Kaliningrad Oblast

Kaliningrad Oblast (Russian: ??????????????? ???????), informally called Yantarny kray (Russian:???????? ???? - meaning Amber region) is an administrative division (oblast) of Russia on the Baltic coast, with no land connection to the rest of Russia: an enclave of the European Union. It is the westernmost parcel of land belonging to Russia, separated from the rest of Russia by Lithuania and Belarus. Its largest city is Kaliningrad (formerly Königsberg), which has historical significance as both a major city of Prussia and the capital of the former German province East Prussia, of which the region remains the core remnant.

History

Historically, the area was part of East Prussia, until East Prussia was partitioned between Poland (Warminsko-Mazurskie Voivodship), Lithuania (Memelland), and Russia (Kaliningrad Oblast) following WWII.

Related Topics:
East Prussia - Warminsko-Mazurskie Voivodship - Memelland - WWII

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Prussian people

The peoples of this region have probably switched their nationalities more times than any other place in Europe.

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A thousand years ago this area was inhabited by Prussian tribes of Baltic origin (not to be confused with "East Prussian", a later term meaning German people).

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At this time the current capital Kaliningrad was a town known as Tvanksta.

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The indigenous Prussians were pagans and the Teutonic order entered the area under the pretext of spreading Christianity . According to the Teutonic chronicles, the centre of Baltic paganism, which was also adhered to by the Lithuanians, Samogitians and various other Baltic nations, was a city known as Romuva (supposedly after "Rome") in the Prussian lands. This may well have been inaccurate because unlike Christianity the pagan religion had no central authority.

Related Topics:
Pagans - Teutonic order - Lithuanians - Samogitians - Romuva

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Teutonic Order

Unlike other Baltic nations the Prussians were unable to establish their own state and thus their lands were quickly overrun by the Teutonic Knights and formed the bulk of the Teutonic Order State. Germans colonized many cities and the German language was dominant in governmental affairs. The Latvians were also colonised by the order. The Prussians had more nationalistic tendencies, which led to several organised revolts against the Teutonic Order, including the famous revolt led by Herkus Mantas. These uprisings ultimately failed, resulting in the eventual destruction of the original Prussian culture, as the nation became thoroughly germanised.

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The Prussian language is known to have survived into the late medieval and renaissance periods as many of the Bibles from these periods were written in the Prussian language for those that did not speak German. The west of Koenigsberg was a centre for this language before it eventually died out.

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The Second Treaty of Thorn in 1466 left western Prussia under Polish control under the name of "Royal Prussia", while the knights retained control of eastern Prussia, although it became a Polish fief. In 1525, Order's Grand Master secularised the Prussian branch of the Teutonic Order and established himself as the Duke of Prussia and as a vassal of the Polish crown.

Related Topics:
Second Treaty of Thorn - 1466 - Royal Prussia - Fief - 1525 - Order's Grand Master - Duke - Vassal

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East Prussia

Gradually, Ducal Prussia passed to the electors of Brandenburg, forming Brandenburg-Prussia. The elector-dukes freed themselves of their Polish vassaldom in the Treaty of Wehlau in 1660. They established the Albertina University, one of the most important centres of German-language education, in Konigsberg (1544).

Related Topics:
Ducal Prussia - Brandenburg - Brandenburg-Prussia - Treaty of Wehlau - 1660 - Albertina University - Konigsberg

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The Hohenzollern dynasty transformed their state into the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701 and annexed an area of Poland known as Warmia in 1773. Prussian kings were crowned at Konigsberg Castle, although the area was briefly overrun by Russians during the Seven Years' War.

Related Topics:
Hohenzollern - Kingdom of Prussia - 1701 - Warmia - 1773 - Russians - Seven Years' War

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By this point Lithuanians made up the majority of the population in more than half of what is currently Kaliningrad Oblast (eastern part) and significant minorities elsewhere. As a result this area was sometimes called Lithuania Minor but it was not part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Lithuanians living in this area were called Lietuvininks (Lietuvininkas/Lietuvininkai). Their religion differed from other Lithuanians in Lithuania as they were Lutherans and not Catholics like their cousins.

Related Topics:
Lithuania Minor - Grand Duchy of Lithuania - Lietuvininks - Lithuania

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Germans formed a large majority in city of Koenigsberg and the areas around it. They also formed a smaller majority in other western parts of modern Kaliningrad Oblast. Curonian spit was inhabited by a distinct Baltic tribe known as the Curonians.

Related Topics:
Curonian spit - Curonians

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The four counties where Lithuanian was spoken were referred to collectively as the Lithuanian province. In this province the church sermons were predominantly held in Lithuanian, as well there were Lithuanian schools, but that decreased over the time (due to germanisation and government regulations).

