"January 24, 1945. Gumbinnen - We passed through the entire city, which was relatively undamaged during the battle. Some buildings are completely destroyed, others are still on fire. They are said to have been set on fire by our soldiers.
In this rather large town, furniture and other household utensils are scattered on the streets. On the walls of houses, inscriptions are visible everywhere: "Death to Bolshevism." Thus, the Fritz tried to campaign among their soldiers.
In the evening we talked in Gumbinnen with the prisoners. It turned out to be four Fritz and two Poles. Apparently, the mood in the German troops is not very good, they themselves surrendered and now they say: "We don't care where we work - in Germany or in Russia."
We quickly reached Insterburg. From the window of the car you can see the landscape typical for East Prussia: roads lined with trees, villages in which all houses are covered with tiles, fields that are surrounded by barbed wire fences to protect against livestock.
Insterburg turned out to be bigger than Gumbinnen. The whole city is still in smoke. Houses are burning down. Endless columns of soldiers and trucks pass through the city: such a joyful picture for us, but so formidable for the enemy. This is retribution for everything the Germans have done to us. Now German cities are being destroyed, and their population will finally know what it is: war!
We drive further along the highway in the passenger car of the headquarters of the 11th Army towards Königsberg to find the 5th Army there. artillery corps. The highway is full of heavy trucks.
The villages we meet on our way are partly badly destroyed. It is striking that we come across very few wrecked Soviet tanks, not at all like it was in the first days of the offensive.
Along the way, we meet columns of the civilian population, which, under the protection of our submachine gunners, are sent to the rear, away from the front. Some Germans ride in large covered wagons. Teenagers, men, women and girls go on foot. All good clothes. It would be interesting to talk with them about the future.
Soon we stop for the night. Finally we got to a rich country! Everywhere you can see herds of livestock roaming the fields. Yesterday and today we boiled and fried two chickens a day.
Everything in the house is very well equipped. The Germans left almost all their household belongings. I have to rethink what great sorrow brings with it this war.
It passes like a fiery whirlwind through cities and villages, leaving behind smoking ruins, trucks and tanks mangled by explosions, and mountains of corpses of soldiers and civilians.
Now let the Germans see and feel what war is! How much grief is still in this world! I hope that Adolf Hitler does not have long to wait for the noose prepared for him.
January 26, 1945. Petersdorf near Velau. - Here, on this sector of the front, our troops were four kilometers from Koenigsberg. The 2nd Belorussian Front went to the sea near Danzig.
Thus, East Prussia is completely cut off. In fact, it is already almost in our hands. We are driving along Velau. The city is still burning, it is completely destroyed. Everywhere smoke and corpses of the Germans. On the streets you can see many guns abandoned by the Germans and the corpses of German soldiers in the sewers.
These are signs of the brutal defeat of the German troops. Everyone is celebrating the victory. Soldiers cook food on a fire. Fritz abandoned everything. Entire herds of livestock roam the fields. The surviving houses are full of excellent furniture and utensils. On the walls you can see paintings, mirrors, photographs.
Many houses were set on fire by our infantry. Everything happens as the Russian proverb says: "As it comes around, it will respond!" The Germans did this in Russia in 1941 and 1942, and now in 1945 it echoed here in East Prussia.
I see a weapon covered with a knitted blanket being carried past. Nice disguise! On another gun lies a mattress, and on the mattress, wrapped in a blanket, a Red Army soldier sleeps.
To the left of the highway, you can see an interesting picture: two camels are being led there. A captive Fritz with a bandaged head is led past us. Angry soldiers shout in his face: "Well, did you conquer Russia?" With their fists and the butts of their machine guns, they urge him on, pushing him in the back.
January 27, 1945. The village of Starkenberg. - The village looks very peaceful. The room of the house where we stayed is light and cozy. From afar comes the sound of cannonade. This is a battle in Koenigsberg. The position of the Germans is hopeless.
And now the time comes when we can pay for everything. Ours treated East Prussia no worse than the Germans with Smolensk region. We hate the Germans and Germany with all our heart.
For example, in one of the houses of the village, our guys saw a murdered woman with two children. And on the street you can often see dead civilians. The Germans themselves deserved this on our part, because they were the first to behave in this way in relation to the civilian population of the occupied regions.
One only needs to remember Majdanek and the theory of the superman to understand why our soldiers bring East Prussia to such a state with such satisfaction. But German composure in Majdanek was a hundred times worse. In addition, the Germans glorified the war!
January 28, 1945. We played cards until two o'clock in the morning. The houses were abandoned by the Germans in a chaotic state. The Germans had a lot of all sorts of property. But now everything is in complete disarray. The furniture in the houses is just great. Each house is full of a variety of utensils. Most Germans lived quite well.
War, war - when will you end? For three years and seven months this destruction of human lives, the results of human labor and monuments has been going on. cultural heritage.
Towns and villages are burning, the treasures of thousands of years of labor are disappearing. And the nonentities in Berlin are doing their best to continue this one-of-a-kind battle in the history of mankind as long as possible. Therefore, hatred is born, which is poured out on Germany.
February 1, 1945. - In the village we saw a long column of modern slaves, whom the Germans drove to Germany from all over Europe. Our troops invaded Germany on a broad front. The allies are coming too. Yes, Hitler wanted to crush the whole world. Instead, he crushed Germany.
February 2, 1945. - We have arrived in Fuchsberg. Finally, we reached our destination - the headquarters of the 33rd Tank Brigade. I learned from a Red Army soldier from the 24th Tank Brigade that thirteen people from our brigade, including several officers, had been poisoned. They drank denatured alcohol. That's where the love of alcohol can lead!
On the way we met several columns of German civilians. Mostly women and children. Many carried their children in their arms. They looked pale and scared. When asked if they were Germans, they hastened to answer "Yes."
There was a clear stamp of fear on their faces. They had no reason to be glad that they were Germans. At the same time, quite nice faces could be seen among them.
Last night, the soldiers of the division told me about some things that can not be approved. In the house where the headquarters of the division was located, the evacuated women and children were placed at night.
Drunken soldiers began to come there one after another. They chose women for themselves, took them aside and raped them. There were several men for every woman.
Such behavior is unacceptable. Revenge, of course, is necessary, but not in this way, but with weapons. You can somehow understand those whose loved ones were killed by the Germans. But the rape of young girls - no, this is unacceptable!
In my opinion, the command must soon put an end to such crimes, as well as to the unnecessary destruction of property. For example, soldiers spend the night in some house, in the morning they leave and set fire to the house or recklessly break mirrors and break furniture.
