How Königsberg became Kaliningrad
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- čas přidán 17. 05. 2024
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How did German Königsberg become Soviet Kaliningrad? This video gives a detailed overview of the city’s history from 1945 to 1970 and discusses the ideologies behind it, the material problems and why certain, rather controversial decisions were made.
Sources:
- Brodersen, Per: Die Stadt im Westen. Wie Königsberg Kaliningrad wurde, Göttingen 2008.
- Freeman, Jamie: From German Königsberg to Soviet Kaliningrad. Appropriating Place and Constructing Identity, Oxford & New York 2021.
- Gal’cova, Svetlana: Die Geschichte des Kaliningrader Gebietes in der sowjetischen Forschung, in: Nordost-Archiv. Zeitschrift für Regionalgeschichte 3 (1994), H. 2, S. 495-506.
- Hoppe, Bert: Auf den Trümmern von Königsberg. Kaliningrad 1946-1970, München 2000.
- Kossert, Andreas: Damals in Ostpreußen. Der Untergang einer deutschen Provinz, München 2010.
- Sezneva, Olga: Living in the Russian Present with a German Past. The Problems of Identity in the City of Kaliningrad, in: Crowley, David & Reid, Susan E. (Hg): Socialist Spaces. Sites of Everyday Life in Eastern Bloc, Oxford 2002, S. 47-64.
- Smith, Mark B.: Khrushchev’s promise to eliminate the urban housing shortage. Rights, rationality and the communist future, in: Ilic, Melanie & Smith, Jeremy (Hg.): Soviet State and Society Under Nikita Khrushchev, London 2009.
Music Used:
Dvorak - Serenade for Strings
Hallen - Die Toteninsel
Sibelius - Cassazione
Tchaikovsky - Valse Sentimentale
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:41 Königsberg in Ruins
2:57 A New History of East Prussia
4:48 First Architectural Plans
8:07 The Housing Problem
10:39 Monuments
12:13 The Fate of The Königsberg Castle
14:49 The Current Situation
15:43 Outro
The most important question is, can you walk across all the bridges in Kaliningrad while only crossing each bridge only once.
Pre war it was impossible, but most of the famous bridges are destroyed, and they put the highway through the middle of the old towns, so… yes, you can.
I’ve won… But at what cost?
WELL NO PROBLEM THAT IS MAGIC JOKE.. I'M RUSSIAN LIVE HERE SINCE 1956.. TOO MUCH PEOPLE TRY IT... THAT*S SOPHISTICS..
@@Vitalis94based soviets
@@OtherlingQueenWhy? They live in it now, it’s their problem if they make it a shithole
I am from Russian Kaliningrad myself, and the deportation of German population has always been a controversial topic within our city. Funnily my mother would usually argue strongly against it.
In an ironic twist of events, my stepsister from Kharkiv had to seek refuge in Germany after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The family that hosts her happens to be descendants of people departed from East Prussia, and one of the reasons they decided to host Ukrainian refugees was their own ancestors’ troublesome experience.
Soviet people has tendency to autodestruction.
russians@@patryk3019
Don't a lot of current day inhabitants of Kaliningrad have roots in Ukraine?
maybe, but complete majority are russians@@flopunkt3665
It’s strange that you are from Russia, but instead of Kharkov you use Kharkiv.
Kaliningrad suffered the same fate as Vyborg.
Most of the old city was left to ruin, and drowned in concrete.
A combination of ideology, lack of funding and the mentality. The communist ideal had cities rebuilt in the “new model”, with modernist architecture in mind. It wasn’t exclusive to communist states, as brutalist architecture and car dependency was favoured by many architects after the war.
The lack of funding and the need to quickly rebuild, get people houses, also resulted in the infamous commie blocks.
Lastly, as an imperial, conquering power, they just don’t care about the city’s history, so the government didn’t want to rebuild using the historical style.
I don’t know about Vyborg, but many local architects tried to rebuild Kaliningrad in the historical style, so it’s not like no one cared.
always the same with those damn russians no respect no honor.
At least the Library in Vyborg is kept the way Saarinen meant it to be
A very large amount of vyborg/viipuri citizens stick speak Finnish, 94% i believe. However the city itself is just and ugly soviet city
Viborg, Sweden's bastion against the east. Long it held them at bay, truly a tragic tale.
Funny how the Konigsberg castle was seen as a symbol of Prussian/German aggression, and then the Soviets proceeded to replace it with the House of the Soviet, which itself became a symbol of Soviet spite and incompetency.
I think being a city park is better. both buildings are symbols of power. better not to build anything
@@carkawalakhatulistiwa I mean a lot of things are symbols of powers lol. At least the castle looked cool af.
And how many millions of Russians were killed during the controlled famine times … I question why that is never mentioned . Talk about aggression on its own people … let alone Europe. But that is war and it just trickles down …
Also Lithuanian architects sent proposals to save the castle. Even though originally it was constructed to fight lithuanians
@@hanzeuro28as an architect I can tell you the House of Soviets was built to replace German roots since this was meant to show poder through bulding
I know you try to stick to Germanic History, but since you talked about Soviet city building or in this case, rebuilding, the construction of Magnitogorsk is a super unique story. It was modeled after Pittsburgh PA and Gary Indiana, here in the USA. Stalin wanted to have an ideal steel city, and he that’s why it was the way it was. If I remember correctly, the apartments were built without kitchens, in order to allow women to be liberated into the work place.
Modeling a city after Pittsburg? 💀
@@goldenfiberwheat238 There ain't nothing wrong with Pittsburgh. It's the greatest city in the world. Also, you forgot the H.
@@wetwillyis_1881 cope
...where were they supposed to prepare food then?
@@riograndedosulball248 That's the neat part, they didn't. If I remember correctly, in typical soviet fashion, they didn't think about that.
What a sad place it has become.
It is always the reactionary fanatics who destroy without thinking.
Not to mention the nuclear waste deployed in the Kaliningrad Oblast since 1956.
@@NoSTs123don't think you're using that word correctly. The soviets were a lot of bad things, but it's usually us monarchists that are labeled reactionary, for a desire to return to older ways.
@@greyfells2829 ok
Karaliaucius - original baltic name. Still has Lithuanian walls in the city
Someone proposed to build a house of soviets in the style of a beautiful university in Moscow only for the castle to later be demolished and replaced with that horrific eyesore of a house of soviets wtf
If only they got to rebuild it in a beautiful way like the guy planned
they just could have used the Königsberg Castle as the foundation of the House of slavs, making both sides happy
@@diesesphilI think being a city park is better. both buildings are symbols of power. better not to build
Another absolutely awesome topic which I’ve pondered about for ages - you keep delivering the best content I’ve seen in a long time and deserve all the praise you’re getting recently
Thank you so much :)
The ethnic erasure of baltic germans a historical fact almost never talked about.
