{"id":60,"date":"2019-10-15T04:49:15","date_gmt":"2019-10-15T04:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prussia.intertechdata.com\/?page_id=60"},"modified":"2025-03-30T17:01:30","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T00:01:30","slug":"kaliningrad","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/konigsberg\/?page_id=60","title":{"rendered":"Kaliningrad"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"kaliningrad-1\"

Kaliningrad<\/p><\/div>\n

Today Kaliningrad is the administrative centre of Kaliningrad Oblast, an area that became a\u00a0 Russian enclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea\u00a0 and\u00a0 geographically separated from the rest of Russia due to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. This isolation became even more pronounced politically when Poland and Lithuania became members of NATO and subsequently the European Union in 2004. All military and civilian land links between the region and the rest of Russia have to pass through members of NATO and the EU. Special travel arrangements for the territory’s inhabitants have been made through the Facilitated Transit Document (FTD) and Facilitated Rail Transit Document (FRTD). As of\u00a0 2012 its population has been reported at 437,450.<\/p>\n

In May of 2023 Poland\u2019s map authorities, while claiming that \u201cThe current Russian name of this city is an artificial baptism unrelated to either the city or the region\u201d,\u00a0 have advised the return to the historic of name of Kr\u00f3lewiec<\/em> for Kaliningrad in its official documents from the time when it was ruled by the Kingdom of Poland in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kremlin has described Poland\u2019s decision as \u201cmadness\u201d and a \u201chostile act\u201d, as ties between the two countries continue to fray over the Ukraine war.<\/p>\n

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Kaliningrad – City Scene<\/p><\/div>\n

A Tale of Two Cities<\/strong><\/p>\n

How much is left of the original City of K\u00f6nigsberg? Some people have argued that Kaliningrad is still K\u00f6nigsberg but now under a different name. But that would be true only if one reduces the meaning and substance of a city to a specific location on a map without regard to its origins, historical significance and ethnocultural makeup.<\/p>\n

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Kaliningrad – Today<\/p><\/div>\n

Here, we clearly do have a tale of two cities, that – while located in the same place – they\u00a0 are different cities in terms of their history, culture and ethnicity, as well as\u00a0 nationality or country that they are located in.<\/p>\n

\"\"Some might still want to claim the two cities are one and the same since enough bricks and mortar were left standing to claim a degree of physical continuity between the two to the extent that \u2013 if you looked hard enough- you would be able to find enough of the original K\u00f6nigsberg to justify the claim. But the extent to which the bombed out remains of K\u00f6nigsberg were violated after the Soviets took possession in 1945 – and essentially left to rot until recently, or simply bulldozed away earlier, with the useful bits shipped back to the motherland \u2013 the unique and historic City of K\u00f6nigsberg ceased to exist. This was especially true after the last remaining ethnic German was expelled after 1945 to find their way westwards across the distant Oder-Neisse border.<\/p>\n

Author Michael Wieck, a Holocaust survivor who grew up in K\u00f6nigsberg and returned in 1992, once wrote that: \u201cAnyone who goes to Kaliningrad today shouldn\u2019t expect to find K\u00f6nigsberg. There is a building here or there that recalls the past, but these leftovers from K\u00f6nigsberg\u2019s existence are like finding bones in a cemetery.”<\/em><\/p>\n

The following sets of pictures compare the same location in 2005, with roughly 60 years in between.<\/p>\n

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Click here to go to an archived Russian\/German website that has many more images like th<\/span><\/span>is!<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Rebuilding K\u00f6nigsberg as Kaliningrad<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Rebuilding a city Soviet-style.<\/p><\/div>\n

Following the Soviet takeover of K\u00f6nigsberg\u00a0 the\u00a0 new\u00a0 inhabitants – which came from all over the Soviet Union – faced the daunting task of rebuilding the charred remains into the new city of Kaliningrad. This included the inevitable\u00a0 introduction of typical uninspired Stalinist architecture such as the usual drab Soviet-style apartment blocks, further demeaning the tragic fate of the once great City of K\u00f6nigsberg. And since the Kaliningrad Oblast became a strategically important area during the Cold War, Kaliningrad was closed to foreign visitors when the Soviet Baltic Fleet was headquartered there in the 1950s.<\/p>\n

The House of Soviets<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Often referred to as\u00a0 the ultimate insult to architecture anywhere, the multi-story House of Soviets was built\u00a0 at the site of the destroyed K\u00f6nigsberg Castle.\u00a0 Intended to be the central administration building of the Kaliningrad Oblast,\u00a0 it was left\u00a0 unfinished for over 20 years, when the exterior was painted light blue and windows were installed in July of 2005 at the occasion of the 750 year anniversary of the city.\u00a0 However, the interior remains unfinished and unusable and rumour has it that the building is structurally unsound after the discovery that its foundations were built over previously unknown underground caves dating back to the earliest days of the massive K\u00f6nigsberg castle over which ruins it has been built.<\/p>\n