After all, it is clear that all these things will one day be transported to the Soviet Union. But while we live here and, carrying out soldier's service, we will continue to live. Such crimes only undermine the morale of the soldiers and weaken discipline, which leads to a decrease in combat capability."
Even in the late Middle Ages, the lands located between the Neman and Vistula rivers got their name East Prussia. Throughout its existence, this power experienced different periods. This is the time of the order, and the Prussian duchy, and then the kingdom, and the province, as well as the post-war country up to the renaming due to the redistribution between Poland and the Soviet Union.
The history of the origin of possessions
More than ten centuries have passed since the first mention of the Prussian lands. Initially, the people who inhabited these territories were divided into clans (tribes), which were separated by conditional borders.
The expanses of Prussian possessions covered the now existing part of Poland and Lithuania. These included Sambia and Skalovia, Warmia and Pogezania, Pomesania and Kulm land, Natangia and Bartia, Galindia and Sassen, Skalovia and Nadrovia, Mazovia and Sudovia.
Numerous conquests
The Prussian lands throughout their existence were constantly subjected to attempts to conquer by stronger and more aggressive neighbors. So, in the twelfth century, the Teutonic knights - the crusaders - came to these rich and alluring expanses. They built numerous fortresses and castles, such as Kulm, Reden, Thorn.
However, in 1410, after the famous Battle of Grunwald the territory of the Prussians began to smoothly pass into the hands of Poland and Lithuania.
The Seven Years' War in the eighteenth century undermined the strength of the Prussian army and led to the fact that some eastern lands were conquered Russian Empire.
In the twentieth century, hostilities also did not bypass these lands. Beginning in 1914, East Prussia was involved in the First World War, and in 1944 - in the Second World War.
And after the victory Soviet troops in 1945 it ceased to exist altogether and was transformed into the Kaliningrad region.
Existence between the wars
During the First World War, East Prussia suffered heavy losses. The map of 1939 already had changes, and the updated province was in a terrible state. After all, it was the only territory of Germany that was swallowed up by military battles.
The signing of the Treaty of Versailles was costly for East Prussia. The winners decided to reduce its territory. Therefore, from 1920 to 1923, the League of Nations began to control the city of Memel and the Memel region with the help of French troops. But after the January uprising in 1923, the situation changed. And already in 1924, these lands, as an autonomous region, became part of Lithuania.
In addition, East Prussia also lost the territory of Soldau (the city of Dzialdovo).
In total, about 315 thousand hectares of land were disconnected. And this is a large area. As a result of these changes, the remaining province found itself in a difficult situation, accompanied by enormous economic difficulties.
The economic and political situation in the 20s and 30s.
In the early twenties, after the normalization of diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Germany, the standard of living of the population in East Prussia began to gradually improve. The Moscow-Kenigsberg airline was opened, the German Oriental Fair was resumed, and the Koenigsberg city radio station began work.
Nevertheless, the global economic crisis has not bypassed these ancient lands. And in five years (1929-1933), five hundred and thirteen different enterprises went bankrupt in Koenigsberg alone, and grew to one hundred thousand people. In such a situation, taking advantage of the precarious and uncertain position of the current government, the Nazi Party took control into its own hands.
Territory redistribution
AT geographic Maps East Prussia until 1945, a considerable number of changes were made. The same thing happened in 1939 after the occupation of Poland by the troops Nazi Germany. As a result of the new zoning, part of the Polish lands and the Klaipeda (Memel) region of Lithuania were formed into a province. And the cities of Elbing, Marienburg and Marienwerder became part of the new district of West Prussia.
The Nazis launched grandiose plans for the redivision of Europe. And the map of East Prussia, in their opinion, was to become the center of the economic space between the Baltic and Black Seas, subject to the annexation of the territories of the Soviet Union. However, these plans failed to materialize.
Post-war time
As the Soviet troops arrived, East Prussia also gradually changed. Military commandant's offices were created, of which by April 1945 there were already thirty-six. Their tasks were to recalculate the German population, inventory and a gradual transition to civilian life.
In those years, thousands of German officers and soldiers were hiding throughout East Prussia, groups engaged in sabotage and sabotage were operating. In April 1945 alone, the military commandant's offices captured more than three thousand armed fascists.
However, ordinary German citizens also lived on the territory of Koenigsberg and in the surrounding areas. They numbered about 140 thousand people.
In 1946, the city of Koenigsberg was renamed Kaliningrad, as a result of which the Kaliningrad region was formed. And in the future, the names of other settlements were also changed. In connection with such changes, the previously existing 1945 map of East Prussia was also redone.
East Prussian lands today
These days on former territory Prussians is the Kaliningrad region. East Prussia ceased to exist in 1945. And although the region is part of the Russian Federation, they are territorially separated. In addition to the administrative center - Kaliningrad (until 1946 it bore the name of Koenigsberg), such cities as Bagrationovsk, Baltiysk, Gvardeysk, Yantarny, Sovetsk, Chernyakhovsk, Krasnoznamensk, Neman, Ozersk, Primorsk, Svetlogorsk are well developed. The region consists of seven city districts, two cities and twelve districts. The main peoples living in this territory are Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Armenians and Germans.
To date, the Kaliningrad region ranks first in the extraction of amber, storing about ninety percent of its world reserves in its bowels.
Interesting places of modern East Prussia
And although today the map of East Prussia has been changed beyond recognition, the lands with the cities and villages located on them still keep the memory of the past. The spirit of the disappeared great country is still felt in the present Kaliningrad region in cities bearing the names Tapiau and Taplaken, Insterburg and Tilsit, Ragnit and Waldau.
Excursions conducted at the Georgenburg stud farm are popular with tourists. It existed as early as the beginning of the thirteenth century. The fortress of Georgenburg was a haven for German knights and crusaders, whose main business was horse breeding.
Churches built in the fourteenth century (in the former cities of Heiligenwalde and Arnau), as well as churches of the sixteenth century in the territory of former city Tapiau. These majestic buildings constantly remind people of the old days of prosperity. Teutonic Order.
Knight's castles
The land rich in amber reserves has attracted German conquerors since ancient times. In the thirteenth century, the Polish princes, together with gradually seized these possessions and built numerous castles on them. The remains of some of them, being architectural monuments, still make an indelible impression on contemporaries today. The largest number of knightly castles were built in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Their place of construction was the captured Prussian rampart-earthen fortresses. When building castles, the traditions in the style of the order's Gothic architecture of the late Middle Ages were necessarily observed. In addition, all buildings corresponded to a single plan for their construction. Nowadays, an unusual
The village of Nizovye is very popular among residents and guests. It contains a unique local history museum with old cellars Having visited it, one can say with confidence that the whole history of East Prussia flashes before one's eyes, starting from the time of the ancient Prussians and ending with the era of Soviet settlers.