Baltic German are just German Lebensraum Colonists
It's adressed exactly as much as most other forms of ethnic cleansing of the era.
Nor the natives of the region at the hands of the Germans
Nor is the ethnic erasure of the native prussians at the hands of the German teutons
Officialy and in the big media not or very few mentioned. But through millions cases of intermarriages between expelled eastern Germans and other Germans in former West Germany and the German Democratic Republic (DDR) this history is widespreadly known within the German people.
That whole House of Soviets in Kaliningrad not coming to fruition reminds me of the fact Moscow didn't get the Palace of the Soviets! It was supposed to be a 416-metre-tall palace that was to house sessions of the Supreme Soviet in its 130-metre wide and 100-metre tall grand hall seating over 20,000 people, built on the site of the demolished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. If built, it would have become the world's tallest structure. The German invasion in June 1941 ended the project, with engineers and workers diverted to defense projects or join the army, and the structural steel was disassembled. A swimming pool was built on the site by 1960, and after the USSR collapsed, the cathedral was rebuilt and consecrated in 2000.
The territory is neither Russian nor German! The land rightfully belongs to Bolivia! Bolivia has been yearning to have a coastline again, and this would give them the economic boost they need! It is a peaceful solution that wouldn't cause any violence once they see the alpacas, and I'm sure the locals will welcome their new Agwa and Yerba Mate overlords! They should take the rest of the world's coastline while they're at it. Chile may be known as hogging up South American coastline, but Bolivia will get its revenge.
My mother was born in Königsberg in 1931. Her name was Edith Ruth Perrey, she had two sibling. Reinhold and Christa Perrey. Their parents were Willy Franz Perrey and Grete Dorothea Perrey (Krause). Perhaps someone reading my comment knows of their family.
My mother told me about her home town. It was a beautiful city according to her tales. She told me about where they lived on Schröter Strasse. She also told me about the bombing raids that destroyed Königsberg.
Her tales of leaving toward western parts of Germany via Danzig and then a ship toward Kiel.
She, her siblings, her mother and grandmother settled in Wedel (Schleswig Holstein) where my elder sister and I were born.
Thank you for this video. It showed me some images prior to WW2 which I enjoyed. It's where my roots lie.
Wow the "House of the Soviets" looks like a piece of sh** which replaced a beautiful and very old Castle
It is already being demolished
@@iachelovek-ib8rw Thanks didnt know that
I just recently stumbled upon your channel. Very well researched and entertaining too!
Have a nice weekend!
Your channel is one of the best things I discovered this year.
Very nice video as always!
Very interesting video. Keep up the good work!
Will do, thanks :)
Thanks for making an actual documentary instead of an emotional melodrama.
My parents are both descendants of East Prussians. They both came from different regions too. Recently I took a DNA test and found something interesting, which I believe reflects most of the people expelled from East Prussia. It turns out I’m only 11% French and German, there being some Huguenot ancestry suggested in my father’s family. There is zero percent Polish or Lithuanian DNA. Over 70% of my DNA is in fact from the old Prussians, which I believe applies to most of the East Prussians who were ethnically cleansed from their ancestral lands. We were punished for being Germans, yet, ethnically at least, we were the least German of all the German lands at the end of the Second World War. Yes, we were culturally German, but the land had been ours centuries before either the Germans or the Poles tried to conquer us. When the Germans, through the Teutonic Knights, actually succeeded, they didn’t expel us, but over the course of centuries gradually assimilated us. Ironic that we had to bear the brunt of the punishment for the crimes of the Nazi regime.
I believe the old Prussians were a Baltic people akin to Lithuanians, it's also curious how the current Russian population has become more sympathetic to the heritage and culture of the previous inhabitants and see themselves as more progressive than Russia itself. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for the region especially with the current conflict
There is a strong likelihood that many Palestinians are ethnically closer to the tribes of Biblical Israel than most modern Israelis......
I highly doubt you have 0% Lithuanian DNA considering how heavily intermixed Baltic tribes were with one another even before the crusades. In fact, the Old Prussians later became known as Lithuanian Prussians in the 1500s according the scholars like Simon Grunau
You realize though that if the old Prussians were ethnically cleansed as you say, ie exterminated, you wouldn't be 70% old Prussians.
Okay so how was that "Old Prussians" classified in your test? What is the name of the testing company? None of the major genetic tests have "Old Prussians" classification.
If you done ancestry DNA, it should be either Baltic or Northwest Poland/Southern Lithuania (Yotvingian and Old Prussian).
I had ancestors from a close by Lithuanian region.
I got 87% Baltic/Lithuanian) and 13% Northwest Poland/Southern Lithuanian
Excellent video, well done!
Everybody knows it’s rightful Czech clay
maybe you should czech your sources
@@Yuyo545 we've czech-ed, of course, what was founded by king Ottokar II is rightful Czech clay
@@quantranminh9203 it was not. It was founded by teutonic knights who named it Königsberg in honor of a bohemian noble who helped them in their campaigns
@@gerbrandt7213 They've founded it on ground of old Prussian settlement "Twangste" and in honor of not some noble but king Ottokar II who helped in their crusades immensely
@@andso2152 yeah of course it's a reasonable argument. I guess it depends how far back in history you want to go. the baltic fortress twangste existed, but I wouldn't say it had a significant influence on the development of the city Königsberg.
Interestingly enough not a single new apartment was built in Kaliningrad until 1960. Before this it was all renovations of former German buildings in Constructivist Stalin era styles as seen on Prospekt Mira where there are 3 story German renovated apartments with Soviet ornamentations. The main reason why nothing new was built before 1960 is the fact that the Soviet government weren't sure if the territory would stay in the RSFSR or be granted to the Lithuanian SSR or Poland. After 1960 it was decided that Kaliningrad would stay in the RSFSR and the first Kruschyovka apartment blocks were constructed- but not in the outskirts, on top of the ruins of the old town as seen on Leninsky Prospekt and Ulitsa Proletarskaya. During the Brezhnev years massive housing expansions occurred and tall 9 floor Brezhnevkas were constructed outside the bounds of what had been Old Konigsberg as seen on Moskovsky Prospekt. Despite these expansions the city was still littered by many ruins most of which stayed until the 2000s. It seems that Kaliningrad was never really invested into during the Soviet era- its infrastructure was too complex, too costly, its future was too uncertain, and its history was too German.
As a Pole I regret that Kaliningrad Exclave wasn't given to Poland 😭
@@FekalistaGrzybowory-lz8lh yes, but to be fair Poland was given loads of Land after the war anyway- Bydgoszcz, Gdańsk, and the Western regions were all once German. Not forgetting that Poland got the south of East Prussia. I think it would have been interesting if Kaliningrad created its own state/SSR or ASSR and tried to respect the history of the region in a new lense rather than building over it.
