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103-779: The topography of Klaipėda County is divided into three regions, the highest in the east and lowest in the west: the Western Zemaičiai Plateau in the east, the Western Zemaičiai Plain in the center, and the Pajurys Lowland in the west and on the Baltic coast. Klaipėda County borders Kaliningrad Oblast , Russia, to the south via the Nemunas , which drains into the Curonian Lagoon . The Curonian Spit ,

206-583: A Baltic people that inhabited the region of Prussia , on the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea between the Vistula Lagoon to the west and the Curonian Lagoon to the east. As Balts, they spoke an Indo-European language of the Baltic branch now known as Old Prussian and worshipped pre-Christian deities . Their ethnonym was later adopted by predominantly Low German -speaking inhabitants of

309-502: A UNESCO World Heritage Site , is split between Klaipėda County, Lithuania and Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. The Lithuanian side of the spit is separated from mainland Lithuania via a small opening between Klaipėda and Smiltynė where the Curonian Lagoon drains into the Baltic Sea . Skuodas district is the source of the Šventoji , which flows north into Courland , Latvia, back down into Klaipeda County before draining into

412-603: A Posener or Prussian by dialect and character? Distinct features hardly exist." While the north of East Prussia was overwhelmingly German, the south was majority Slavic and mostly composed of Poles and Masurians . There was also a slight Lithuanian majority in the north-eastern area of East Prussia, Lithuania Minor . Regional and local identities were particularly strong in East Prussia - local Polish population often identified with Masuria rather than Poland, and Prussian Lithuanians also did not actively identify themselves with

515-583: A Prussian tribe) to the east and south-east, the Skalvians to the north, and the Lithuanians to the northeast. The smallest social unit in Baltic lands was the laūks , a word attested in Old Prussian as "field", which were small family oriented settlements, households and the surrounding fields, only separated from one another by uninhabited areas of forest, swamp and marsh. The word appears as

618-517: A breakdown by county. However, the majority of East Prussian Polish and Lithuanian inhabitants were Lutherans , not Catholics like their ethnic kinsmen across the border in the Russian Empire . Only in southern Warmia , Catholic Poles —so called Warmians (not to be confused with predominantly Protestant Masurians )—comprised the majority of population, numbering 26,067 people (~81%) in county Allenstein (Polish: Olsztyn ) in 1837. In

721-494: A climate gradually transitioning from oceanic to humid continental depending on distance from the Baltic Sea moderation. It remains very mild by Russian standards with winters above freezing without the hot summers associated with the Russian interior on similar latitudes. The local climate is slightly wetter than similar latitudes farther west, but infrequent ice days lead to low snow accumulation regardless. Anton Alikhanov

824-482: A dozen or so laukses. Because the Baltic tribes inhabiting Prussia never formed a common political and territorial organisation, they had no reason to adopt a common ethnic or national name. Instead they used the name of the region from which they came – Galindians , Sambians , Bartians , Nadruvians , Natangians , Scalovians , Sudovians , etc. It is not known when and how the first general names came into being. This lack of unity weakened them severely, similar to

927-685: A geographical basis. These were: The Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan (in Anglo-Saxon ) ( English translation ) describes a ninth century voyage by traveller and trader Wulfstan of Hedeby to the land of the Old Prussians. He observed their funeral customs. Characterized as a humble people, who dressed plainly, the Old Prussians were distinguished for their valor and great bodily strength . They generally rejected luxury, yet were very hospitable, and enjoyed celebrating and drinking excessively, usually mead . Wulfstan of Hedeby , who visited

1030-662: A great number of German Catholics, are willing to vote for a Polish party candidate". By the end of the 19th century, East Prussia had a significant Polish minority, and German nationalist circles warned of the prospect of Polonization of East Prussia. The perceived weakness of Germanness of East Prussia was also reinforced by the Ostflucht , as East Prussia suffered from both under-industrialisation and rural overpopulation. After 1876, farm prices in East Prussia fell by 20 percent, which encouraged local landowners to hire foreign workers from Congress Poland , incidentally strengthening

1133-576: A household was the buttataws (literally, the house father , from buttan , meaning home , and taws , meaning father ). Larger political and territorial organisations, called terrula in Latin (a small land), existed in the early 13th century in the territories which later comprised Prussia, Latvia and Lithuania and centred on strongholds or hill forts. Such a political territorial unit covered up to 300 km (120 sq mi) and could have up to 2,000 inhabitants. They were known as pulka , comprising

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1236-405: A lack of confirmation about their original location and context, all subsequent questions on their age, the chronology of the objects, an exact definition of their function, their provenance, pointing to which cultural influence have not been addressed until the late 19th century. A majority of past and present researchers agree the babas were created between the 8th and 13th centuries as a "result of