On the introductory frame - the former North Station of Königsberg and the German tunnel leading to it directly under main square. Despite all the horrors of the war, the Kaliningrad region amazes with its perfectly preserved German infrastructure: here it is not only railways, stations, canals, ports and airfields - it is even power lines! Which, however, is quite logical: churches and castles - pr about the damned ruins of a defeated enemy, and the people need train stations and substations.
And one more thing: yes, it is clearly visible that Germany a hundred years ago was significantly ahead of Russia in development ... but not as much as you might think from this post, because the history of these lands was broken into "before" and "after" not in 1917 , but 1945, that is, to compare all this with the early Soviet Union, and not with the Russian Empire.
...To begin with, already by tradition - a review of the comments. Firstly, Albertina in Germany was far from the second and hardly even the tenth. Secondly, photographs No. 37 (now it really is an example of the Bauhaus) and 48 (now it has something more similar to the architecture of the Third Reich, although a little earlier) have been replaced. In addition, as they pointed out to me, I understood the “new materiality” in a completely non-canonical way - in general, very little is known about this style in Russia, an sensible selection of photographs was found in the English Wikipedia, and there you can appreciate that it is very diverse. So my characterization of this style is only a subjective, emotional perception of its samples seen in the Kaliningrad region. Well, now - further:
In Königsberg there were two large stations (North and South) and many small stations such as Rathof or Hollenderbaum. However, I will have a separate post about the transport attractions of Kaliningrad, but here I will show only the most important thing - the landing stage. This is the rarest thing in former USSR- there are still such in Moscow (Kyiv and Kazan stations), St. Petersburg (Vitebsky station), and more recently, in Germany, there were such in many cities. Under the landing stage - high platforms, underground passages ... in general, the level is not at all for the Russian regional center. The station itself, on the contrary, is small and cramped, in Russia such ones were sometimes built even in cities that were inferior to Koenigsberg by a population of 5 times: there was simply a different railway school, unlike either Russian or. The inscription on three spans - "Welcome Kaliningrad Welcome", also somehow not in Russian, but in a completely different sense.
I think it's no secret to anyone that small Germany is one of the main railway powers in the world ... but like Russia, it did not gain momentum right away. Interestingly, at the same time, it was not Prussia that was at the forefront of railway construction here, but Bavaria, in 1835, the 5th in the world (after England, the USA, France and - with a difference of six months - Belgium) opened a locomotive line. The steam locomotive "Adler" ("Eagle") was bought in England, and the Nuremberg-Fürth line itself was even more suburban than Tsarskoye Selo: 6 kilometers, and nowadays you can travel by metro between the two cities. In 1837-39, the Leipzig-Dresden line (117 kilometers) was built, in 1838-41 - Berlin-Potsdam (26 km), and then ... The rate of development of the Deutschbahn in the 1840-60s is amazing, and finally in 1852-57 years, the line Bromberg (now Bydgoszcz) - Königsberg was also being built, which reached the farthest from the center of the German city. Within the current borders of Russia, Kaliningrad is the third (after St. Petersburg and Moscow) large city with a railway. However, after 5 years the German railways, but over these five years, the whole of East Prussia managed to sprout them.
To be honest, I don’t know anything about the age of German railway stations, and I didn’t see too many of them. Let me just say that in their arrangement at small stations they differ from Russian much less than the Austro-Hungarian ones. It's easy to imagine such a station ... yes, in general, at any station all the way to Vladivostok.
Much more interesting is the fact that so many stations (offhand Chernyakhovsk, Sovetsk, Nesterov) are equipped with such canopies over the tracks - in our country this is again the prerogative of large cities and their suburbs. However, here it must be understood that in Russia, for most of the year, the main discomfort for passengers was created by frost, so a large heated station was more expedient, and it was even colder on the platform under a canopy; here the rains and winds were the most relevant.
Many stations nevertheless died in the war and were replaced by Stalins:
But something else is interesting here: after the war, the length of the railway network on the territory of the Kaliningrad region was reduced by a factor of three - from 1820 to 620 kilometers, that is, there are probably hundreds of stations without rails scattered around the region. Alas, I did not notice any of them, but something close:
This is Otradnoye, a suburb of Svetlogorsk. From the latter, a railway, abandoned since the 1990s, leads to Primorsk, and by some miracle its rusty rails still lie. The house is closely adjacent to the embankment, towards which beams stick out of it. The second entrance leads to the door to nowhere. That is, apparently, it was a residential or office building of the early twentieth century, part of which was occupied by the station:
Or here is the abandoned Yantarny station on the same line - if not for the rails, who would guess that this is a station?
However, if you believe the map of existing and dismantled lines, then the network has decreased by about a third, a maximum of half, but not three times. But the fact is that in Germany a hundred years ago there was a dense network of narrow gauge railways (the gauge, like ours, is 750 mm), and apparently, it was also included in these 1823 kilometers. Be that as it may, in Germany at the end of the 19th century, almost any village could be reached by public transport. Often, narrow-gauge railways had their own stations, even the old-timers usually do not remember the station essence of which - after all, trains have not run from them for almost 70 years. For example, at Gvardeysk station, opposite the main station:
Or here is a suspicious building in Chernyakhovsk. The Insterburg narrow-gauge railway existed, it had its own station, this building is facing the tracks with its backyards ... in general, it looks like:
In addition, in the Kaliningrad region there are sections of the "Stephenson" gauge (1435 mm) rare for Russia on the lines leading from Kaliningrad and Chernyakhovsk to the south - only about 60 kilometers. Let's say the Znamenka station, from where I went to Balga - the left path seemed to me a little narrower than the right one; If I'm not mistaken, there is one "Stephenson" track at the South Station. More recently, the Kaliningrad-Berlin train ran through Gdynia:
In addition to the stations, all sorts of auxiliary buildings are well preserved. At most stations on the other side of the tracks there are such cargo terminals ... however, they are not rare in Russia either.
In places, hydrants for refueling steam locomotives have been preserved - however, I don’t know if they were pre- or post-war:
But the most valuable of these monuments is the circular depot of the 1870s in Chernyakhovsk, now turned into a parking lot. The archaic buildings that replaced the "locomotive sheds" and subsequently gave way to the fan depot with turning circles, for their time, however, were very perfect. Six of them have been preserved along the Eastern Highway: two in Berlin, as well as in the cities of Pila (Schneidemühl), Bydgoszcz (Bromberg), Tczew (Dirschau) and here.