@antonolo4670 Would've been interesting to see a Prussia SSR with respect of its history (maybe a new home for the Volga Germans as Stalin hated them). Post Cold War would've been interesting if they would've joined Germany, Poland, or become an independent state. Instead it became Kallingrad, a city being an example why soviet communism is absolute shit. A boring city with its heart ripped out and replaced with a depressing concrete center.
Also, I would like to add that in Soviet times a very large number of the German paving stones were removed from Kaliningrad to Riga and Leningrad.
I always find it funny how Königsberg is present in the mainstream perception, viewed almost like this Baltic Atlantis, once magnificent city, lost to history. And while yeah, the city looked quite good, people are focused on this one city. Why no one cares about Allenstein, Tilsit, Marienburg? Königsberg was the biggest city in the region, but it seems like the rest of East Prussia isn’t even acknowledged by the people who even know about it’s existance.
Seems like no one cries for Allenstein. Is it because it looks better right now?
I mean, I get it, it was the capital of the province, but it looks like Polish and Lithuanian parts of the regions don’t get the same recognition, and it just makes me sad as a Masurian. :P
Maybe because the city of Königsberg was a very important city in German and Prussian history. Also the before/after pictures of the city are shocking. In Poland and Lithuania buildings got more preserved
Compare Marienburg castle today to Königsberg castle today to find your answer
@@countdown4725 Funny you mention Marienburg, because just outside the castle, there are commie blocks where the old town used to be. Although they are rebuilding the riverside houses at the moment.
So not that different from Kaliningrad itself.
@@Vitalis94 Unlike the Soviets/Russians, the Poles have approached their (partially newly gained) cities with far more respect. Of course there are big reminders of communist rule everywhere in Poland, but most cities also had their historic centres faithfully rebuilt/preserved after the war. That‘s why there is little point to lament the fate of Olsztyn, because it‘s not so bad at all. Königsberg died in 1945 as both a city and a concept. The other cities didn‘t. They merely experienced a nationality change.
@@bahnspotterEU True, you could argue that Kaliningrad is a completely different city. Funnily enough, Kaliningrad and Königsberg have separate wiki entries in German wikipedia.
Modern Kaliningrad is much bigger than Königsberg ever was, and while the pre war city was densly populated and centered around historical core, this historical core of modern Kaliningrad is mostly empty, full of parks and highways. Instead, modern Kaliningrad city centre lies where the pre-war outskirts were.
And yeah, Poland has seen the surge of rennovations in the last years. I’m just not too happy with it’s direction - it mostly immitates the pre war styles, more akin to Frankfurts rennovations, than those of Warsaw or even Gdansk.
Great video, as always!
The Soviet arguments about East Prussia (the original Prussia) being "an ancient Slavic soil" is so hilarious.
1. Because it's an example of extreme, almost mystical, backward-looking ethnonationalism comming from the alleged "progressive" internationalists.
2. Because the Old Prussians were obviously and indisputably Blats (like Lithuanians and Latvians), not Slavs. Although the Baltic and Slavic peoples are relatively closely related deep down, certainly closer with each other than with the Germanic peoples (speaking mostly in linguistic categories).
Well, seeing how the Soviets/Russians viewed the other Balts, it isn’t that suprising.
Also, to add, East Prussia had significant Lithuanian heritage, culture, language and contributions to Lithuania and other European countries up to the early 20th century.
Couldn't have put it better myself, whether the Prussian language went extinct is debatable insofar that it fell out of public use completely. A restored version exists today (I happen to learn it) - it had to loan quite a bit of vocabulary as a result from Lithuanian. Of all Baltic and Slavic languages nawaprūsiskan is arguably the most archaic - meaning that it retains old linguistic features that fell out of use in other languages and can be considered to be the language that retains the most Indo-European features.
Генетика подтверждает, что восточные немцы и русские имели общих предков. Конституция Великого княжества Литовского была написана кириллицей на русском языке, эти люди позже стали белорусами.
@@user-sp6lo3wp5u 🤣🤣
Making it Königsberg again!
You wish)
I visited the city in 1996 and while there you would see people visiting from Germany wandering around with pictures of locations of where they lived. I was told that Immanual Kant is Russian and his philosophy was Russian!!!! Its a very sad place
Immanuel Kant was not at all Russian. The reason he was so esteemed in Russia was because he became a member of the Russian academy of sciences late in his life and was popular with the tsar. if you want to dig into the nitty gritty his maternal side were Bavarian colonists from Nuremberg while his paternal side was Prussian-Curonian (the Baltic kind). Ethnically he was not linked to Russia.
@@aniinnrchoque1861 I am relieved that the frustration you feel is revealed and vented. I grew up studying Kant and the seven bridges of Konigsberg and seeing a place ripped apart and then mocked as a cautionary tale was enough. If the Russians return the city to the way it was in 1939 would hardly do justice to the heritage and spirit of the place
@@Luxnutz1 yeah, I went there in 2016 and there is some good some bad - but mostly bad imo.
I am learning nawaprūsiskan now and hope to help bring back Baltic Prussian culture from pre-colonial times.
@@aniinnrchoque1861 Revival of both parts of what was the Order of the Teutonc knights taken by Russia and Poland be restored to a degree. The Brick Castles and structures made by craftsmen who could neither read or write that were beautiful sight to see gone out of spite
@@Luxnutz1 yeah Poland has done a half decent job. Unfortunately (or perhaps unsurprisingly given history) Poland is ultra nationalistic, trying to consolidate all the territory it controls as homogeneous as possible. As such numbers of other minorities such as semi native Kashubians and Silesians have gone down and their cultural-linguistic heritage is not encouraged, much less in western Pomerania and Dolnyslaske where both of these were present until German assimilation pushed everything eastwards.
Most people won't care enough to care, that's how it is with societal complacency until war is brought to one's own doorstep.
Great video mate, thank you!
Yet another great video
It’s so funny how the Soviet Government was using the blood and soil argument to justified their settlement.
welp dude, if i were the soviets who have lost 27 million citizens in 4 years to those "Krauts"...of course i would take their proud *"Holy German Land"* ,renaming the city after one of the soviet Communist leaders and guarantee that 90% of the city will no longer have Germans as the *last middle finger* for future descendants of Germans....why? because fuck them, that's why
Kind of like the regime which owned Königsberg before the war
The regime maybe, not the inhabitants.@@danielhalachev4714
@@danielhalachev4714 Considering communists and nazis are pretty much the same thing, not surprising
Very interesting topic since as of recently Poland renamed Kaliningrad to Królewiec which afaik is the polish translation of Königsberg
That's always been its name in Polish; the English Jewish surname Krulwich comes from it.