1339-467: A lesser extent also Ukrainians and Belarusians. Some historians speculate that it may have originally been offered to the Lithuanian SSR because the resolution from the conference specifies that Kaliningrad's border would be at the (pre-war) Lithuanian frontier. According to some historians , Joseph Stalin created it as an oblast separate from the Lithuanian SSR because it further separated

1442-421: A long cultural process among the population of early Iron Age area of the south-eastern Baltic coast, which was affected by both the early traditions of the local craft and inspirations from countries already under Christian influence." Because they did not know God, therefore, in their error, they worshipped every creature as divine, namely the sun, moon and stars, thunder, birds, even four-legged animals, even

1545-655: A major rebellion in 1286, were defeated by the Teutonic Knights. In 1283, according to the chronicler of the Teutonic Knights, Peter of Dusburg, the conquest of the Prussians ended and the war with the Lithuanians began. In 1243, papal legate William of Modena divided Prussia into four bishoprics – Culm , Pomesania , Ermland , and Samland – under the Bishopric of Riga . Prussians were baptised at

1648-443: A male head of the family and centred on strongholds or hill forts. The supreme power resided in general gatherings of all adult males, who discussed important matters concerning the community and elected the leader and chief; the leader was responsible for the supervision of the everyday matters, while the chief (the rikīs ) was in charge of the road and watchtower building, and border defense, undertaken by Vidivarii . The head of

1751-658: A monument to Stalin stood on Victory Square. In 1973, the town hall was turned into the House of Soviets. In 1975, the trolleybus was launched again. In 1980, a concert hall was opened in the building of the former Lutheran Church of the Holy Family. In 1986, the Kreuzkirche building was transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1957, an agreement was signed and later came into force which delimited

1854-482: A power-sharing treaty with the federal government, granting them autonomy. However, this agreement was abolished on 31 May 2002. After 1991, some ethnic Germans emigrated to the area, such as Volga Germans from other parts of Russia and Kazakhstan . These Germans are overwhelmingly Russian-speaking and as such were rejected for resettlement within Germany under Germany's new rules. A similar migration by Poles from

1957-575: A segment in Baltic settlement names, especially in Curonian , and is found in Old Prussian placenames such as in Stablack , from stabs (stone) + laūks (field, thus stone field ). The plural is not attested in Old Prussian, but the Lithuanian plural of laukas ("field") is laukai . A laūks was also formed by a group of farms, that shared economic interests and a desire for safety, ruled by

2060-468: A soul and an afterlife, and practiced ancestor worship . Some authors, by contrast, have argued for a well developed, sophisticated Old Prussian polytheism with a clearly defined pantheon of gods. The highest priest Kriwe-Kriwajto was to be in permanent connection with the spirits of the dead ancestors. He lived in a sacred grove, the Romove , a place off limit for anyone but elite clergy. Each district

2163-712: Is adjacent to the Baltic Sea should pass from a point on the eastern shore of the Bay of Danzig to the east, north of Braunsberg  – Goldep , to the meeting point of the frontiers of Lithuania , the Polish Republic and East Prussia . The Conference has agreed in principle to the proposal of the Soviet Government concerning the ultimate transfer to the Soviet Union of the city of Koenigsberg and

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2266-625: Is found in the Bavarian Geographer . In Tacitus' Germania , the Lugii Buri are mentioned living within the eastern range of the Germans. Lugi may descend from Pokorny's *leug- (2), "black, swamp" (Page 686), while Buri is perhaps the root on which the toponym "Prussia" is based. The name of Pameddi , the ( Pomesania ) tribe, is derived from the words pa ("by" or "near") and median ("forest"), which can be traced to

2369-544: Is the 230 m (750 ft) Gora Dozor hill near the tripoint of the Poland–Russia border / Lithuania–Russia border . As a semi-exclave of Russia, it is surrounded by Poland ( Pomeranian and Warmian-Masurian Voivodeships ), Lithuania ( Klaipėda , Marijampolė , and Tauragė Counties ) and the Baltic Sea. The end of the river Neman forms part of the Lithuania–Russia border . Notable geographical features include

2472-546: Is the westernmost federal subject of the Russian Federation , in Central and Eastern Europe . It is a semi-exclave situated on the Baltic Sea . The oblast is surrounded by two European Union and NATO members: Poland to the south and Lithuania to the north and east. The largest city and administrative centre of the province ( oblast ) is the city of Kaliningrad , formerly known as Königsberg . Half of

2575-597: The Archbishopric of Magdeburg , while Germans and Dutch settlers colonized the lands of the native Prussians; Poles and Lithuanians also settled in southern and eastern Prussia, respectively. Significant pockets of Old Prussians were left in a matrix of Germans throughout Prussia and in what is now the Kaliningrad Oblast . The monks and scholars of the Teutonic Order took an interest in

2678-447: The Bavarian Geographer in the ninth century. More extensive mention of the Old Prussians in historical sources is in connection with Adalbert of Prague , who was sent by Bolesław I of Poland . Adalbert was slain in 997 during a missionary effort to Christianize the Prussians. As soon as the first Polish dukes had been established with Mieszko I in 966, they undertook a number of conquests and crusades not only against Prussians and