In 2022 the BBC went to Kaliningrad to make a short documentary about the current state of the House of Soviets. Click here to see the documentary<\/span>.<\/a><\/p>\n

750th Anniversary\u00a0 Celebrations<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Friday, July 1, 2005\u00a0 marked the 750th anniversary of the founding of the city of Kaliningrad – and that obviously included the period prior to the Soviet annexation of the former East German homelands! Interestingly,\u00a0 the name K\u00f6nigsberg<\/em> was not used at an time during the three days of celebrations that\u00a0 included a meeting between Russia\u2019s President Vladimir Putin , German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac.<\/p>\n

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People gather to watch a festive parade marking the 750th anniversary of Kaliningrad, Russia\u2019s westernmost city, Friday, July 1, 2005. (AP Photo\/Sergey Ponomarev, File)<\/p><\/div>\n

Restoration and Renewal<\/strong><\/p>\n

The civic rulers of\u00a0 Kaliningrad must be given some credit\u00a0 for wanting to pay respect to the rich architectural history of K\u00f6nigsberg. As recently as 2014\u00a0 – and as part of a project known as “Heart of the City” – the \u201cKaliningrad City\u201d Urban District Administration held an Architectural Competition\u00a0 to rebuild K\u00f6nigsberg City Center in the context of regenerating certain aspects of the historical part of the city and its longstanding Prussian heritage.<\/p>\n

The Dom Cathedral on Kneiphof Island<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The Dom Cathedral in 1992<\/p><\/div>\n

As detailed elsewhere on this site, the RAF bombing raids of August 29 & 30 1944 destroyed most if not all of the churches of K\u00f6nigsberg\u00a0. This included the Dom Cathedral on Kneiphof Island, a Gothic building of reddish brick, with a tower 164 ft. high begun in 1333 and\u00a0restored in 1856,\u00a0and the burial place of all Teutonic Order generations; it adjoined the tomb of Immanuel Kant,\u00a0next to the city library, the former University building in which Kant held his lectures.<\/p>\n

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The Dom cathedral in 2010.<\/p><\/div>\n

It wasn’t until\u00a0 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December of 1992 that work began to reconstruct the cathedral , and\u00a0 in\u00a0 the early 2000s the restoration appears complete. It included a new organ that Vladimir Putin is said have donated the funds for .\u00a0 Apparently, Germany contributed to some of the restoration costs.<\/p>\n

The New Synagogue<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Above on the left is the former Jewish Orphanage and all that remained of the adjacent in 1896\u00a0 dedicated Grand New Synagogue on Lomse Island after it was destroyed during the the Kristallnacht riots of\u00a0 November 9 & 10, 1938.<\/p>\n

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The New Synagogue<\/p><\/div>\n

Nearly 80 years later, the grand New Synagogue has been rebuilt as an exact replica at the very same location adjacent to the former Jewish Orphanage on what was then called Lindenstrasse, but is now Oktyabrskaya Street.\u00a0\u00a0 Click here to see a great\u00a0 video of the new\u00a0 synagogue in an imaginary 20th century original K\u00f6nigsberg in anticipation of its official opening on November 8 of 2018<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Former Police Headquarters<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Former Police Headquarters – corner of Friedrich-H\u00e4ndel Strasse and Fuchsberger Allee (Google Image)<\/p><\/div>\n

Former Main Post Office<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Former Main Post Office on Left (Google Image)<\/p><\/div>\n

Former Hansaplatz<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Former Hansaplatz – Now Victory Square (Google Image)<\/p><\/div>\n

Former Luisen Theatre<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Former Luisen Theatre (Google Image)<\/p><\/div>\n

Former Albert University<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Former Albert University<\/p><\/div>\n

Former Kreuz-Apotheke building<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The bombed-out remains of the Kreuz-Apotheke building on 51 Ulitsa Frunze Street in 2017\u00a0 (Google Image)<\/p><\/div>\n

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Early in 2013 the reconstruction of the the \u201cKreuz-Apotheke\u201d buidling\u00a0 was announced by the mayor of Kaliningrad Alexander Yaroshuk.. The work would be carried out by the company “Rossban”. This Google image shows the renovated building\u00a0 in 2021.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today Kaliningrad is the administrative centre of Kaliningrad Oblast, an area that became a\u00a0 Russian enclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea\u00a0 and\u00a0 geographically separated from the rest of Russia due to the collapse of the Soviet Union … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":288,"parent":0,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"onecolumn-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-60","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/konigsberg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/60","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/konigsberg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/konigsberg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/konigsberg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/konigsberg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=60"}],"version-history":[{"count":78,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/konigsberg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/60\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1052,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/konigsberg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/60\/revisions\/1052"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/konigsberg\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/konigsberg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=60"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}