Germany should do the same lmao
@@gerbrandt7213 Thats not how its works, you cant just rename a city if you arent controlling it. Poland is just being a smartass and trowing a fit over the name because they hate Russia.
@@quan-uo5ws Um, but exonyms exist? People use different names all the time? Sometimes they even force different nations to use those, like Turkey for example.
Yeah but that isnt "renaming".
This sorta shows that even if you deport a native population and destroy its culture, it still shows its presence
Sir Manatee has a fascinating English accent, which I (British English language teacher) find impossible to place. "Soviet" sounds almost like "Surviet" and dove (the bird) comes out rhyimg with "drove" (instead of with "love"), but in general it sounds like that of a native speaker who has sinus problems. Where is this man from?
WELL THAT*S SOCIAL DEMOCRATS ORGANIZATION FROM SWEEZATLAND... TOO MUCH PROJECTS HAVE DONE BY THAM
THAT IS WHY PRONOUNCE ENGLISH WITH SWEESS ACSENT...
I'M RUSSIAN little bit speak English & understand & agree with YOU
CONGRATULATION FROM KONIGSBERG /КАЛИНИНГРАД
НIS NAME IS BULU /HAL:OCHEN /HISTORY STUDENT FROM CENTRAL
DOUICHLAND...
SIR MANATEE IS NICKNAME OF CHAN IN CZcams /ЛАМАНТИН ТАКОЙ МЛЕКОПИТ СЕВЕРНЫХ МОРЕЙ /...
I HAVE BEEN IN USA CANADA UK ANGOLA... ECT & KNOW HOW SPEAK ENGLISH HERE THERE & EVERYWHERE...
Sounds Scandinavian to me.
Hello! Thank you for a very good video about my city. You are a true historian for not trying to manipulate the facts and opinions. I see a lot of Europeans are rooting for restoration of historical buildings but the biggest problem is funding, it's extremely difficult to attract investors to rebuild some 100x100 meters ruins in the middle of nowhere. But the good thing is that the cities are slowly getting renovated and repaired, sometimes when I take a ride around the region I can see the small towns actually begin to look better and not like 10 years ago.
I hope that is true!
Part of my family was originally from Königsberg and were sad to see what happened to it
That is interesting. In the UK we have had laws to protect historic buildings ( for aesthetic and social reasons) since 1947. The cost of repair is on average five times greater because of the materials and skilled labour they require. But there is no problem finding commercial owners for such buildings as they add prestige to the business. This is especially the case for banks who like to have the best buildings in town to suggest stability, continuity and wealth
@@jontalbot1 Coventry was a gem of a medieval city, sure the Luftwaffe destroyed alot, but much more was destroyed between 1925 and 1960 by the town planners. I've even seen models from the 1930's which look like today's Precincts.
If the Germans can rebuild Dresden and the Frauenkirke you'd really think the British could rebuild Coventry
@@jcoker423 Yes l know it was a fine medieval city before it was bombed. Personally l agree with the grouping of what was left in Spon Street. I also think the ring road and precincts a good idea so that driving around Cov is a lot easier than most cities while the centre is fine to walk around. The detailing of the individual buildings is poor as it was everywhere in the 50s and 60s. I dislike the modern cathedral but again nothing much built anywhere at that time was much good. The centres of Southampton, Portsmouth and Plymouth are all pretty bad. If you want to good examples, visit Leeds, Liverpool and especially Manchester. It looks like Manhattan from a distance but they have invested in good quality design
I am sure you know there was push back about relocating old buildings to Spon St as opposed to leave them be. But I'm pleased they did. There was also concern about the demolition of Butchers Row in the 1920's. Gibson already had plans in the 1930 for the redevelopment on the center.
I'm with you over the new Cathedral, vrs making one of the other 3 spires the Cathedral. It is impressive, but I find it soulless.
You like the Ring Road (which follows the old walls)? Well may Dad (born Holbrooks) was the site manager for Gallifords for 5/6 sections. So I am invested in liking it. Dad did say there should have been 2 ring roads (which I think there are now), with one outside the greater city.
But at the time it was all about the CBD. Today I think we'd make the central area trams/walking with parking by the inner ring road and with a lovely medieval city like York given over to sights and student accommodation. Shopping malls on the edge of the city.
All in hindsight. The English didn't have the foresight or money after WW2.
I also have family ties to Guz and Pompey and visited them in the 70's, with my parents. Yup, L'pool, Man seemed to have retained their character.
Hopefully I'll get back to Blighty in the next couple of years and some soccer, Pompey, Plym or the Sky Blues. Rgds. J
Sir Manatee!!! If you could tell the story of the Revolution of Geneva of 1782 it would be appreciated
What happened there?
@@bernd_das_brot6911 It was like the WEF following through with their plans but with Klaus Schwab wearing a powdered wig
Superb!
The use of "VEB" at 9:30 as a distinct name of a company is wrong. VEB means people owned factory and every single company in the GDR had that in the name. It needs an additional name behind.
No watter what you think about Königsberg. The greatest shame is that the anthem of Ostpreußen isn't in use anymore, even in Russian.
I think many anthems in German are overhyped and the anthem proves how beautiful the German language can be, if you actually want to do something poetic and good sounding with it. Ironically I feel like every German entity beginning with "East" seems to have had a beautiful anthem.
I suppose it is part of the perfect punishment for Prussian militarism...
Isn't it such sweet revenge for the Poles and Slavs to have the German legacy and history of these lands nearly completely forgotten?
@@kaiserredgamer8943 No it really isn't. Also the Poles kept German Infrastructure and restored German Castles and buildings too.
@@kaiserredgamer8943 Completely forgotten? Have you visited this territory?
Land der dunklen valder?
@@kaiserredgamer8943
Prussia was no more militaristic than other states. All major states have waged wars of conquest without being accused of militarism. The Roman Empire grew through wars of conquest and not through persuasion of the subjugated peoples. All great colonial empires came about through aggressive wars. In its heyday, Poland also waged wars against other peoples and annexed their territories. So stop telling the tale of Prussian militarism. The Prussian Army was more effective than many other armies, but not more aggressive. The Prussian army was characterized above all by the discipline and sacrifice of its soldiers. In addition, the order principle was preferred in the Prussian army. In contrast to the command, only the destination is specified for the order, but not the route. This made warfare more flexible and effective. The German Wehrmacht has won many battles despite being outnumbered and outgunned. As in France in 1940.
Quotes that say something about the Prussian army:
"I made you a staff officer so you would know when not to obey."
Frederick II, the Great, Prussian King
"Unforeseen opportunities are to be used immediately, and unforeseen difficulties are to be reacted to immediately."