2781-955: The Curonian Lagoon (shared with Lithuania) and the Vistula Lagoon (shared with Poland). The oblast's largest river is the Pregolya . The river starts as a confluence of the Instruch and the Angrapa and drains into the Baltic Sea through the Vistula Lagoon. Its length, strictly under the name "Pregolya", is 123 km (76 mi); when including the Angrapa, is it 292 km (181 mi) long. Major cities and towns include: † Pre-1946 (the German-language names were also used in English in this period) Kaliningrad Oblast has

2884-529: The Kaliningrad Oblast in Russia and the southern Klaipėda Region in Lithuania . The territory was also inhabited by Scalovians , a tribe related to the Prussians, Curonians and Eastern Balts. "Prussians" is an exonym for these peoples, i.e., they did not refer to themselves with this word. The words "Prussians/Prussia" may originate from toponymy , as the word Prūsas (a Prussian) can be derived from

2987-599: The Potsdam Agreement of 1 August 1945, the city became part of the Soviet Union pending the final determination of territorial borders at an anticipated peace settlement. This final determination eventually took place on 12 September 1990 when the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany was signed. The excerpt from the initial agreement pertaining to the partition of East Prussia, including

3090-701: The Proto-Indo-European adjective *médʰyos 'middle'. Nadruvia may be a compound of the words na ("by" or "on") and drawē ("wood"). The name of the Bartians , a Prussian tribe, and the name of the Bārta river in Latvia are possibly cognates . In the second century AD, the geographer Claudius Ptolemy listed some Borusci living in European Sarmatia (in his Eighth Map of Europe ), which

3193-646: The Sirgune River and the Prussians suffered a decisive defeat. The Prussians took the Christian bishop and imprisoned him for several years. Numerous knights from throughout Catholic Europe joined in the Prussian Crusades , which lasted sixty years. Many of the native Prussians from Sudovia who survived were resettled in Samland ; Sudauer Winkel was named after them. Frequent revolts , including

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3296-567: The Stutthof concentration camp , the Oflag 52, Oflag 60 and Dulag Luft prisoner-of-war camps , and a camp for Romani people in Königsberg (see Romani Holocaust ). On 29 August 1944, Soviet troops reached the border of East Prussia. By January 1945, they had taken all of East Prussia except for the area around Königsberg. Many inhabitants fled west at this time. During the last days of

3399-536: The 19th century, East Prussia was commonly viewed by German commentators as culturally backwards and a part of the "German mission in the East" rather than a core German territory. Pan-Germanist politician Ernst Hasse criticised the lack of folk identity and imagined community : "It is the case that there is almost no common folk identity [Landsmannschaften] among the Poseners and Prussians at all. [...] Who can recognise

3502-542: The Baltic Sea at the coastal settlement of Šventoji . Being the only county on Lithuania's Baltic coast, Klaipėda County is distinguished by its maritime climate. There is little variation in mean daily temperature. On average, winters are relatively warmer and summers are relatively cooler than the rest of Lithuania. Storms and foggy spells are frequent in winter. In locations throughout the county, annual precipitation rates can reach as high as 876 mm per year. Municipalities are: As of 2020, Klaipėda County's population

3605-536: The Baltic Sea coast and east of the Vistula estuary. It has been suggested that the name Aesti could be etymologically related to the modern toponym Estonia . On the other hand, the Old Prussian and modern Lithuanian names for localities, such as the Vistula Lagoon , Aīstinmari and Aistmarės , respectively, also appear to derive from Aesti and mari (" lagoon " or "fresh-water bay"), which suggests that

3708-585: The Baltic states from the West. Others think that the reason was that the region was far too strategic for the USSR to leave it in the hands of another SSR other than the Russian one. In the 1950s, Nikita Khrushchev offered the entire Kaliningrad Oblast to the Lithuanian SSR but Antanas Sniečkus refused to accept the territory because it would add at least a million ethnic Russians to Lithuania proper. In

3811-636: The Duchy of Prussia and unofficially in the Polish province of Royal Prussia , while Catholicism survived in the Prince-Bishopric of Warmia , the territory of secular rule comprising a third of the then Diocese of Warmia . With Protestantism came the use of the vernacular in church services instead of Latin , so Albert had the Catechisms translated into Old Prussian. Because of the conquest of

3914-535: The French. The Court of Prussia fled to Königsberg, asking for Russian help. Russia intervened, leading to the bloody Battle of Eylau and Battle of Friedland in 1807. Following a French victory in the latter, both sides signed the Treaties of Tilsit . In 1817, East Prussia had 796,204 Protestants , 120,123 Catholics , 2,389 Jews , and 864 Mennonites . In 1824, shortly before its merger with West Prussia ,

