of the city and fortress of Konigsberg. In June 1945, he was replaced by Guards Major General M.A. Pronin.
On May 10, 1945, under the military commandant, the Provisional City Administration for Civil Affairs was created. It had seven departments. Four days earlier, the German population was allowed to walk the streets from 7 am to 7 pm.
The Office of Civil Affairs was headed by the Deputy Commandant. The city was divided into eight district commandant's offices, and a Provisional Civil Administration was also created under each district commandant's office.
This is the first period from martial law to peaceful life. It was necessary to extinguish the fires, clear the streets, register the local population and provide them with food. It was necessary to establish the supply of water and electricity. Quite quickly, it was possible to put into operation a pulp and paper mill, open a school number 1, create the first city construction organization UNR-230. In September 1945, a grand opening of the monument to the fallen soldiers took place on Gvardeisky Prospekt.
On November 12, 1945, the Provisional City Office for Civil Affairs drew up a certificate on the size of the German population of Koenigsberg. There were 60,642 Germans in the city, of whom 18,515 were men. Able-bodied people were counted, 12,276 children.
On November 19, 1945, the Provisional Civil Administration was created under the Military Council of a special military district, which was commanded by the Guards Colonel-General K. N. Galitsky. The head of the Provisional Civil Directorate was appointed Guards Major General of the Technical Troops V.G. Guziy.
Civil administration
On April 7, 1946, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a decree to rename Konigsberg to Kaliningrad. At the same time, the Council of Ministers of the USSR creates a Civil Affairs Directorate in Kaliningrad, subordinate to the Regional Civil Affairs Directorate.
On May 22, 1946 P.I.Kolosov was appointed head of the Kaliningrad Civil Affairs Department. Management services are located on Svyazistov Street (now Kommunalnaya Street).
In April 1947, Vladimir Mikhailovich Dolgushin, who had previously been deputy chief, was appointed acting head of the Kaliningrad Civil Affairs Department.
The city gradually moved to a peaceful life. In August 1946, the first settlers from Russia and Belarus began to arrive in Kaliningrad in an organized manner. The Pobeda cinema was opened, the Kaliningradskaya Pravda newspaper began to appear. Renamed German street names. An important stage in the life of Kaliningrad was the launch of tram route No. 1.
Kaliningrad mayors
1. May 28, 1947 the Presidium of the Supreme; Council of the RSFSR abolished the Office for Civil Affairs and appointed the Executive Committee of Kaliningrad. VM Dolgushin (born in 1905) became the acting chairman of the city executive committee. He worked in this position until July 1947, and then became head of the communal services department.
From the certificate drawn up by V. Dolgushin, it can be seen that the population of Kaliningrad in June 1947 was 211,000 people, including 37,000 Germans, of which 1,700 were able-bodied. By this time Kaliningrad was divided into six districts by numbers.
2. On July 26, 1947, Pyotr Kharitonovich Murashko, who was born in 1899, was approved as the chairman of the city executive committee. After the elections to local Soviets in December 1947, the session of the City Council of Working People's Deputies confirmed the appointment of P. Murashko as chairman of the city executive committee. He stayed in office until December 22, 1949 and was dismissed from work at the suggestion of the city committee of the CPSU (b) for the unsatisfactory state of affairs.
On July 25, 1947, four districts were formed in Kaliningrad: Baltic, Leningradsky, Moskovsky and Stalingrad. Later, the Central District was created, and the Stalingrad District was renamed to Oktyabrsky.
In 1946-1947, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted a number of resolutions on the development of the Kaliningrad region. Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers A. N. Kosygin came to Kaliningrad to implement government decrees.
A peaceful life was improving in the city. The Kaliningrad theater showed its first performance, the Kaliningrad radio started talking. In 1948, a fishing expedition went to the North Atlantic, and Kaliningrad began to acquire the importance of an important fish supply point. Classes began at the Pedagogical Institute.
In 1947-1948. the resettlement of the Germans from Kaliningrad to Germany was carried out.
The year 1949 was filled with many events, among them: the opening of an energy technical school (later a polytechnic), the commissioning of the restored South Station.
3. In the period from December 22, 1949 to March 1950, the duties of the chairman of the city executive committee were entrusted to NS Serov.
4. Sergei Aleksandrovich Veselov was elected the next mayor in March 1950, sent to Kaliningrad by the decision of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). He worked in this position until February 1951, after which he was elected chairman of the regional Council of Trade Unions.
The development of the fishing industry continued in the city. In May 1950, the Agency for the Ferrying of Vessels was formed.
5. On February 22, 1951, Vladimir Evgrafovich Pavlov was elected chairman of the Kaliningrad city executive committee (until March 1955).