Carl Philipp Gottlieb von Clausewitz (1780 - 1831) Prussian major general and military scientist
Prussian traditions
czcams.com/video/iIMDXkzXKjQ/video.html
It was a very good presentation, and your channel deserves more viewers than it has so far. My small suggestion is that you should concentrate on German political history, especially of the formative 19th century and also the 20th century.But you should not keep beating your chest all the time for "German aggression" since most European countries did it. Spain did it in South America, France did it in Haiti and North Africa, Belgium did it in the Congo, and the British did it equally badly in India from the famine of 1773 to that of 1943. None of them have given apologies as Germans have given, and I feel that Germany should draw a line somewhere. But keeping that aside, please give us more such videos from a German perspective. Something on the Austro-Prussia relations between 1814 to 1815 or on the course of German unification.
We've got a little Hitler here
Amazing
The flag of the city of Kaliningrad still has German influence! The arms display a medieval ship, representing Kaliningrad's harbor and how important said harbor has been since its foundations. The ship flies a pennant of the Russian Navy Ensign, however within the ship is a small shield that is the same shield used when it was called both Altstadt and Königsberg! The shield features a crown, representing the fact Königsberg means "King's Mountain". Originally just the castle was called Königsberg, and it wasn't until 1724 that Altstadt along with the neighboring towns of Kneiphof and Löbenicht merged and called the new city Königsberg.
The flag of Kaliningrad Oblast on the other hand has a more different design. It has a thick red bar, a yellow stripe, and a thick blue bar. The upper left corner of the flag features a castle with open gates and the monogram of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. Her monogram was chosen because under her rule, parts of what is now Kaliningrad Oblast was briefly under Russian control during the Seven Years' War. Though the Russians couldn't actually take the city itself as they used up their supplies of cannonballs at Memel (now Klaipėda, Lithuania) and Gross-Jägersdorf (Chernyakhovsky District in Kaliningrad Oblast). While the colors have no official meaning, it has been said the yellow represents Kaliningrad's huge deposits of amber.
Always wanted to go there because my whole Family comes from there.
It's a tragedy what happened to Prussia. Not only to the Germans, but also innocent native Prussian Lithuanians who were all forcibly expelled from their homeland and saw it defiled by Russians
That's what you get for waging and losing a war of extermination.
@@Arizona-ex5yt you mean like the ones the soviets waged on the baltic countries years before the germans even crossed the russian border you mean?? or the fins? or the kazachs? or the tartars? you brainless freak, atleast ivan is recieving the payback it deserves by having its young men die like dogs nowadays.
@@Arizona-ex5yt : Now tell that to the Palestinians.
you mean israel@@danielbishop1863
Very interesting
Sir Manatee how about the story of Graham island off the coast of Italy and the dispute with the king of Naples.
The same attitude, although on the power scale, soviet russia implied to Baltic states with deportations of Estonians, lithuanians and latvians to siberia and replacing them by russians, belarussians and ukrainians. 😅
There are similarities in the Sovjet treatment of the Balts and Germans.
Big difference is, that the newly arrived Slavic people in the Baltic were additional settlers while the complete German population of historic east Germany suffered genocide or deportation.
I am from Kaliningrad myself, my great-grandma is actually one of the first people to be settled there, she was originally from the Belarusian SSR, but she was put in an orphanage near Minsk since her stepmother couldn't take care of all her children since her family just survived the German occupation after living through terror and destruction, when Kaliningrad was established, the orphanage was relocated there to expand the new city's population, my great-grandma never ended up moving back to Belarus and lived in Kaliningrad until she died in 2017. I always found it very sad how they destroyed great architecture and I actually think that the city could end up having a very great design if we create a mix of Russian and German culture, it will make Kaliningrad very unique and could potentially become a good tourist destination.
Kaliningrad would have been so beautiful but the soviet ego and the love for concrete detroyed those hopes a long time ago
There is no German-Russian synthesis without a German population. The Russians drove out the Germans and wiped out German culture. They have turned a cultural landscape into a wasteland similar to many areas in the Russian heartland.
I don't blame the Russian people who were resettled in northern East Prussia after the war. In many cases they were also victims of war and pawns of the powerful. But the Russians living there have no connection to the German culture that existed there until 1945. With the expulsion of the Germans, the German soul of this area died out. In 1945, a new era began for northern East Prussia - as well as for the German eastern provinces annexed by Poland. The undestroyed German monuments are only attractive backdrops for a foreign population. For us Germans, the loss of our eastern provinces is a painful memory. With their loss, part of German culture, part of German identity has been lost forever.
Funeral march from the oratorio “Saul” by George Frideric Handel
czcams.com/video/22BdaFiInrc/video.html
A personal note: Part of my family comes from the northern part of East Prussia. They had to flee from the invading and marauding Red Army in minus 20 degrees and a snowstorm. One of my male relatives was a young pilot in the German Air Force. His last mission was in Northeast Prussia. His mission was to stop the invading Red Army in order to enable the German civilian population to escape west. It was a kamikaze mission. He knew it wouldn't come back alive. His body lies somewhere in northern East Prussia. His grave is in my heart.
Friedhelm's death
czcams.com/video/wi6_cgIhUSo/video.html
I had a comrade
czcams.com/video/MfMQt30oxaU/video.html
Koenigsberg song:
are over, over
all the beautiful hours
which we passed on
beautiful Baltic Sea beach.
we had each other
Yes we found each other so nicely.
it was for us
the most beautiful place.
Oh Koenigsberg,
The die is cast
and soon you too will leave the Baltic Sea beach.
Closed to the heart
are you from all of us
You most beautiful ornament
in the German Fleet Association
czcams.com/video/2oEwVegcZJ4/video.html
Lili Marleen
czcams.com/video/nDfre5mYonA/video.html
I am still mad at their decision to demolish once magnificent Prussian palace and build an ugly concrete box for matches. That was so poorly planned that the “engineers and architects” did not take in account the underground dungeon system of Koenigsberg that may be th reason the building started slowly sinking and was abandoned anyway…. Where was Unesco then what about these people’s heritage? After not all them were Nazies… this was once Capital of a great nation that contributed to philosophy, mathematics, best firefighting techniques and etc…😅
You obviously didn't watch the video carefully. It said all projects for the castle wanted to preserve the ruins except one from Moscow. Most architects and locals wanted to keep the castle but the vocal minority came on top. Also, such decisions are not unique to the Soviet Union. There were similar trends all over the world after the war
Great video but it wasnt as tragic as Warsaw
Aaaahhh, Tjajkovskij, a perfect choice, sir!
Briliant video, keep going with this fantastic less coverd and special topics.
Clearly ancient Japanese soil….