There are similar structures (or have they already been broken?) in Russia on the Nikolaevskaya highway, we (were?) Even larger and older (1849), but the pride of the Insterburg depot is considered the only "Schwedler dome" in Russia, exceptionally light for its time and as shown by subsequent times - very durable: Unlike the capital, no one is going to break it. There are similar facilities in Germany and Poland.
Finally, bridges... But there are somehow few bridges here - after all, the rivers in the region are narrow, even the Pregol is noticeably smaller than the Moscow River, and the railway bridge across the Neman in Sovetsk was restored after the war. Here is the only "small" bridge I have seen on the Chernyakhovsk-Zheleznodorozhny line, and it seems like one of its threads - the "Stephenson" gauge. Under the bridge is not a river, but another interesting object - the Masurian Canal, which will be discussed below. And concrete German "hedgehogs", which are unmeasured in the region:
Much better things are with bridges above railways. I don’t know exactly when they were built (perhaps even before the First World War), but their most characteristic detail is such concrete trusses that I have never come across in other places:
But the 7-arch bridge across the Pregolya in Znamensk (1880) is completely metal:
And now under us there are no longer rails, but asphalt. Or - paving stones: here it is found not only in rural areas, but even outside settlements. This is how you drive on asphalt, and suddenly - trrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr... It gives a disgusting vibration, but it's not slippery on it. Cities, including Kaliningrad itself, are paved with paving stones to this day, and someone told me that the stones in it lie from all over the world, since in the old days cargo ships they were transported as ballast and sold at loading ports. In a damp climate, there was simply no other choice - it was in Russia that the roads periodically "delivered", and even slippery snow fell in winter, but here porridge was constantly on them. I already showed this frame - the road to. Almost all of it is asphalted, and only a section of paving stones remains on the hill.
Another feature of Prussian roads is " the last soldiers Wehrmacht". Trees with their roots hold the ground under the road, and mask them from the air with their crowns, and when they were planted, the speeds were not the same and crashing into a tree was no more dangerous than crashing into a ditch. Now there is no one to mask the roads, but to drive according to them - I say as a convinced non-driver - it’s really STUNNING! A man on the train told me that these trees are somehow charmed: it’s a common thing when in such an alley several wreaths hang on a single tree, "they attract to themselves!" - this is about the question of the fascist curse ... In fact, there are few such "avenues" left, and mostly in remote areas, but the asphalt on them is really not bad.
And in general, the roads here are surprisingly decent, especially the recently reconstructed Kaliningrad-Vilnius-Moscow highway (Chernyakhovsk, Gusev and Nesterov are strung on it in the region). For the first fifty kilometers it is completely in two lanes with a physical separation, potholes and pits are noticeable only on bridges.
But the trouble is with bus stations - in fact, they are only in largest cities areas such as Sovetsk or Chernyakhovsk, and for example, even in Zelenogradsk or Baltiysk are simply absent. There is a platform from which buses depart, a billboard with a timetable to Kaliningrad, and pieces of paper with suburban traffic nailed to poles and trees. Here it is, say, in Baltiysk, one of the main cities in the region:
Although in fairness, the bus route system itself is perfectly organized here. Yes, all of it is tied to Kaliningrad, but ... Let's say there are several dozen flights a day on the Kaliningrad-Baltiysk route, and 4 on the Baltiysk-Zelenogradsk route (via Yantarny and Svetlogorsk), which, in general, is also quite a lot. Buses are not a problem to move even along the almost deserted Curonian Spit, if you know their schedule in advance. The cars are mostly quite new, you won’t meet the killed Ikarus. And despite the fact that the region is quite densely populated, they travel quickly through it - to Chernyakhovsk and Sovetsk (this is 120-130 kilometers), an express bus takes an hour and a half from Kaliningrad.
But back to german times. I don’t remember any Soviet-built pre-war bus stations; Finnish bus stations have been preserved in Vyborg and the county Sortavala; in general, I already thought that the Germans have a bus station in every town. As a result, I came across the only sample again in Chernyakhovsk:
UPD: as it turned out, this is a Soviet building. That is, apparently the pioneers of bus station construction in Europe were the Finns.
But several times there were much more funny things - German gas stations. Compared to modern ones, they are very small, and therefore they are mainly occupied by shops.
Germany is the birthplace of not only diesel, but also electric transport, the inventor of which can be considered Wernher von Simmens: in the Berlin suburbs in 1881 he created the world's first tram line, and in 1882 - an experimental trolleybus (after trolleybus networks appeared and disappeared in dozens of European cities , but took root in few places). Urban electric transport in the future Kaliningrad region was available in three cities. Of course, the Koenigsberg tram is narrow gauge (1000 mm, it's like in Lviv + Vinnitsa, Zhytomyr, Evpatoria and Pyatigorsk), the oldest in Russia (1895, but we had older ones throughout the empire) and regularly operating to this day. Another tram network has operated since 1901 in Tilsit (Sovetsk), in memory of which a rare trailer was installed on its central square a few years ago:
But again, Insterburg distinguished itself: in 1936, not a tram was launched here, but a trolleybus. It is worth saying that in the entire former USSR before the war, trolleybuses appeared only in Moscow (1933), Kyiv (1935), St. Petersburg (1936) and then Romanian Chernivtsi (1939). The depot survived from the Insterburg system:
Both the tram and the trolley bus were never revived in district centers after the war. In Germany, trolleybuses almost disappeared in a purely peaceful way. In the former Königsberg, this transport appeared in 1975.
Well, now let's go down from the asphalt to the water:
Europe has always been the edge of dams - its rivers are fast, but poor in water and periodically overflow their banks. In the Kaliningrad region, shortly before my arrival, there was a storm with heavy rain that washed away the snow, and as a result, fields and meadows were flooded with a thin layer of water for kilometers. Many dams and ponds were founded here by the crusaders, and they have been continuously existing for the eighth century. In fact, the oldest man-made object in Kaliningrad itself is the Castle Pond (1255). Dams and mills, of course, have been updated many times, but for example, in Svetlogorsk, the Mill Pond has existed since about the 1250s:
Especially in this sense, he distinguished himself ... no, not Insterburg, but the neighboring Darkemen (now Ozyorsk), somewhere in 1880, or in 1886 (I still didn’t figure it out), instead of an ordinary dam, a mini-hydroelectric power station was built. It was the very dawn of hydropower, and it turns out that the oldest operating power plant (and hydroelectric power station in general) in Russia is located here, and thanks to it, Darkemen was one of the first in Europe to acquire electric street lighting (some even write that "the very first", but to me I don't really believe this.)