4017-552: The Germans fail. Moreover, both these national minorities in East Prussia are bound to the soil by centuries of tradition: they are not comparative new-comers like the majority of the Germans there. For these reasons, the Poles and Lithuanians in that province hardly ever emigrate from the land of their birth, especially as the emigration in question is not so attractive for them as for the Germans: proceeding to central or western Germany,

4120-510: The Germans to send many troops to their East provinces. Later, Hindenburg and Ludendorff pushed Russia back at the battle of Tannenberg , thereby liberating East Prussia from Russian troops. Yet Russian troops remained in the easternmost part of the region until early 1915. During World War II, the Hohenbruch concentration camp  [ de ] was operated at modern Gromovo mostly for Polish prisoners, as well as several subcamps of

4223-475: The Germans, and rarely emigrated. Discussing the situation in East Prussia, Polish geographer Stanisław Srokowski remarked: The Poles who live in the southern and western parts of East Prussia and the Lithuanians of the north-west have succeeded better than the Germans in reconciling their mode of life with their earnings. This has, of course, led to a lower standard of life, but it has enabled them to adapt themselves to actual conditions and even to prosper where

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4326-514: The Iron Age (5th century BC – 1st century AD), the western Baltic kurgan and barrow culture was widespread among the Old Prussians. It was then that cremation in urns appeared. Grave mounds were raised over stone cells for up to 30 urns, or stone boxes for the urns were buried in Bronze Age style barrows. During the early phase of imperial Rome, shallow graves appeared in which the corpse

4429-573: The Just invaded Prussia, this time along the river Drewenz ( Drwęca ). He forced some of the Prussian tribes to pay tribute and then withdrew. Several attacks by Konrad of Masovia in the early 13th century were also successfully repelled by the Prussians. In 1209 Pope Innocent III commissioned the Cistercian monk Christian of Oliva with the conversion of the pagan Prussians. In 1215, Christian

4532-624: The Kaliningrad Oblast used to be inhabited by the Old Prussians and other Western Balts , prior to the Teutonic conquest in the early Late Middle Ages . Afterwards, it was settled by Germans (especially the western part), Lithuanians (especially Lithuania Minor ) and Poles (especially Königsberg , Polish : Królewiec , and the current southern border strip). The Old Prussians became extinct due to Germanisation in

4635-614: The Kingdom of Prussia and annex the territory, which was then to be offered to Poland as part of a territorial exchange desired by Russia. The territory was occupied and annexed by Russia in 1758 during the Seven Years' War before being returned to Prussia in 1762 when Russia switched sides in the war . It was then reorganized into the province of East Prussia within the Kingdom of Prussia in 1773. The current oblast also contains

4738-486: The Lithuanian military threat. In 1454, following a request by the anti-Teutonic Prussian Confederation , the territory was incorporated to the Kingdom of Poland by King Casimir IV Jagiellon , an event that sparked the Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466) . After Poland's victory in the war with the Second Peace of Thorn , the State of the Teutonic Order became a vassal of Poland, also considered an integral part of "one and indivisible" Kingdom of Poland. During this war,

4841-414: The Lithuanian nation. Moreover, confessional identity often prevailed over the national one - German authorities were concerned about the "Catholic-Polish axis"; German Catholics were alienated from the German nation because of the Kulturkampf legislation, and tended to support the Polish national movement. An East German newspaper Thorner Zeitung reported in 1871 that "not only Polish Catholics, but also

4944-450: The Polish element in the region. The increased Slavic immigration to the region generated by the requirement of the Junkers for cheap labour and better economic conditions in West Germany caused many German inhabitants to leave the region. Most Germans moved to work in the industrial heartland of western Germany, while others migrated abroad. Poles and Lithuanians of East Prussia also had much higher birth-rate and natural increase rates than

5047-414: The Popes, but also under the control of the empire, took control of much of the Baltic, establishing their own monastic state in Prussia. In 1230, following the Golden Bull of Rimini , Grand Master Hermann von Salza and Duke Konrad I of Masovia launched the Prussian Crusade , a joint invasion of Prussia to Christianise the Baltic Old Prussians. The Order then created the independent Monastic State of

5150-419: The Prussians. In 1224, Emperor Frederick II proclaimed that he himself and the Empire took the population of Prussia and the neighboring provinces under their direct protection; the inhabitants were declared to be Reichsfreie , to be subordinated directly to the Church and the Empire only, and exempted from service to and the jurisdiction of other dukes. The Teutonic Order , officially subject directly to

5253-433: The Soviet era, the city was completely closed and, with the exception of rare visits of friendship from neighboring Poland, it was practically not visited by foreigners. In 1950, there were 1,165,000 inhabitants, which was only half the number of the pre-war population. The old city was not restored, and the ruins of the Königsberg Castle were demolished in the late 1960s, on Leonid Brezhnev 's personal orders, despite