Ancient Emperor Konigu from the Shizue clan founded the city, its real name is actually "Kounigusuberugu". Ancient japanese fishing city
I think if these cities stayed with East Germany and lasted until German unification.
Maybe it's better to stay with Germany in managing the city.
5:57 maybe you already know but that victory monument was demolished last august.
sadly..
Why?
@@airsmellnice4133 neo na7ism
@@StalinWasntThatBadTbh since 1945 was no victory for Latvia, why should they have a victory monument.
@@ekesandras1481 To honor the Soviet Liberators of the glorious Red Army. That's why.
Всё обязательно будет восстановлено!
I haven’t ever really had any sympathy for the ethnic Germans who were kicked out of East Prussia & Koningsburg. The Germans and the Russian both were brutally savage people to each other and others. Einstagruppen squads just murdered every Slav they could and Stalin certainly did the same back in the other direction. Bottom line, Konigsburg was a warm water port and Stalin wanted it. The Germans started WW2, lost it and didn’t get to make the decision about this territory.
I like your videos but watching this is just to depressing for me…
Soviets claimed that they were against nationalism and right-wing agendas and historic imperialist claims. As they 'liberated' from the grasp of the fascists and imperialists.
Also Soviets, appeal to ancient slavic history and nationalist specualtion to justify the annexation of territory in Poland, Romania and most noticeably, Prussia.
Nationalism is not bad when it comes from oppressed people breaking empires apart.
They were and still are against other countries nationalism expect their own, because they know there's so many smaller ethnicities they have conquered and oppresed and they fear them breaking free
@@pierren___napolion
Nationalism is not a right or left thing, it exists in both sides of the political spectrum, its only the modern left in places like Europe and North America that think otherwise.
@pierren___ so germany under the Versailles treaty?
Next video: how Strasbourg became Strasbour.
The Prussian architecture was beautiful 😢
Poland changed the name to Królewiec lately, the Germans should follow and call it Königsberg.
yes, historically the city will be always German.
Some Kaliningraders suggest to return the old city name Königsberg as a part of decommunisation.
Königsberg doesn't really sound out of place in Russian. Many great Russian cities have German names. St. Petersburg, Ekaterinburg, Kronstadt, Peterhof, Adler etc.
Not allowed
Doing this would break the 2+4 Vertrag
@@Nakla It should be broken, or formally disbanded to the same end result. Whatever positive you may think of that treaty, it could be negotiated in a new treaty anyhow.
What happened to Königsberg is tragic. Hopefully it can be restored one day
Ihr Englisch ist außergewöhnlich! One comment though, 'Dove' rhymes with 'glove', 'love', 'tough'. Otherwise, perfect!
Koeninsberg and the Slavs: the city was erected by Bohemian king Premysl Ottokar (that is why Koeningsberg - the king's hill), from a Slavic dynasty. Yes, it was erected on lands conquered from Prussians (Prusovians). For 2 centuries it was vasal to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, under a Lithuanian dynasty, later under elected kings.
Concerning some comments below: Wrocław (Breslau) is first mentioned as a Polish city becoming a bishop's seat and during the whole millenium had a Slavic autochtonic population. Szczecin (Stettin) thrived from the Baltic trade long before the Germans came - it was ruled by a local Pomeranian (Slavic) dynasty until the 17th century. Gdańsk (Dantzig) was erected by Polish duke Mieszko, several centuries later was conquered by the Teutonic knights, but later returned to Poland (and peaked in prosperity) until being taken by Prussia (together with Toruń (Thorn)) in the end of the XVIII century.
Genetic studies showed, that Slavs did not migrate into Poland around 4-5th century, they were already there for millenia.
"Genetic studies showed, that Slavs did not migrate into Poland around 4-5th century, they were already there for millenia."
Don't say such nonsense. At the time of Christ's birth there was not a single Pole west of the Memel and Vistula rivers. The Poles originally come from the vastness of Russia. They moved west and took possession of areas already populated by Germanic tribes.
The Poles are writing their own history. They may also claim that the DNA of the Neanderthals matches the DNA of the Poles. I'm still waiting for the Poles to claim that Adam and Eve were the first Poles and therefore the whole world belongs to the Poles.
If we Germans argued like the Poles, then half of Europe belonged to us. The Germanic Franks under Charlemagne ruled over what are now the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Austria, Switzerland and northern Italy. So we could claim these areas today. The Angles and Saxons come from northern Germany and have our DNA, so we would also have claims to England. Frederick II from the German Hohenstaufen family was not only emperor of the empire, but also king of Sicily. The German Hanover dynasty had ruled Great Britain since 1714. From 1840 it was replaced by the German dynasty of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, which changed its name to Windsor after the First World War. Since the 15th century, Denmark has been ruled by the German dukes from Schleswig and Holstein. The German Habsburgs ruled not only over the empire, but also over Spain and Portugal and their colonies. Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands were part of the empire for centuries. The Dutch city of Amsterdam received city rights from Emperor Maximilian. The Dutch royal family comes from Nassau in Hesse. The ancestors of the Belgian royal family come from Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Many areas in Eastern Europe were developed for agriculture by German settlers. Many cities in Eastern Europe - such as Riga and Kulm - were founded by German settlers. Given all these facts, we could follow the Polish example and assert territorial claims. Or?
Destroying old buildings because they were part of a class system was sadly an idea in Sweden in the 1960s and 1970s as well, though they were our own. And just as in the Soviet Union they were replaced by horrible concrete slabs.
US also destroyed black housing for the freeway during this time😂
while in Africa and Asia European buildings symbols of colonialism were also destroyed
many old buildings were demolished to make way for parking lots
Ja, sannerligen en mycket tråkig del i vår historia. Kriget kom aldrig till vårt länd så våra politiker bestämde att vi själva skulle spränga vår historia för "modernt" nybygge. Ännu idag pågår det.
There's one thing I've been wondering for a very long time though. What do you call a person from Kaliningrad????
An occupier.
Kaliningrader
@@goldenfiberwheat238 is that supposed to rhyme with cheese grater or ladder?
@@lucacoccioli9244 depends on your accent I guess
A smear on the earth
This is legit sad like really, it reminds of Warsaw... :(
"ancient slavic soil" The Pruzzen where baltic people. But what am I to be in the position to speak out against the propaganda machine of the winning powers.
People always assume soviet journals only voiced one, propagandistic view. However, an actual overview of the articles reveals this to be false, even the official party publication (Pravda) reflected a rich debate, I would say even reacher than western business owned media.
But the totalitarian regime chose what to do, not all the bright diverse minded people. By western media you are thinking of especially us and british outlets? You maybe right. But otherwise for certain not.