The population of Kaliningrad stabilized for some time and fluctuated around 200,000 people. This may have been facilitated by some uncertainty about the future of the Baltic city, although the media persistently campaigned to prove that East Prussia's lands belonged to Slavic territories. In 1953, the first plan for the reconstruction of Kaliningrad was adopted. It should be noted that many central districts of the city still continued to lie in ruins, so Kaliningrad in those years made a rather gloomy impression, significantly lagging behind in the pace of restoration work from other Russian cities that suffered from the war.
6. Alexander Nikitovich Nekipelov was nominated for the post of mayor on March 11, 1955 and held office for two years.
In April 1956, on the way to England and on his return back, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR N. A. Bulganin and the Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU N. S. Khrushchev visited Kaliningrad. Apparently, this visit served as some impetus for the intensification of restoration work, although the consequences did not appear immediately.
7. On March 19, 1957, a session of the City Council elected Nikolai Fedorovich Korovkin as chairman of the executive committee, who headed the executive committee until 1963.
The number of residents of Kaliningrad finally crossed the two hundred thousand mark and began to grow steadily. In 1961, 230,000 people lived in the city, in 1963 - about 240,000 people.
Finally, they began to systematically clear the city from the ruins of the war. Unfortunately, buildings suitable for restoration were demolished under the hot hand. But here the directive was steadily acting on the decisive eradication of elements of Gothic architecture in Kaliningrad.
In September 1960, on the way to New York, the Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee NS Khrushchev again visited Kaliningrad. The leaders of the countries of Eastern Europe: E Ya. Kadar (Hungary), G. Georgiu-Dej (Romania), as well as the heads of delegations of the union republics: K. T. Mazurov (Belarus) and N. P. Podgorny (Ukraine) also traveled here. ...
8. On May 9, 1963, Nikolai Petrovich Loshkarev became the chairman of the Kaliningrad city executive committee. On March 2, 1966, he was dismissed from office for incorrect distribution of apartments.
Nikita Khrushchev again visited Kaliningrad on his way to Denmark and Norway. On this visit of the Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, the city looked incomparably better than on previous visits. A cinema "Russia" was built in the center, a pavilion of the North Station was built. The destroyed urban areas were intensively built up.
In July 1965, Kaliningrad celebrated the Fisherman's Day for the first time. The city was visited by cosmonauts Alexei Leonov and Pavel Blinov, who were awarded the title of honorary citizens of the city.
But the struggle with German Gothic architecture spread to urban landscapes as well. For example, in the green zone behind the Lithuanian shaft, the construction of a large car park was allowed. Due to the lag in the construction of sewerage networks, they gave the go-ahead for the removal of feces into city water bodies. Some of the subsequent mayors can also be blamed for the same.
9. Dmitry Vasilyevich Romanin headed the executive committee in March 1966. He was born on June 22, 1929 in the Bryansk region, graduated from a mechanical college and a technical institute. Before being elected mayor of the city, he worked as the second secretary of the Kaliningrad city committee of the CPSU. Left the place of mayor on August 17, 1972 in connection with the election as the first secretary of the Kaliningrad city committee of the CPSU.
In 1967, the General Plan for the reconstruction, construction and development of Kaliningrad was approved. This plan, to some extent, sought to add variety to monotonous block and panel construction. Some of the objects included in this plan were built, but in general it was not implemented.
In 1968, they actively began to demolish the ruins of the Royal Castle, the next year they blew up the remains of the towers and began to build a multi-storey House of Soviets, which has not yet been completed.
The population of Kaliningrad was constantly increasing. In 1970 there were 300,000 people in the city, by 1972 there were already about 315,000 people. In 1971 Kaliningrad was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.
The elements continued to rage under any government. In 1967, during a strong storm, the water in Pregolya rose 160 cm above the ordinary. And in the 1970s, the city suffered a planned disaster: all fences and fences near houses, squares and front gardens were removed. As a result, all courtyards turned into walk-through, trampled and littered areas.
10. On August 17, 1972, Viktor Vasilyevich Denisov was elected chairman of the city executive committee. Of the mayors of the Soviet period, he stayed in office for the longest time - 12 years. Under him, at the end of 1973, the city executive committee moved to a building on Victory Square, in the very place where the German municipality was located.
Intensive development continued in the city's microdistricts: along the streets of Gorky, Oktyabrskaya, Batalnaya. The dominant influence was gained by large-panel housing construction.
The improvement of the area around the Lower (Zamkovy) pond and a number of other measures to improve the appearance of the city made a favorable impression. In some places, fences near houses and squares have been restored, although in general these works have not been completed to this day.
During this period, the construction of a new large flyover bridge was completed, connecting the central regions of Kaliningrad with the main railway and bus stations. The Puppet Theater was opened in the restored Church of Queen Louise in 1976, and the city concert hall began operating in the former Catholic Church in 1980.
The length of the tram lines (in single-track terms) was about one hundred kilometers, the number of tram cars - 210. In the same year, a trolleybus was launched in the city.