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5356-415: The Teutonic Knights and received help from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the 13th century in their quest to free themselves of the military order. In 1525 Grand Master Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach secularized the Order's Prussian territories into the Protestant Duchy of Prussia , a vassal of the crown of Poland. During the Reformation , Lutheranism spread throughout the territories, officially in

5459-504: The Teutonic Knights in the conquered territory and subsequently conquered Courland, Livonia, and Estonia. The Dukes of Poland accused the Order of holding lands illegally. During an attack on Prussia in 1233, over 21,000 crusaders took part, of which the burggrave of Magdeburg brought 5,000 warriors, Duke Henry of Silesia 3,000, Duke Konrad of Masovia 4,000, Duke Casimir of Kuyavia 2,000, Duke Wladyslaw of Greater Poland 2,200 and Dukes of Pomerania 5,000 warriors. The main battle took place at

5562-411: The Teutonic Order founded the city of Königsberg (modern Kaliningrad), naming it in honour of Ottokar II of Bohemia . The Northern Crusades , including the Lithuanian Crusade , were partly motivated by colonization . The German colonist peasants, craftsmen, and merchants were predominantly concentrated in the southern part of the Teutonic State and did not move into Nadruvia and Skalvia due to

5665-405: The Teutonic Order's Prussian branch and established himself as ruler of the Duchy of Prussia , the first Protestant state in Europe. Königsberg was the residence of the Duke of Prussia from 1525 until 1701, and was the Duchy of Prussia's capital until 1660, when the capital moved to Berlin . Polish and Lithuanian culture blossomed in Königsberg, with the city being the place of publication of

5768-444: The USSR Mikhail Kalinin . Kalinin was unrelated to the city, and there were already cities named in honour of Kalinin in the Soviet Union, namely Kalinin (now Tver) and Kaliningrad (now Korolev, Moscow Oblast ). The German language was replaced with the Russian language, and the remaining German population was expelled between 1947 and 1948. The territory was then re-populated with Soviet citizens , mostly ethnic Russians but to

5871-414: The area adjacent to it as described above, subject to expert examination of the actual frontier. U.S. president Harry Truman and British prime minister Clement Attlee supported the proposal of the Conference at the forthcoming peace settlement. In 1946, Königsberg was added as a semi-exclave to the Russian SFSR and renamed Kaliningrad, after the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of

5974-402: The area around the lagoon had links with the Aesti . The original settlers tended to name their assets after surrounding localities (streams, lakes, seas, forests, etc.). The clan or tribal entity into which their descendants later were organized continued to use the names. This source is perhaps the one used in the very name of Prusa (Prussia), for which an earlier Latin-language word Bruzi

6077-404: The area surrounding Königsberg, is as follows (note that Königsberg is spelt "Koenigsberg" in the original document): VI. CITY OF KOENIGSBERG AND THE ADJACENT AREA The Conference examined a proposal by the Soviet Government that pending the final determination of territorial questions at the peace settlement, the section of the western frontier of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics which

6180-429: The border between the Polish People's Republic (a Soviet satellite state at the time) and the Soviet Union. In 2010, the German magazine Der Spiegel published a report claiming that Kaliningrad had been offered to Germany in 1990 (against payment). The offer was not seriously considered by the West German government which, at the time, saw reunification with East Germany as a higher priority. However, this story

6283-410: The capital of the Teutonic state was moved from Marienburg (now Malbork ) to Königsberg in 1457. When the rulers of the Prussia were vassals of the King of Poland from 1466 to 1660, there were few German colonists. After the Teutonic Order lost the war of 1519–1521 with Poland , the Teutonic Order remained a vassal of the Kingdom of Poland. In 1525, Grand Master Albert of Brandenburg secularized

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6386-415: The change is that Mikhail Kalinin , a member of the Soviet Politburo , was among those responsible for the Katyn massacre , having co-signed the order to murder thousands of Polish prisoners of war. Kaliningrad is the only Russian Baltic Sea port that is ice-free all year and hence plays an important role in the maintenance of the country's Baltic Fleet. The oblast is mainly flat, as the highest point

6489-441: The closely related Sudovians , but against the Pomeranians and Wends as well. Beginning in 1147, the Polish duke Bolesław IV the Curly (securing the help of Ruthenian troops) tried to subdue Prussia, supposedly as punishment for the close cooperation of Prussians with Władysław II the Exile . The only source is unclear about the results of his attempts, vaguely only mentioning that the Prussians were defeated. Whatever were

6592-406: The condition of Germany during the Middle Ages . According to Jan Długosz , the Prussians, Samogitians , and Lithuanians were the same tribe. The Prussian tribal structure is well attested in the Chronicon terrae Prussiae of contemporary author Peter of Dusburg , a chronicler of the Teutonic Order . The work is dated to 1326. He lists eleven lands and ten tribes, which were named on