@@juliane__ There was never a totatitarian regime, the word "totalitarian" is meaningless. There was a system of grassroots participation in political participation based on the soviets (workers' councils) which was the basis of all political activity. Even party membership was regularly vetted by the soviets, at least before the Great Patriotic War. We may not want to call it a democracy because of the censorship and persecution of reactionaries but it wasn't a top down system.
@@justanormalyoutubeuser3868
Just because local politics weren't directly managed from Moscow doesn't make the Soviet system not 'top down'. All major decisions and power over every institution of the state was held by a small council of Party cadres with a single leader. It doesn't get more top-down than that.
And the notion that the CCCP wasn't totalitarian is ridiculous. Sure, there was controlled opposition, much like elsewhere, for example in the GDR, but nothing was allowed without the state's approval. Actual opposition was persecuted severely, and activism not along party lines would yield you at least a lengthy prison sentence. That is the very definition of totalitarian, the fact that all actions and ideas must adhere to the ideals of the state, and any divergence is severely punished.
I don't know what you're trying to achieve by whitewashing the authoritarian history of such regiemes, but it won't change history.
@@mikeblatzheim2797 Every state that has ever existed has had a hierarchy with a small group at the top. In the Soviet Union was the Supreme Soviet, a large, elected body. If that makes the Soviet Union authoritarian than every state that has ever existed would be equally authoritarian, which is why marxists reject the term. The political system was not organized along government and opposition in order to prevent functionalism, every delegate was an equal member of the Soviet. This does not mean there was no political freedom, all matters where thoroughly discussed at all levels of government. Political work was never restricted to party members only, as every worker had right to political work through the trade unions and other social groups. Many delegates at Soviet elections were independent.
What you confuse with political repression is the fight against terrorism and sabotage, of which the soviet union was a major victim. If the FBI found you to be affiliated with ISIS you would be arrested just like a Trotskyist would be arrested in the USSR. In addition the USSR persecuted racism and fascism, hardly a questionable policy. There is no political freedom in the US, both parties serve the same capitalist system and are in agreement about everything except mere aesthetics, public opinion has no impact on policy, unlike in the Soviet Union. No state allows or ever allowed real, systemic opposition to gain strength and survived, if the USSR was totalitarian than so was every state ever. The state is instrument of political power, its character depends only on the class it serves.
The victory monument in Riga has been demolished.
Pain.
Labban deīnan wissas ginnis en Prūsa. Kaigi eraīnai ēit?
Laba diena :)
Germany should not take it back. Rebuilding that hellhole would cost billions.
Germans are well aware of that. They have already done one reunification which cost them trillions.
The 2 + 1 Vertrag said that they can take the DDR but have to renounce claim of everything else forever
We shouldn't help people or fight against historical injustice because, uh... it's... le expensive ☝🤓.
Money isn't everything in life. Northern East Prussia is part of German culture and German identity. Therefore, the acquisition of this area should be worth every financial sacrifice for us Germans. Germany is by far the largest financier of the European Community. It is the largest financier of NATO facilities after the USA. We spend huge amounts of money supporting Ukraine and migrants. More than 1 million Ukrainians who have been accepted by us alone are generously provided with German tax funds. Then why shouldn't we spend money for our own interests?
A side note: recently in Poland, after the invasion of Ukraine, the office for regulation of geographic names reverted the recommended name of the city from "Kaliningrad" back to the historical, pre-1946 one: "Królewiec".
Как хорошо что город навсегда русский. Это наша родина в четвёртом поколении. Сейчас город хорошо отстроен и комфортен для проживания
Kherson was also "forever russian" lmao
It’s funny how they try to support everything they did and put in the shine of glory. The architecture of the new kaliningrad is beyond ugly, concrete boxes over concrete boxes with not even a slightly reminder of the past. It’s an erased city with no personality anymore, just concrete. I’m just talking about the architecture but it’s just sad what was destroyed to push the soviet ego.
Remember how the soviet union fell apart?
The fact that the Soviets destroyed so many beautiful historical buildings, saddens me deeply. I very much wish to see the city of Königsberg in its beautiful medieval architecture.
Königsberg City was demolished by the British. But there are other cities and towns in the oblast where no bombing took place but the Soviets destroyed them anyway.
Probably 80 - 90% destruction after WW2
Evil cannot create, it can only corrupt...
It is truly astonishing how much land the germans have lost since WWI. Maybe that could be a video.
For example austrian German lose südtirol to Italian
Close to everything, yes.
I don't know if they wrote it already, but they began to dismantle the house of Soviets
7:11 Кенигсберский замок кстате не снесут до 1968, в 1968 году кёнигсберский замок будет снесён.
Her: I want to visit Kaliningrad someday.
Me:..it's pronounced 'Königsberg'...
no it is kaliningrad . glory to russia
Konigsberg has been lost for now, hopefully one day
you mean : how kaliningrad became královec
Beautiful video! Fascinating insight into utilitarian architecture, the utopian dreams of socialist architects and urban planners as well as the coarse yet endearing fusion of a neoclassical Teutonic town and a Soviet city. The land and materials were brought by the Old Prussians, the art and symetry was brought about by the Germans, the productivity and modernity by the Soviets.
Tagsüber wird in Königsberg Russisch gesprochen, doch Abends flüstern die Bäume in Deutsch 🕊.
Das erste kann man auch schnell wieder ändern
@@Allahcunny modern Germany isnt german anymore and you still want more land? Калининград is and will be Russian forever.
The fact that you still express desire to conquer Kaliningrad, despite Germany lacking any military or nuclear capabilities to do that is baffling. You dont even have the people to populate the region, since the whole German nation is on track to become extinct.
Besides, Kaliningrad oblast is rightfully Russian as a retribution for all the sins Germany committed in Ussr. Have some decency to accept your defeat and live on
@@Allahcunny Ah, the infamous "will of the German people". 1) Only 18% of the Germans are willing to fight in a war for their country. 2) Germany has 1.58 fertility rate which means it cant even re-populate itself - there is no way for you to populate new land. And most importantly - German army will not help you against nuclear armageddon.
So I hope you understand why you cant get this land back and why you dont even need it. If you think otherwise you can tell me your plan of proving me wrong.
The thing is, I dont even understand why would you be so petty about an already lost clay. Do you plan to also attack Poland and France for taking your land, or do you want Kaliningrad specifically? Also, my name is irrelevant to this conversation
Königsberg 🇩🇪
As a German, they can keep it.
Why would you care anyway? Teutonic Germans were the reason Baltic Prussians were pushed into extinction in the first place so saying "they can keep it" on something that Germans never justifiably owned is beyond disrespectful.