As for natural disasters, as a result of a strong hurricane on the night of January 5-6, 1975, water flooded the low-lying areas of the city. In January - February 1983, three hurricanes hit Kaliningrad; on January 18, the water in Pregol rose to a record high of 183 cm above the ordinary.
The area of Kaliningrad in 1983 was 198 square kilometers, with a population of 374,000.
11. Boris Andreevich Fomichev, who worked at the Yantar plant, was elected to the post of the head of the city on December 26, 1984, worked in this position for four years, after which he returned to the Yantar plant.
By this time, the population of Kaliningrad approached 400,000 people, and they had to freeze a little in January 1987, since there was no such cold winter in the city for the last forty years.
So, gradually sorting out the mayors, we approached our days. The winds of perestroika blew. There have been changes in the echelons of power: they were divided into legislative and executive ones. Under the new laws, the legislative power in Kaliningrad is concentrated in the city council, which must elect its chairman by secret ballot. Executive power has been transferred to the head of the city administration, who is to be elected to office through direct general elections. But at the time of this writing, he was appointed by the decree of the President of Russia.
12. On October 14, 1988, Nikolai Grigorievich Khromenko was elected Chairman of the Kaliningrad City Executive Committee. At the end of March 1990, when the authorities were divided into two parts, N. Khromenko was elected chairman of the city council, while continuing to simultaneously serve as head of the city administration until April 1990. In April 1990, Georgy Nikolaevich Isaev was appointed head of the administration.
A year later, on April 5, 1991, N. Khromenko voluntarily left the post of chairman of the city council.
I will not talk about the life of Kaliningrad during this transitional period, it is in full view of all of us. It seems that the division of powers, at first, did not bring much benefit to the city. I will only inform you that the revenue side of the city budget in 1990 was equal to 90,290,000 rubles. But since the division also affected the financial authorities, it makes no sense to get into the area of monetary issues here.
13. On April 29, 1991, Vitaly Valentinovich Shipov was elected chairman of the Kaliningrad City Council. June 6, 1991, in connection with the resignation of G. Isaev, - V. Shipov simultaneously holds the position of the head of the city administration.
14. In January 1992, the situation with the two authorities was somewhat determined. Nadezhda Ivanovna Lazareva, who worked as an associate professor of the Department of Physics at the Technical Institute, was elected to the post of chairman. And a little earlier, by the Decree of the President of Russia of December 24, 1992, Vitaly Valentinovich Shipov, captain of the second rank of the Navy, was appointed head of the Kaliningrad administration.
So, the city officials sat down in their chairs. Now we will wait for positive results. The next elections to local self-government, if the laws do not change, should take place in 1995. Time runs inexorably ...
The article uses documents from the Kaliningrad regional archive of the reference book "Lexicon of Konigsberg" by Robert Albinus (1988), materials from the author's archive.
List
mayors of Konigsberg and Kaliningrad
Konigsberg 1724-1945
| 1. | Zacharias Hesse | 1724-1730 |
| 2. | I. G. Fokkeradt | 1730-1732 |
| 3. | Jacob Grube | 1732-1739 |
| 4. | Ernst von Müllenheim | 1739-1740 |
| 5. | Johann Schroeder | 1740-1745 |
| 6. | Johann Heinrich Kiesewetter | 1746-1751 |
| 7. | Daniel Friedrich Ginderzin | 1752-1780 |
| 8. | Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel | 1780-1796 |
| 9. | Bernhard Conrad Ludwig Gervais | 1796-1808 |
| 10. | Martin Gottlieb Deetz | 1808-1810 |
| 11. | August Wilhelm Heidemann | 1810-1813 |
| 12. | Karl Friedrich Horn | 1814-1826 |
| 13. | Johann Friedrich Liszt | 1826-1838 |
| 14. | Rudolf von Auerswald | 1838-1842 |
| 15. | August Friedrich Kra | 1843-1848 |
| 16. | Karl Gottfried Sperling | 1848-1864 |
| 17. | Bigork | 1864-1865 |
| 18. | Ernst von Ernsthausen | 1865-1866 |
| 19. | E. von Retzenstein | 1866-1867 |
| 20. | Friedrich Kischke | 1867-1872 |
| 21. | Karl Johann Eduard Shepanski | 1872-1874 |
| 22. | Brown | 1874-1875 |
| 23. | Johann Karl Adolf Selke | 1875-1893 |
| 24. | Hermann Theodor Hoffmann | 1893-1902 |
| 25. | Paul Kunkel | 1902-1903 |
| 26. | Siegfried Körte | 1903-1918 |
| 27. | Albert Franz Borowski | 1918-1919 |
| 28. | Erdmann |
5.
On October 29, 1993, the Kaliningrad City Council ceased to exist. Thus, civil power in Kaliningrad was concentrated in the staff of the head of the city administration, Vitaly Valentinovich Shipov. The structure of local self-government for the future has not yet been determined. |
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