6695-462: The context of the Reformation . Cassiodorus ' Variae , published in 537, contains a letter written by Cassiodorus in the name of Theodoric the Great , addressed to the Aesti : It is gratifying to us to know that you have heard of our fame, and have sent ambassadors who have passed through so many strange nations to seek our friendship. We have received the amber which you have sent us. You say that you gather this lightest of all substances from

6798-401: The eastern Balts, was much larger than in historical times. The archaeological documentation and associated finds confirm uninterrupted presence from the Iron Age (fifth century BC) to the successive conquest by Slavic tribes, beginning in the Migration Period . Permanent recorded Baltic history begins in the 10th century with the failed Christianisation by Adalbert of Prague (997 AD),

6901-446: The first Polish and Lithuanian-language cathechisms (by Jan Seklucjan and Martynas Mažvydas ), the first Polish translation of the New Testament , Grammatica Litvanica , the first Lithuanian grammar book, and the Albertina University being the second oldest university of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , after receiving a royal privilege from King Sigismund II Augustus in 1560. Polish printing continued for centuries with

7004-432: The first conquest attempts at the expense of the Old Prussians by the duchy of the Polans under Mieszko I and the Duchy of Greater Poland under his son Bolesław , as a number of border areas were eventually lost. Around the year 1,000 AD, the Kashubians and Pomeranians lived to the west of the Old Prussians, the Poles to the south, the Sudovians (sometimes considered a separate people, other times regarded as

7107-418: The first half of the 18th century. The Lithuanian-inhabited areas of the Teutonic State were known as Lithuania Minor , which encompassed all of modern Kaliningrad Oblast until the 18th century. In the 13th century, the Teutonic Order conquered the region and established the State of the Teutonic Order , a theocracy . In 1255, on the foundations of a destroyed Sambian settlement known as Tvanksta ,

7210-412: The following two centuries. The Old Prussian language , documented only in a limited way, was effectively extinct by the 18th century. The original territory of the Old Prussians prior to the first clashes with the Polans consisted of central and southern West and East Prussia , equivalent to parts of the modern areas of the Pomeranian Voivodeship and Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in Poland ,

7313-519: The former would really be going to a foreign country, amongst people not speaking their language and having other customs than theirs. The Memel Territory ( Klaipėda region ), formerly part of northeastern East Prussia as well as Prussian Lithuania, was annexed by Lithuania in 1923. In 1938, Nazi Germany radically renamed about a third of the place names of this area, replacing Old Prussian and Lithuanian names with newly invented German names. In September 1914, after hostilities began between Germany on

7416-490: The goods being imported into Kaliningrad by rail. Food, medicine, and passenger travel were exempted. Russia protested against the sanctions and announced it would increase shipments by sea. In May 2023, Poland officially adopted a new name for the Kaliningrad region, changing it from "Obwód Kaliningradzki" to "Obwód Królewiecki", Królewiec being the historical Polish name for the city of Kaliningrad. The reason given for

7519-414: The husband's table. Commercial marriage was widespread and after the husband's death, the widow fell to the son, like other inheritance. Polygyny, up to three wives, was widespread. Adultery was a serious crime, punishable with death. After the submission, commercial marriage and polygyny were forbidden. According to archaeological evidence, pre-Christian burial customs changed over the centuries. During

7622-805: The lands of the former Soviet Union to the Kaliningrad Oblast occurred at this time as well. The situation has begun to change, albeit slowly. Germany, Lithuania, and Poland have renewed contact with Kaliningrad Oblast, through town twinning and other projects. This has helped to promote interest in the history and culture of the East Prussian and Lietuvininkai communities. In July 2007, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov declared that if US-controlled missile defense systems were deployed in Poland, then nuclear weapons might be deployed in Kaliningrad. On 5 November 2008, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said that installing missiles in Kaliningrad

7725-488: The language spoken by the Prussians and tried to record it. In addition, missionaries needed to communicate with the Prussians in order to convert them. Records of the Old Prussian language therefore survive; along with little-known Galindian and better-known Sudovian , these records are all that remain of the West Baltic language group. As might be expected, it is a very archaic Baltic language. Old Prussians resisted

7828-576: The last Polish publication in 1931. In 1577, the Duke of Prussia forbade serfs —who were mostly Old Prussians, Lithuanians, and Masurians —to leave the land that was the property of the German knights who became proprietary nobles. In 1618, the Duchy merged with the Margraviate of Brandenburg to form Brandenburg-Prussia , remaining under Polish suzerainty until 1660. There was strong opposition to

7931-481: The margin of sea, and further purified by the rolling of the tides, it is at length transported to your shores to be cast upon them. We have thought it better to point this out to you, lest you should imagine that your supposed secrets have escaped our knowledge . We sent you some presents by our ambassadors, and shall be glad to receive further visits from you by the road which you have thus opened up , and to show you future favors. The Old Prussians are called Brus by