But especially among the hydraulic structures, 5 concrete locks of the Masurian Canal stand out, dug back in the 1760s from the Masurian Lakes to Pregolya. The current locks were built in 1938-42, becoming, perhaps, the largest monuments of the Third Reich era in the region. But it did not work out: after the war, the canal, divided by the border, was abandoned and is now overgrown.
However, we visited three of the five locks:
The Pregolya, which began at the confluence of the Instruch and Angrappa on the territory of present-day Chernyakhovsk, is such a "little Rhine" or "little Nile", the core river of the Kaliningrad region, which for a long time was its main road. There are enough locks on it itself, and Königsberg grew on the islands of its delta. And this is where it leads: from the center of Kaliningrad, the operating two-tier drawbridge across the Pregolya (1916-26) is perfectly visible, behind which the port is located:
And although the residential part of Kaliningrad is separated from the sea by industrial zones and suburbs, and the sea is only the Kaliningrad Bay, separated from the real sea by the Baltic Spit, there is still a lot of sea in the atmosphere of Königsberg. The proximity of the sea is reminiscent of the taste of the air and the cries of hefty gulls; romance adds the Museum of the World Ocean with the "Vityaz". The pre-war photographs show that the channels of the Pregolya were simply clogged with ships of various sizes, and in Soviet time AtlantNIRO worked here (it still exists, but it breathes its last), engaged in marine research throughout the Atlantic to Antarctica itself; since 1959, one of the four whaling fleets of the USSR "Yuri Dolgoruky" was based here ... however, I went aside. And the main attraction of the Koenigsberg port is two elevators from the 1920s and 30s, Red and Yellow:
Here it is worth remembering that East Prussia was the breadbasket of Germany, and grain was transported through it from Russia. Its transformation into an exclave after the First World War could have turned into a disaster, and Poland then was not as accommodating as Lithuania is today. In general, this situation has greatly affected the local infrastructure. The yellow elevator at the time of construction was almost the largest in the world, and it is still grandiose:
The second "reserve" of the port infrastructure is located on the spit, that is, between the bay and the open sea, Baltiysk (Pillau) - the westernmost city of Russia. Actually, its special role began in 1510, when a storm made a breach in the sandy spit almost opposite Königsberg. Baltiysk was both a fortress, a trading port, and a military base, and the piers near the strait were built in 1887. Here they are - the Western Gates of Russia:
And I was also puzzled by this leading sign. I have not seen such people in Russia. Maybe I didn’t see my problems, or maybe German:
In Baltiysk, I happened to visit a functioning ship. According to the sailor who met us there, this crane - captured, German, worked even before the war. I can't judge, but it looks very archaic:
However, the Baltic seaside is not only ports, but also resorts. The Baltic here is shallower and warmer than near the German coast, therefore both monarchs and writers (for example, Thomas Mann, whose house has been preserved on the Lithuanian part of the Curonian Spit) came to Kranz, Rauschen, Neukuren and others to improve their health. The Russian nobility also rested here. The peculiarity of these resorts is the promenades, or rather the promenade decks above the beaches. In Svetlogorsk, there is already no beach - recently it was literally washed away by a storm, since the German breakwaters had long since fallen into disrepair. Above the promenade is a mega-elevator (1973) that has not been working since 2010, built to replace the German funicular that did not survive the war:
Things are better in Zelenogradsk. Pay attention to the windmills near the horizon - this is already ours. Vorobyovskaya wind farm is considered the largest in Russia, although it is tiny by world standards. There are also German lighthouses on the coast, primarily at Cape Taran, but I didn’t get there.
But in general, Königsberg was turned not so much into the sea as into the sky, it is no coincidence that all the roads here led to the 100-meter tower of the Castle. I was told "We have a cult of pilots here!". However, by the beginning of the 20th century, Germany was the European, if not the world, leader in aeronautics - it is not entirely obvious that the Zeppellin is not a synonym for "airship", but its specific brand. Germany had 6 combat zeppelins, one of which was based in Königsberg. There was also a school of aeronautics. The zepelin hangar (unlike many others in Germany itself) did not survive, but looked like this:
And in 1919, the isolation of Prussia gave rise to another landmark object - the Devau airfield, which became the first civilian airport in Europe. In 1922, the world's first air terminal was built here (it has not been preserved), at the same time the first international Aeroflot line Moscow-Riga-Königsberg was opened, and many people flew along it - for example, Mayakovsky, who dedicated a poem to this phenomenon. Now Devau, located within the city, belongs to DOSAAF, and there are ideas (so far at the level of enthusiasts) of recreating the air terminal, organizing a museum and even - ideally - an international airport for small aircraft.
East Prussia and under the Third Reich became the fiefdom of the Luftwaffe with numerous airfields. The school in Neukuren (now Pioneer) produced many enemy aces, including Eric "Bubby" Hartman, the best military pilot in history: it is officially believed that he shot down 352 aircraft, of which 2/3 were Soviet.
Under the Baltic - the ruins of the Neutif air base:
And under the Soviets, the local pilots escaped into space: out of 115 Soviet cosmonauts, four were connected with Kaliningrad, including Alexei Leonov and Viktor Patsaev.
But back to earth. Here, urban infrastructure is of particular interest - I don’t know how much more developed than in early USSR but very unusual. The most notable are, of course, the water towers, the "collection" of which he collects in his magazine soullaway . If we built water towers in large series, the Germans in Prussia did not find two identical ones. True, for the same reason, our water pumps still seem to me average more beautiful. Here are a couple of samples from Baltiysk (before and after the First World War) - in my opinion the most interesting things I saw here:
But the largest in the region - in Sovetsk:
Continuation of water pressure - hydrants. Here they are almost the same throughout the region, in its different cities:
However, Koenigsberg is also the birthplace of the electric power industry, or rather, Gustav Kirchhoff, and this cannot be overlooked here. The most common promarch here, after industrial mills, is power plants:
And also substations:
Countless transformer boxes:
And even pillars "with horns" - their lines stretch throughout the area:
There are also some other pillars here. Supports of electrified narrow-gauge railways? Lanterns in the villages wiped off the face of the earth? War, everything here ends in war.