@@aniinnrchoque1861 OK who asked
@@elemperadordemexico common decency you colonist
@@aniinnrchoque1861 cope
@@volksgrenadier3356Be quiet, wehraboo
15:45 I guess it's Спасибо большое after 1945 🙃
3:52 Ну они бы итак поехали, типо выселить немцев, и привлекать людей туда мигрировать что тут есть кучу свободных рабочих мест с высокой Зарплатой, много пустых домов (которые могут переселенцам быть отданы, и плюс эти дома отдавать рабочим и семьям рабочих что поедут в Калининград работать, да и просто переселившимся), плюс много пустующей земли (которую им могут отдать бесплатно или под аренду если поселятся в сёлах Калининградской области), и всё, люди сразу туда поедут (даже не спрашивая чья эта земля была 1000 лет назад, немецкая или славянская).
Make Kaliningrad - Köenigsberg again…
Chase German gothic cave monkeys back to Norway again.
Make Europe Roman again
@@danielhalachev4714 definitely better than the EU or Russian Federation, Rome is better than Brussels or Moscow…
@@danielhalachev4714 just as long as you don’t think Moscow is the new Rome… 🤷🏻♂️
Quite normal a territory change sovereignty but always keeping the inhabitants there. It happened many times in European history. After WW2 was a different story, specially regarding Prussia, Pomerania, Silesia and Sudetenland. Scandalous.
You know what was scandslous? Starting a war in the first place. I don’t support the population exchange, but the Nazis did start the war with the goal of cleansing the conquered lands of its inhabitants.
Germanophile cry? This land are rightfully slavic from 1000 years
@@polonianova The 1000 years before these 1000 years, this land was germanic, even most of poland and czechia were germanic at some point. I therefore determine your reply to be nationalistic cope.
@@polonianova Funniest thing about slavs is that they always focus on a specific 10 year span in history that is the most optimal for their ethnicity. Poles always look at 10th century slavic principalities in eastern germany, but for some reason they never look 100-200 years before that when their people hadn't even migrated into the region and was 100% eastern germanic up to the vistula. I'm latin, by the way, before you ask, and they do the same shit with us. You have slavs arguing that italians are actually slavs because 100 bulgars migrated into the italian peninsula in the 7th century. Pathetic, really.
@@polonianova No, Baltics lived there no slavs. Gaslightning is an outcry of inability to cope with life.
nice video, i would have personally liked a little more volume on the music in the background. Had to turn up the volume quite a bit to hear it properly
Is there a single city that the ussr conquered and actually improved, instead of running it to the ground and building concrete monstrosities in it?
Warsaw. They rebuilt it after the war, and the 'Palace of Culture' building in the city center was built in the Stalinist style.
@@LancesArmorStriking it was Poles who rebuilt Warsaw, not the filthy ruskies. And still, Warsaw was a lot nicer before the ww2, which the ruskies helped start.
babe wake up new manatee video
I want to vomit when I see what these barbarians did to a beautiful city of Koenigsberg. As history tells us, they do this to every city they occupy.
The city wouldn't have required a rebuild if it weren't for the Germans, who started the war, or the British, who bombed it to the ground.
So a Mikroraion was a 15 minute city
But there is also the theory that germans just deny their slavic heritage, as if they insist the so called german tribes never mixed with slavs
so sad
Personally I would blame socialist architects for rebuilding in butt ugly styles rather than the Germans for engaging in yet another European conflict which led to a massive amount of destruction, sure it was the biggest one yet but there have been plenty similar and the decisive difference is not the destruction but how things were rebuilt.
More like who rebuilt. If Germans didn't start said conflict (and lost it) this city would still be theirs.
@@archer8849 more like if only the west didnt spout out empty promises of a free poland (and free europe) just to carpet bomb everything to the ground and leave half of europe to litteral bugmen from moscow.
3 days of fighting? Check that again!
Very interesting, well written and produced. One point only. All Soviet planning produced very wide roads. This is no accident. All communists know their history and they learned from the famous Haussmann plan for Paris: wide roads prevent the barricades put up during the Paris Commune and other uprisings. The width of planned highways is almost a barometer of how afraid governments are of their own people.
Man the soviets really mismanaged this situation. This shit sucks
@@SwePol after this Ukraine war it is all to clear unfortunately
Russia isn’t Soviet anymore
Every time I think about Königsberg, this story just massively saddens me.
Once a land populated by pagans, which became victims of genocide by the Germans. Only to later see many wars and occupations (Thirty years war, Seven years war, WW2 etc.) and be conquered by a communist regime for strategic reasons, trying to justify it with false historical claims. It's history and monuments being destroyed and it's old name stripped away, only to be named after a Soviet war criminal who was responsible for the killing of many innocent Poles (Kalinin). Some argue that it should belong to Poland or to Germany again because they had it longer in the past, but I'd disagree. The region now is anything but Polish or German. But even if there are a million Russians living in Königsberg, this region is not Russian. It was never Russian. There is a reason why the Polish are now reverting back to the old polish name for Königsberg "Królewiec". And if you ask many of the people living in Kaliningrad/Königsberg, many are frustrated with this status as a Russian exclave. If anything its original origin is Baltic, in the same vein as it is for Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. It should be an independent fourth Baltic republic and I believe most people living there would be happier with this arrangement. Especially considering EU enlargement since 2004, when Kaliningrad was/is completely surrounded by it's biggest trading partner the EU. Especially given "recent events" (Or just give it to the Czechs at this point LOL!)
There's no such thing as an "innocent pole".
Having fourth Baltic republic is a good idea, the Russian authorities tried to make the exclave a tax heaven, but it failed. The region remains but a military base, with no real industry, maybe aside from fishing and small scale shipbuilding.
Have they focused on Prussian past, had rebuilt the cities in historical manner, it would’ve boosted tourism somewhat. Russian region with red brick gothic architecture, it would sell, just like it sells in neighboring Poland and Lithuania.
Still, entire East Prussia was always mostly rural, with strong focus on landed agriculture, and it was the poorest region of Germany pre war (one of the reasons they voted for NSDAP), neighboring Masuria in Poland also lacks any real industry aside from agriculture and tourism. Being Masurian myself, the region is pretty much dead outside of vacation season.
So in the end, things could’ve been better, but if people imagine Prussia as rich, it wasn’t true and it won’t ever be.
Hence the best they could do would be forming an independent Baltic republic.
Who knows?
And yeah, the history of the whole region isn’t that great. I always thought the border changes and population expullsions were the biggest tragedy in the history of the region, and it shouldn’t be repeated. Right now, with the current war going on, I am less certain if something similar won’t happen again.
To think that if Alphie and his buds stayed put and didn’t start the war, Germany would be quite bigger. Ironic, considering they started the whole ordeal to get the lost lands back.
Yeah he was a bit of a dolf.
Hast du Motoröl gesoffen?
Doesn't make mich sense to make it a 4th Baltic republic though since the Old Prussians don't exist anymore.
The Soviets needed it's ice free port.