8034-549: The now abandoned village of Narmeln (Polish: Polski ), which was not part of Ducal Prussia, but of the Pomeranian Voivodeship of the Kingdom of Poland until its annexation by the Kingdom of Prussia the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, and is thus part of the historic region of Pomerania . After the defeats of Jena–Auerstedt , the Kingdom of Prussia was invaded and Berlin was occupied by

8137-404: The old paganism lived on cannot be inferred from the sources. Pagan customs are said to have lasted the longest with the remote Sudauers . In the 16th century, the so-called Sudovian Book ( Sudauerbüchlein ) was created, which described a list of gods, "pagan" festivals and goat sanctification. However, researchers argue that this little book misinterpreted traditional folk customs as 'pagan' in

8240-555: The one hand and France and Russia on the other, the German Army was about to seize Paris, and the French urged Russia to attack East Prussia. Nicholas II launched a major attack, resulting in a Russian victory in the Battle of Gumbinnen . The Russian army arrived at the outskirts of the city of Königsberg but did not take it and settled at Insterburg . This Russian victory and East Prussia's occupation by Russia saved Paris by forcing

8343-444: The population of East Prussia was 1,080,000 people. According to Karl Andree , Germans were slightly more than half of the people, while 280,000 (~26%) were ethnically Polish and 200,000 (~19%) were ethnically Lithuanian . As of 1819, there were also 20,000-strong ethnic Curonian and Latvian minorities as well as 2,400 Jews , according to Georg Hassel. Similar numbers are given by August von Haxthausen in his 1839 book, with

8446-618: The population of the oblast lives in Kaliningrad City proper. The port city of Baltiysk is Russia's only port on the Baltic Sea that remains ice-free in winter. Kaliningrad Oblast had a population of roughly 1 million in the Russian Census of 2021 . The area of Kaliningrad oblast is 15,125 square kilometers (5,840 square miles). The territory was formerly the northern part of the Prussian province of East Prussia ;

8549-460: The protests of architects, historians and residents of the city. The reconstruction of the oblast, threatened by hunger in the immediate post-war years, was carried out through an ambitious policy of oceanic fishing with the creation of one of the main fishing harbours of the USSR in Kaliningrad city. Fishing not only fed the regional economy but also was a basis for social and scientific development, in particular oceanography. From 1953 to 1962,

8652-582: The region and the rest of Russia now must pass through members of NATO and the EU. Thus far, the EU has rejected Russian proposals for visa-free travel between Kaliningrad and the rest of Russia. Travel arrangements based on the Facilitated Transit Document (FTD) and Facilitated Rail Transit Document (FRTD) have been made. Kaliningrad Oblast's geographic isolation has badly affected its economic situation. Concurrent significant reduction in

8755-522: The region. The duchy of the Polans under Mieszko I , which was the predecessor of the Kingdom of Poland , first attempted to conquer and baptize the Baltic tribes during the 10th century, but repeatedly encountered strong resistance. Not until the 13th century were the Old Prussians subjugated and their lands conquered by the Teutonic Order . The remaining Old Prussians were assimilated during

8858-654: The remaining southern part of the province is today part of the Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship in Poland. With the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II , the territory was annexed to the Russian SFSR by the Soviet Union . Following the post-war migration and flight and expulsion of Germans , the territory was populated with Soviet citizens, mostly Russians . The territory of what is now

8961-543: The results, in 1157 some Prussian troops supported the Polish army in their fight against Emperor Frederick Barbarossa . In 1166, two Polish dukes, Bolesław IV and his younger brother Henry , came into Prussia, again over the Ossa River. The prepared Prussians led the Polish army, under the leadership of Henry, into an area of marshy morass. Whoever did not drown was felled by an arrow or by throwing clubs, and nearly all Polish troops perished. From 1191 to 1193 Casimir II

9064-622: The same ceremony they still also pledged allegiance to Poland. In 1724, King Frederick William I of Prussia prohibited Poles , Samogitians and Jews from settling in Lithuania Minor, and initiated German colonization to change the region's ethnic composition. In 1734–1736, Königsberg was the place of stay of Polish King Stanisław Leszczyński during the War of the Polish Succession . In 1756 Russia decided to go to war with

9167-443: The separation of the region from Poland, especially in Königsberg. A confederation was formed in the city to maintain Poland's sovereignty over the city and region. The Brandenburg Elector and his army, however, entered the city and abducted and imprisoned the leader of the city's anti-Elector opposition Hieronymus Roth . In 1663, the city burghers, forced by Elector Frederick William , swore an oath of allegiance to him, however, in

9270-460: The shores of ocean, but how it comes thither you know not. But as an author named Cornelius (Tacitus) informs us, it is gathered in the innermost islands of the ocean, being formed originally of the juice of a tree (whence its name succinum), and gradually hardened by the heat of the sun. Thus it becomes an exuded metal, a transparent softness, sometimes blushing with the color of saffron, sometimes glowing with flame-like clearness. Then, gliding down to