The Germans built for centuries, but it played a cruel joke on us. Communications in other parts of the USSR wore out faster - they were repaired faster. Here, many pipes and wires have not known repair since the 1940s, and their resource has finally expired. According to and taiohara , and soullaway , accidents with turning off water or electricity are regular here. In Baltiysk, for example, the water is turned off at night. In many houses, house boilers, completely uncharacteristic of the Soviet Union, remained, and in winter the Prussian towns are shrouded in smoke.
In the next part... I thought of three "general" posts, but in the end I realized that a fourth was needed. In the next part, about main character of the present Kaliningrad region: amber.
FAR WEST
. Sketches, thanks, disclaimer.
.
East Prussia
. Outpost of the Crusaders.
.
German infrastructure.
Amber edge.
Foreign Russia. Modern color.
Kaliningrad/Königsberg.
City that exists.
Ghosts of Koenigsberg. Kneiphof.
Ghosts of Koenigsberg. Altstadt and Lobenicht.
Ghosts of Koenigsberg. Rossgarten, Tragheim and Haberberg.
Victory Square, or simply Square.
Koenigsberg transport. Stations, trams, Devau.
Museum of the World Ocean.
The inner ring of Koenigsberg. From the Friedland Gate to the Square.
The inner ring of Koenigsberg. From the market to the amber museum.
The inner ring of Koenigsberg. From the Amber Museum to Pregolya.
Garden City of Amalienau.
Rathof and Juditten.
Ponart.
Sambia.
Natangia, Warmia, Bartia.
Nadrovia, or Lithuania Minor.
One of the most significant operations carried out by the Red Army in 1945 was the assault on Königsberg and the liberation of East Prussia.
Fortifications of the Grolman upper front, the Oberteich bastion after the surrender /
Fortifications of the Grolman upper front, Oberteich bastion. Courtyard.
Troops of the 10th tank corps The 5th Guards Tank Army of the 2nd Belorussian Front occupy the city of Mühlhausen (now the Polish city of Mlynary) during the Mlavsko-Elbing operation.
German soldiers and officers taken prisoner during the assault on Koenigsberg.
A column of German prisoners is walking along the Hindenburg-Strasse in the city of Insterburg (East Prussia), towards the Lutheran Church (now the city of Chernyakhovsk, Lenin Street).
Soviet soldiers carry the weapons of their dead comrades after the battle in East Prussia.
Soviet soldiers are learning to overcome the barbed wire.
Soviet officers visiting one of the forts in the occupied Koenigsberg.
Machine-gun crew MG-42 firing near the railway station of the city of Goldap in battles with Soviet troops. 
Ships in the frozen harbor of Pillau (now Baltiysk, Kaliningrad region of Russia), late January 1945.
Koenigsberg, Tragheim district after the assault, damaged building.
German grenadiers are moving towards the last Soviet positions near the railway station of the city of Goldap.
Koenigsberg. Barracks Kronprinz, tower.
Koenigsberg, one of the fortifications.
The air support ship "Hans Albrecht Wedel" receives refugees in the harbor of Pillau.
Advanced German detachments enter the city of Goldap in East Prussia, which was previously occupied by Soviet troops.
Koenigsberg, panorama of the ruins of the city.
The corpse of a German woman killed by an explosion in Metgethen in East Prussia.
Owned 5th tank division tank Pz.Kpfw. V Ausf. G "Panther" on the street of the town of Goldap.
A German soldier hanged on the outskirts of Königsberg for looting. The inscription in German "Plündern wird mit-dem Tode bestraft!" translates as "Whoever robs will be executed!"
A Soviet soldier in a German Sdkfz 250 armored personnel carrier on a street in Koenigsberg.
Units of the German 5th Panzer Division are moving forward for a counterattack against the Soviet troops. District Kattenau, East Prussia. Tank Pz.Kpfw ahead. V Panther.
Koenigsberg, barricade on the street.
A battery of 88-mm anti-aircraft guns is preparing to repel a Soviet tank attack. East Prussia, mid-February 1945.
German positions on the outskirts of Koenigsberg. The inscription reads: "We will defend Koenigsberg." Propaganda photo.
Soviet self-propelled guns ISU-122S is fighting in Koenigsberg. 3rd Belorussian Front, April 1945.
German sentry on the bridge in the center of Koenigsberg.
A Soviet motorcyclist passes German self-propelled guns StuG IV and 105-mm howitzers abandoned on the road.
A German landing ship evacuating troops from the Heiligenbeil pocket enters the harbor of Pillau.
Koenigsberg, blown up pillbox.
Destroyed German self-propelled gun StuG III Ausf. G against the background of the Kronprinz tower, Königsberg.
Koenigsberg, panorama from the Don tower.
Kenisberg, April 1945. View of the Royal Castle
German StuG III assault gun shot down in Koenigsberg. Killed in the foreground German soldier.
German vehicles on Mitteltragheim street in Koenigsberg after the assault. To the right and left are StuG III assault guns, in the background is a JgdPz IV tank destroyer.
Grolman upper front, Grolman bastion. Before the surrender of the fortress, it housed the headquarters of the 367th Wehrmacht Infantry Division.
On the street of the port of Pillau. German soldiers being evacuated leave their weapons and equipment before being loaded onto ships.
A German 88 mm FlaK 36/37 anti-aircraft gun abandoned on the outskirts of Koenigsberg.
Koenigsberg, panorama. Don Tower, Rossgarten Gate.
Königsberg, German bunker in the Horst Wessel Park area.
Unfinished barricade on Duke Albrecht Alley in Königsberg (now Telman Street).
Koenigsberg, destroyed German artillery battery.
German prisoners at the Sackheim Gate of Koenigsberg.
Koenigsberg, German trenches.
German machine-gun crew in position in Koenigsberg near the Don tower.
German refugees on Pillau Street pass by a column of Soviet self-propelled guns SU-76M.
Konigsberg, Friedrichsburg Gate after the assault.
Koenigsberg, Wrangel tower, moat.
View from the Don Tower to the Oberteich (Upper Pond), Koenigsberg.
On the street of Koenigsberg after the assault.
Koenigsberg, Wrangel tower after the surrender.
Corporal I.A. Gureev at the post at the border marker in East Prussia.
Soviet unit in a street fight in Koenigsberg.
Traffic controller sergeant Anya Karavaeva on the way to Koenigsberg.
Soviet soldiers in the city of Allenstein (now the city of Olsztyn in Poland) in East Prussia.
Artillerymen of Lieutenant Sofronov's Guards are fighting on Avaider Alley in Koenigsberg (now - Alley of the Brave).