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Please note that Germans were always, since the conquerment of the area by the Teutonic Order, have been the dominating nation in East Prussia, German language was primarily used by government and such. Other nationalities, despite of inhabitting large chunks of land, were mostly peasants, while landowners were usually German (city of Koenigsberg, capital of East Prussia, was also inhabitted mostly by Germans). Thus the Lithuanian speaking areas gradually became germanised due to the migration of wealthy Germans from other parts of the country into Lithuanian areas and the fact that the German language was seen as more prestigious than Lithuanian. Eventually the Lithuanian-speaking area shrank while the Curonian-speaking area disappeared altogether.

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East Prussia was an important centre of German culture. Many important figures, such as Immanuel Kant, comes from this region. The cities of Kaliningrad Oblast, despite being heavily damaged during World War 2 and after, still bears typical German architecture, such as Jugend Style (German form of Art Noveau), which shows the rich German history and cultural importance of the area.

Related Topics:
East Prussia - World War 2

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Despite the germanising population, Lithuania Minor remained an important centre of Lithuanian culture as well largely due to Lutheranism, which, along with the government of Prussia, promoted science and education. This led to Lithuania Minor advancing more scientifically and culturally than the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, (which was a direct part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). In fact the first Lithuanian books were released in the area of what is now Kaliningrad Oblast rather than Lithuania. Lithuania Minor also become a centre for Lithuanian patriotism as people tried to preserve Lithuanian culture and heritage, which even in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania itself was neglected in favour of the Polish language and culture among the wealthy and the nobility.

Related Topics:
Lithuania Minor - Prussia - Grand Duchy of Lithuania - Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

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In the 19th century, Tilsit and several other towns of East Prussia were important for Lithuanian culture. Most of Lithuanian language books published at the time were printed in East Prussia and then smuggled into Lithuania, where the use of Lithuanian language in print and public performance was banned by Russian authorities.

Related Topics:
Tilsit - East Prussia - Smuggled into Lithuania - Banned by Russian authorities

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The Lithuanian-speaking population continued to diminish due to further germanisation and in the XX century remained only in the northeast of what is now Kaliningrad Oblast, the rest of the area becoming predominantly German.

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When the Nazis came to power in Germany in the 1930's they radically altered about a third of the topology of this area by eliminating all names of Polish or Lithuanian origin in 1938. During WWII the province of East Prussia was expanded at the expense of Poland.

Related Topics:
Nazis - Topology - 1938 - WWII - East Prussia - Poland

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Kaliningrad Oblast

The Soviet Red Army entered the eastern-most tip of Prussia on August 29 1944. Rumours of massacres committed by the Soviet troops spread panic in the province and caused a mass flight westward. More than 2 million people were evacuated, many of them via the Baltic Sea.

Related Topics:
Soviet - Red Army - August 29 - 1944 - Evacuated - Baltic Sea

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The Yalta Conference of world powers assigned northern East Prussia to the Soviet Union. Sir Winston Churchill remarked that "this part of East Prussia is red from the Russian blood liberally shed for the common cause. Therefore the Russians have historical and well grounded claims on this German area" http://www.pseudology.org/Pobeda/Kenigsberg.htm. The northernmost part of the assigned area (Memelland, which was controlled by Lithuania in 1923-1939), however, was added to the Lithuanian SSR (see Klaip?da region).

Related Topics:
Yalta Conference - Soviet Union - Sir Winston Churchill - Memelland - Lithuanian SSR - Klaip?da region

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According to some documents by the rule of Khruschiov the Soviet government had planned to make the rest of the area a part of the Lithuanian SSR too, because at this time all the area was under rule of planning comitee of LSSR, only it had it's own Party commitee. The leadership of Lithuanian SSR (especially Antanas Snie?kus) however refused to take the territory mainly because of its devastation in WWII and for other reasons as well. Instead the region was added to the Russian TSFR and since 1946 it has been known as Kaliningrad Oblast.

Related Topics:
Khruschiov - Lithuanian SSR - Planning comitee - LSSR - Antanas Snie?kus - WWII - 1946

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The Soviet government changed city names into Russian ones and encouraged Russians to migrate to the area along with Ukrainians and Belarusians (see the demography section). After the collapse of the USSR Germans once again began to migrate to the area, especially Volga Germans from other parts of Russia. Little (almost or probably at all none) of the original Lietuvininks (Lithuanian) population remains in Kaliningrad Oblast. Some (currently 1,9% of population) Lithuanians were moved into the area from elsewhere after WWII.

Related Topics:
Ukrainians - Belarusians - USSR - Volga Germans - Lietuvininks - WWII

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During the time of USSR the Russian language was heavily promoted and there were no other language schools and few cultural activities for minorities. In recent times the situation has slowly changed as the people of Kaliningrad begin to look back to their past. Germany and Lithuania have renewed contact with Kaliningrad Oblast through twin towns and other projects. This has helped to promote interest in the past and the culture of the East Prussian and Lietuvinink communities.

Related Topics:
USSR - Twin towns

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