Kaliningrad Oblast
Kaliningrad Oblast (Russian: Калининградская область - Kaliningradskaya Oblast) issmall administrative district (see oblast)Russia onBaltic coast,no land connection torestRussia: an exclave. It iswesternmost parcelland belongingRussia. Its largest cityKaliningrad (formerly Königsberg), which has considerable historical significance.
- Population: 1,100,000 (early 2000s); 926,400 (1995)
- Main river: Pregola.
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2 History 3 External links |
Administration
Main articles: ListcitiesKaliningrad OblastThe territory also includesfollowing towns (old namesitalics):
- Baltiysk (Pillau)
- Gvardeisk (Tapiau)
- Znamensk (Welawa, Veluva, Wehlau)
- Slavsk (Jedrzychowo, Heinrichswalde)
- Chernyakhovsk (Wystruc, Isrutis, Intersburg)
- Gusev (Gabin, Gumbine, Gumbinnen)
- Sovyetsk (Tylza, Tilsit)
- Mamonovo (Swieta Siekierka, Sventapilis, Heiligenbeil)
- Bagrationovsk (Ilawka, Prusu Yluva, Preussich Eylau)
- Druzhba (Alembork, Alna, Allenburg)
- Zheleznodorozhny (Gierdawy, Girdava , Gerdauen)
- Primorsk (Rybaki, Fischhausen)
- Ozyersk (Darkiejmy, Darkehmen, Angerapp)
- Krasnolesye (Rominty, Raminta, Gross Rominten)
- Yasnaya Polyana (Trakehnen)
- Krasnoznamensk (Lasdehen, Haselberg)
- Kalinino (Mehlkehmen, Birkenmuehle)
- Chekhovo (Uderwangen)
- Dobrovolsk (Pillkallen)
- Kamenskoe (Saalau)
- Krylovo (Nordenburg)
- Mayovka (Georgenburg)
- Neman (Ragnit)
- Nesterov (Stallupoenen)
- Polessk (Labiau)
- Pravdinsk (Friedland)
- Ushakovo (Brandenburg)
- Zheleznododorozhny (Gerdauen)
History
Before 1945, whatnow Kaliningrad Oblast made upnorthern partEast Prussia fromBaltic Sea toeast upLithuanianorthtoday's Poland. In 1992 Russian President Boris Yeltsin expressed his opinion thatoblast should be givenPoland (as was planned atYalta Conference1945 - originallyGermans werekeep Stettin whilePoles wereget Königsberg). However, when Poland askedNATO accession,offer was dropped. In 2004oblast will become an enclaveanother sense, being surrounded by members ofEuropean Union.
The area aroundcityKaliningrad was completely sealed offfifty years becauseSoviet Union had built huge military installations thereusedharbor asyear round port--it was one offew Soviet ports onBaltic which was operablewinter-time. Withfall ofIron Curtain,enormousness ofinstallations andsheer magnitude ofenvironmental destruction has been exposed.
Indays beforeIron Curtain came down, US television showed news reports fromSoviet Union. These reporters filmedvast acresland filledmilitary equipment aroundharborKaliningrad. They showedtrain depot anddozenstrains that were sitting there, idledweeks or months, filledmaterials, all spoiled. It wassceneearlier massive Soviet Union military build-upnowscenetotal massive breakdown. These surrealistic visions standstark contrast tovanished cityKönigsberg,cityImmanuel Kant andcitykings. AsRussian reporters intended, this showedreal state ofSoviet Union, at that time byCIA still portrayed asmighty enemy ofUSA.
The contamination ofsoil by military occupationanother matter. Incase ofSoviet Union military occupation ofother partGermany,German Democratic Republic GDR,costsenvironmental cleanup sofar run into many billionsDM or dollars. Similar environmental cleanupnecessary around Kaliningrad.
External links
- Official site
- Recent photos taken by Joost LemmensNetherlands gives samplesdestructionsmall towns by neglect underSoviet Union around Kaliningrad Oblast. This site givesPrussian German town names andcorresponding Russian names after 1945/49. It starts out withgate tohorse breeding stablesTrakehnenhopeful signsnew beginningsthis devastated land.