The result of an air strike on German positions in East Prussia.
Soviet soldiers are fighting on the outskirts of Koenigsberg. 3rd Belorussian Front.
Soviet armored boat No. 214 in the Konigsberg Canal after the battle with a German tank.
German collection point for defective captured armored vehicles in the Königsberg area.
Evacuation of the remnants of the division "Grossdeutschland" in the area of Pillau.
Abandoned in Koenigsberg German technology. In the foreground is a 150 mm sFH 18 howitzer.
Koenigsberg. Bridge across the moat to Rossgarten Gate. Don tower in the background
Abandoned German 105-mm howitzer le.F.H.18/40 in position in Königsberg.
A German soldier lights a cigarette at a StuG IV self-propelled gun.
A destroyed German tank Pz.Kpfw is on fire. V Ausf. G "Panther". 3rd Belorussian Front.
Soldiers of the Grossdeutschland division are loaded onto makeshift rafts to cross the Frisches Haff Bay (now the Kaliningrad Bay). Balga Peninsula, Cape Kalholz.
Soldiers of the division "Grossdeutschland" in positions on the Balga Peninsula.
Meeting of Soviet soldiers on the border with East Prussia. 3rd Belorussian Front.
The bow of a German transport sinking as a result of an aircraft attack Baltic Fleet off the coast of East Prussia.
The pilot-observer of the reconnaissance aircraft Henschel Hs.126 takes pictures of the area during a training flight.
Destroyed German assault gun StuG IV. East Prussia, February 1945.
Seeing Soviet soldiers from Koenigsberg.
The Germans inspect a wrecked Soviet T-34-85 tank in the village of Nemmersdorf.
Tank "Panther" from the 5th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht in Goldap.
German soldiers armed with Panzerfaust grenade launchers next to the MG 151/20 aircraft gun in the infantry version.
Column German tanks"Panther" is moving to the front in East Prussia.
Broken cars on the street taken by storm Koenigsberg. Soviet soldiers are in the background.
Troops of the Soviet 10th Panzer Corps and the bodies of German soldiers on Mühlhausen Street.
Soviet sappers walk down the street of the burning Insterburg in East Prussia.
A column of Soviet IS-2 tanks on a road in East Prussia. 1st Belorussian Front.
A Soviet officer inspects a German self-propelled gun "Jagdpanther" shot down in East Prussia.
Soviet soldiers are sleeping, resting after the battles, right on the street of Koenigsberg, taken by storm.
Koenigsberg, anti-tank barriers.
German refugees with a baby in Königsberg.
A short rally in the 8th company after leaving for state border USSR.
A group of pilots of the Normandy-Neman air regiment near the Yak-3 fighter in East Prussia.
A sixteen-year-old Volkssturm soldier armed with an MP 40 submachine gun. East Prussia.
Construction of fortifications, East Prussia, mid-July 1944.
Refugees from Königsberg moving towards Pillau, mid-February 1945.
German soldiers at a halt near Pillau.
German quad anti-aircraft gun FlaK 38, mounted on a tractor. Fischhausen (now Primorsk), East Prussia.
Civilians and a captured German soldier on Pillau Street during garbage collection after the end of the fighting for the city.
Boats of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet under repair in Pillau (now the city of Baltiysk in the Kaliningrad region of Russia).
German auxiliary ship "Franken" after the attack of Il-2 attack aircraft of the KBF Air Force.
Explosion of bombs on the German ship "Franken" as a result of the attack of Il-2 attack aircraft of the KBF Air Force
A breach from a heavy shell in the wall of the Oberteich bastion of the fortifications of the Grolman Upper Front of Koenigsberg.
The bodies of two German women and three children allegedly killed by Soviet soldiers in the town of Metgeten in East Prussia in January-February 1945. Propaganda German photo.
Transportation of the Soviet 280-mm mortar Br-5 in East Prussia.
Distribution of food to Soviet soldiers in Pillau after the end of the fighting for the city.
Soviet soldiers pass through a German settlement on the outskirts of Koenigsberg.
Broken German assault gun StuG IV on the streets of the city of Allenstein (now Olsztyn, Poland.)
Soviet infantry, supported by self-propelled guns SU-76, attacked German positions in the area of Koenigsberg.
A column of self-propelled guns SU-85 on the march in East Prussia.
Sign "Autoroute to Berlin" on one of the roads of East Prussia.
Explosion on the tanker "Sassnitz". The tanker with a cargo of fuel was sunk on March 26, 1945, 30 miles from Liepaja by aircraft of the 51st Mine-Torpedo Air Regiment and the 11th Assault Air Division of the Air Force of the Baltic Fleet.
Air Force KBF aircraft bombardment of German transports and port facilities of Pillau.
The German ship-floating base of hydroaviation "Bölke" ("Boelcke"), attacked by the Il-2 squadron of the 7th Guards Assault Aviation Regiment of the Air Force of the Baltic Fleet, 7.5 km southeast of Cape Hel.
Originally posted by chistoprudov at Germany in Russian.
These lands are often called Koenigsbershchina. This is the westernmost and the smallest region in terms of area. Russian Federation. It is located in Central Europe and is separated from the rest of Russia by the territory of other states - Poland in the south and Lithuania in the north and east. A piece of the former Prussia, and then the former Germany, is now a semi-exclave, which is located 400-500 kilometers from Russia.
Here they say: “you are in Russia”, here there are other ideas about distances (which for the locals is “very far”, for many Russians it is a daily road from home to work), here on weekends many go to buy food abroad. Here everything seems to be in Russian, but somehow differently.
Brief historical background:
“At the end of the 19th century, after the division of the Prussian province, East Prussia became an independent province of the German Empire.
After the defeat of Germany in the First World War, under pressure from the victorious countries (USA, France, Great Britain), the country was forced to cede to Poland a number of its territories in the lower reaches of the Vistula River plus a 71-kilometer stretch of the Baltic Sea coast. Thus, Poland gained access to the Baltic Sea and, accordingly, isolated the territory of East Prussia, which turned into a German semi-exclave.
After 1945, by decision Potsdam Conference Prussia was liquidated as public education. East Prussia was divided between the Soviet Union and Poland. Soviet Union one third of East Prussia withdrew along with the capital Königsberg (which was renamed Kaliningrad). With the collapse of the USSR, this region became a semi-exclave territory of the Russian Federation. A small part, which included part of the Curonian Spit, was transferred to the Lithuanian SSR.
All settlements, and many geographic features(rivers, bays of the Baltic Sea) of the former East Prussia were renamed, changing the German names to Russian.