9373-470: The size of the Russian military garrison has hurt as well, since previously the military was a major local employer. Some of the region's cultural heritage, most notably the Königsberg Cathedral , was restored in the 1990s, as citizens started to examine previously ignored German past. On 12 January 1996, Kaliningrad Oblast and Sverdlovsk Oblast became the first oblasts of Russia to sign

9476-557: The term for a body of water, an understandable convention in a coastal region dotted with thousands of lakes, streams and swamps ( Masuria ). To the south, the terrain runs into the vast wetlands of the Pripet Marshes at the headwaters of the Dnieper River , which has been an effective natural barrier throughout the millennia. Writing in 98 CE, Roman historian Tacitus described the pagan Aesti who lived somewhere by

9579-448: The toad. They also had forests, fields and bodies of water, which they held so sacred that they neither chopped wood nor dared to cultivate fields or fish in them. Baltic paganism has been described as a form of polydoxy , a belief in the sacredness of all natural forces and phenomena, not personified but possessing their own spirits and magical powers. They thought the world inhabited by a limitless number of spirits and demons, believed in

9682-483: The trading town of Truso at the Vistula Lagoon , observed that wealthy people drank fermented mare's milk kumis instead of mead . According to Adam of Bremen, the Sambians are said to have consumed horse blood as well as horse milk. He also mentions that horse meat was eaten. Women held no powerful positions among the Old Prussians and, according to Peter von Dusburg, were treated like servants, forbidden to share

9785-413: The war, over two million people fled, anticipating imminent Red Army conquest, and were evacuated by sea . Initially, at the end of World War II in 1945, the current southern border strip passed under Polish control with Polish administration organized in the towns of Gierdawy and Iławka , however, the area was eventually annexed by the Soviet Union and included within the Kaliningrad Oblast. Under

9888-552: Was 319,958. Approximately 69% is urban, while the remaining 30% are rural. It is the third most populous county in Lithuania. As of 2020, approximately 52% of people are female and 47% are male. The ethnic composition in 2001 was: 55°41′54″N 21°08′49″E  /  55.69833°N 21.14694°E  / 55.69833; 21.14694 Kaliningrad Oblast Kaliningrad Oblast ( Russian : Калининградская область , romanized :  Kaliningradskaya oblastʹ )

9991-555: Was almost a certainty. These plans were suspended in January 2009, but implemented in October 2016. In 2011, a long-range Voronezh radar was commissioned to monitor missile launches within about 6,000 km (3,700 mi). The radar is situated in the settlement of Pionersky in Kaliningrad Oblast. A few months after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine , Lithuania started implementing EU sanctions , which blocked about 50% of

10094-553: Was buried in tree coffins. Cremation with urns spread from the third century onwards. Except for the Samians and Sudauers, where shallow grave fields existed until Christianization, cremation pits without urns increasingly became the only form of burials among the Prussians. However, different forms of burial could occur side by side at the same time. The Stone babas , found all over Old Prussia, have for centuries caused considerable speculation and dissent among scholars. Beginning with

10197-439: Was governor of Kaliningrad Oblast from 2017 until May 2024, when he was appointed as Minister of Industry and Trade. The region's legislative body is the 40-seat Kaliningrad Oblast Duma. As of the 2021 census , the population of the oblast was 1,027,678. Earlier censuses recorded a population of 955,281 in 2002 and 871,283 in 1989 . Old Prussians Old Prussians , Baltic Prussians or simply Prussians were

10300-481: Was headed by its Kriwe , who also served as lawgiver and judge. The Kriwe-Kriwajto's next in rank, the Siggonen were expected to maintain the healthy spiritual connection with natural sacred sites, like springs and trees. The Wurskaiten – priests of lower rank – were supposed to superintend rites and ceremonies. With the submission to the Teutonic Order in 1231, the Old Prussians were Christianised . How long

10403-502: Was installed as the first bishop of Prussia. The Duchy of Masovia, and especially the region of Culmerland , become the object of constant Prussian counter-raids. In response, Konrad I of Masovia called on the Pope for aid several times, and founded a military order (the Order of Dobrzyń ) before calling on the Teutonic Order . The results were edicts calling for Northern Crusades against

10506-508: Was later denied by Mikhail Gorbachev . The independence of Lithuania in 1990 and full dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 isolated Kaliningrad from the rest of Russia, having previously been joined by other Soviet republics. This isolation became more severe when both Poland and Lithuania joined NATO and the European Union and imposed strict border controls on Kaliningrad Oblast. All military and civilian land links between

10609-665: Was separated from Germania by the Vistula Flumen . His map is very confusing in that region, but the Borusci seem further east than the Prussians, which would have been under the Gythones ( Goths ) at the mouth of the Vistula. The Aesti recorded by Tacitus , were 450 years later recorded by Jordanes as part of the Gothic Empire. The original Old Prussian settlement area in the western Baltics, as well as that of

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