My journey around the Kaliningrad region began with Baltiysk, the westernmost city in Russia, where the largest military base is located. navy on the Baltic Sea. After visiting the destroyer "Restless", I went to car rental and for 1600 rubles I rented a Skoda Octavia for a day. Bloggers from Kaliningrad helped me make a short route around the region. In Kaliningrad itself, I saw almost nothing. Visually, the “scoop” occupied the entire city, and there were almost no beautiful buildings left.
1. Kaliningrad city draft board.
2. Residential building on repair street. One part is German, the other is Soviet.
I drove along Pobedy Avenue, along Kutuzova Street and neighboring lanes, but I couldn’t find anything special without a guide.
3. Gothic against the backdrop of a scoop. The Königsberg Cathedral, built in the Baltic Gothic style (1333), is one of the few Gothic buildings in Russia.
Pre-war photo of the cathedral ()
4. I decided to spend the night in Sovetsk (this is the former Tilsit). A large town and the second largest in terms of population in the Kaliningrad region. 120 km from Kaliningrad.
A single room at the Rossiya Hotel cost me 1,200 rubles, guarded parking - 60 rubles. All night long someone was crying behind the wall.
5. Father Lenin does not understand why his monument stands on the square of a European town. View from the window of my room.
6. Morning in Sovetsk. Departure from the guarded parking lot in the backyard of the hotel. The very center.
7. I drove to the Neman embankment, left the car at the Sovetsk-Panemune checkpoint (international automobile checkpoint between Russia and Lithuania) and went for a walk.
On the left - Russia, on the right, after 300 meters - Lithuania. You can even see the houses.
8. The customs terminal is connected to the Lithuanian coast through the Queen Louise Bridge. Construction of the bridge began in 1904. The width of the river in this place reached 220 meters. The bridge rested on two bulls and the rise of its three arches became the pride of the city. Unfortunately, on October 22, 1944, the engineering units of the Wehrmacht blew up the bridge to delay the advance. Soviet army. The spans of the bridge and its northern portal were destroyed. Only the southern portal of the bridge has been preserved. It is he who is depicted on the coat of arms of Sovetsk and is a symbol of the city.
This is what the bridge looked like before the war:
And this is what the main streets of the city looked like:
9. Now the main street of the city looks like this.
10. What a balcony! What a grid! Everything just needs to be repaired.
11. Beauty!
12. Suddenly, under a layer of asphalt - German paving stones. On many streets it has been preserved - it was laid for centuries. It is a pity that it is not pleasant to drive a car on cobblestones, so it is rolled into asphalt.
13. Some buildings have been restored, but there are few such examples. The house of 1899 should definitely be decorated with a creepy green sign, where without it.
15. Unfortunately, instead of restoring a magnificent building and making it a tourist attraction (as they do in Europe), people use the castle as a support for an external pipeline.
17. Almost all old roads in the region are densely lined with lindens.
18. In Gusev even locals couldn't advise me what to look at. I had to look for myself.
Beautiful building of the former people's bank in the neo-Gothic style. Today it is a dormitory of a plant of lighting fixtures.
19. Incredibly monstrous extension to a wonderful building. So without finding anything interesting, I set off for Chernyakhovsk (former Insterburg).
20. I park next to the building of St. Michael's Church, which used to be a Lutheran church.
22. Church of St. Bruno of Querfurt - a Catholic church in the city center. After the Second World War, the church building was used as a military warehouse until the early 90s, when the heavily damaged building was transferred to the Ministry of Culture for rebuilding into an organ hall. In July 1993, the temple was returned to the Catholic community.
23. Clothes from Europe. The city of Insterburg was founded as a castle in 1336. German knights Teutonic Order during the conquest of Prussia.
24. Many interesting German buildings have been preserved in Chernyakhovsk, it is a pity that they are not in perfect condition.
25. Window frames in the entrances with only one glass (single glass).
26. Exit from the entrance to the street.
27. In Chernyakhovsk he joined me Vasya Maksimov from Reedus. It became more fun.
28. "Basement" and a swastika on the door.
30. Homeless Volodya.
31. Artifact "Construction company H. Osterreut" and "hello from Andrey." This Andrey, who wrote the wonderful inscription, is, of course, incredibly cool.
32. There are three types of buildings in the city:
- old german houses,
- laconic soviet buildings (as in the upper right corner)
33. - and modern freaks.
34. On some streets, bicycle paths are visible under the snow. Now cars are parked on them.
35. The quality and elegance of German and Soviet brickwork.
36. Residents are repairing their apartments as best they can. White plastic windows look like false teeth.
37. Old German water tower built in 1898.
Pre-war photos of the city:
Insterburg Castle. Now there is almost nothing left of it.
38. Not far from the city are a stud farm and the Georgenburg Castle, which was built in 1337 on the high bank of the Inster River. After the War of 1812, the castle was bought by the Simpsons, who came from Scotland and founded a stud farm. In 1899, the Prussian state bought the castle and the estate for three million marks.
After the war, all the horses became our war trophy. On the basis of the former German stud farm "Georgenburg" in 1948, the Chernyakhov State Stable was formed. Since then, the stud farm has been famous far beyond the region.
After the war, a transit camp No. 445 for German prisoners of war was located in the castle, almost 250 thousand people passed through it. After that, the castle was used first as a place of detention, then as an infectious diseases hospital, which lasted until the 70s.
39. The territory of the stud farm.
40. Try to translate the inscription...
41. A typical village of a completely non-Russian look.
43. The final point of our journey was the city of Gerdauen (now Zheleznodorozhny). It is the best example of a city preserved intact with medieval buildings, which are fairly dilapidated and continue to collapse.
45. Several buildings from the 17th century have been preserved. But, alas, they didn't last long.
46. Kids ride downhill against the backdrop of the 15th century Order Church.
48. 15th century!
50. Vasya and I wanted to look at the abandoned Kinderhof brewery, which is now being pulled to the brick, but we were detained by border guards. It turned out that we did not notice the sign that we were entering the border zone. And in two hours we had to return the car at the airport and rush to the return flight ...
We spent 40 minutes at the frontier post, received a warning and rushed back to Kaliningrad. On the way, and like an idiot I flew into a ditch. We were lucky - we were quickly pulled out by a Niva passing by. Thank you kind people!
51. Due to a traffic jam at the local Moscow Ring Road, we barely had time to check in. In the inspection zone, my favorite adjustable wrench was taken away from me, although they let me through at Sheremetyevo. And so ended my journey through Koenigsbershchina.
