Everything about K Nigsberg totally explained
Königsberg (;
Low German:
Königsbarg; ; see also ) was the
capital of
eastern Prussia from the
Late Middle Ages until 1945. Founded by the
Teutonic Knights just south of the
Sambian peninsula in 1255 during the
Northern Crusades, the
city successively became the capital of their
monastic state, the
Duchy of Prussia, and East Prussia. The
Baltic port developed into a
German cultural center, being the residence of, among others,
Immanuel Kant,
E. T. A. Hoffmann, and
David Hilbert.
Königsberg was heavily damaged by
Allied bombing in 1944 during
World War II, and was subsequently conquered by the
Red Army after the
Battle of Königsberg in 1945. The city was annexed by the
Soviet Union according to the post-war
Potsdam Agreement and largely repopulated with
Russians. Briefly
Russified as Кёнигсберг (Kyonigsberg), it was renamed
Kaliningrad in 1946 after Soviet leader
Mikhail Kalinin. The city is now the capital of
Russia's
Kaliningrad Oblast.
History
Teutonic Order
The later location of Königsberg was preceded by an
Old Prussian fort known as
Twangste (
Tuwangste,
Tvankste) as well as several Prussian settlements. During the conquest of the Prussian
Sambians by the
Teutonic Knights in 1255, Twangste was destroyed and replaced with a new fortress known as
Conigsberg. Its name meant "King's Mountain", honoring King
Ottokar II of Bohemia, who paid for the erection of the first fortress there during the
Prussian Crusade. Near this new
Königsberg Castle developed the towns of
Altstadt (Old Town),
Kneiphof, and
Löbenicht along the
Pregel River, roughly 4.5 miles from the
Vistula Lagoon. Altstadt was founded in 1256 on the Steindamm (now Leninprospekt), while Kneiphof developed on an island of the same name (now Kant Island) in the Pregel. To the east of the other two towns was Löbenicht, lying between the Schlossteich and the new Pregel.
The Teutonic Order used Königsberg to fortify their conquests in Samland and as a base for campaigns against pagan
Lithuania.
Under siege during the
Prussian uprisings in 1262–63, Königsberg was relieved by the Master of the
Livonian Order. After being destroyed by the Prussians during the rebellion, Altstadt was rebuilt in the valley below the castle hill. Altstadt received
Culm rights in 1286, while Kneiphof received its charter in 1327.
Within the
monastic state of the Teutonic Knights, Königsberg was the residence of the marshal, one of the chief administrators of the military order. The city was also the seat of the
Bishopric of Samland, one of the four
dioceses into which
Prussia had been divided in 1243 by the
papal legate,
William of Modena.
Adalbert of Prague became the main
patron saint of
Königsberg Cathedral, a landmark of the city located in Kneiphof.
Königsberg became a member of the
Hanseatic League in 1340 and developed into an important port for the southeastern Baltic region, trading goods throughout Prussia, the
Kingdom of Poland, and the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The chronicler
Peter of Dusburg probably wrote his
Chronicon terrae Prussiae in Königsberg from 1324–1330. After the Teutonic Order's victory over pagan
Lithuanians in the 1348
Battle of Strawen, Grand Master
Winrich von Kniprode established a
Cistercian nunnery in the city. Aspiring students were educated in Königsberg before continuing on to higher education elsewhere, such as
Prague or
Leipzig.
Although the knights suffered a crippling defeat in the
Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg),
Königsberg remained under the control of the Teutonic Knights throughout the
Polish-Lithuanian-Teutonic War. Livonian knights replaced the Prussian branch's garrison at Königsberg, allowing them to participate in the recovery of towns occupied by
Jogaila's troops.
The
Prussian Confederation rebelled against the Teutonic Knights in 1454 and sought the assistance of Poland. Kneiphof supported the rebellion, although the rest of Königsberg reaffirmed its loyalty to the order. Grand Master
Ludwig von Erlichshausen fled from the crusaders' capital at
Castle Marienburg to Königsberg in 1457; the city's magistrate presented Erlichshausen with a barrel of beer out of compassion. When
western Prussia was transferred to victorious Poland in the
Second Peace of Thorn (1466), which ended the
Thirteen Years' War, Königsberg became the new capital of the reduced monastic state, which became a fief of the
Crown of the Polish Kingdom. The grand masters took over the quarters of the marshal. During the
Polish-Teutonic War (1519–1521), Königsberg was unsuccessfully besieged by Polish forces led by Grand Crown Hetman
Mikołaj Firlej.
Duchy of Prussia
Through the preachings of the Bishop of Samland,
Georg von Polenz, Königsberg became predominantly
Lutheran during the
Protestant Reformation. After summoning a
quorum of knights to Königsberg, Grand Master
Albert of Brandenburg from the
Hohenzollern dynasty secularised the Teutonic Knights' remaining territories in Prussia in 1525 and converted to Lutheranism. By paying
feudal homage to his uncle, King
Sigismund I of Poland, Albert became the first duke of the new
Duchy of Prussia, a fief of Poland. While the Prussian estates quickly allied with the duke, the Prussian peasantry would only swear allegiance to Albert in person at Königsberg, seeking the duke's support against oppressive nobility. After convincing the rebels to lay down their arms, Albert had several of their leaders executed.
Königsberg, the capital of the duchy, became one of the biggest cities and ports of Prussia, having considerable autonomy, a separate
parliament and currency, and with
German as its dominant language. The city flourished through the export of
wheat,
timber,
hemp, and
furs, as well as
pitch,
tar, and
ash. Königsberg was one of the few Baltic ports regularly visited by more than one hundred ships annually in the latter 16th century, the others being
Danzig and
Riga. The
University of Königsberg, founded by Albert in 1544, became a center of Protestant teachings.
The capable Duke Albert was succeeded by his feeble-minded son,
Albert Frederick. Anna, daughter of Albert Frederick, married Elector
John Sigismund of
Brandenburg, who was granted the right of
succession to Prussia on Albert Frederick's death in 1618. From this time the Duchy of Prussia and Königsberg were ruled by the
Electors of Brandenburg, the rulers of
Brandenburg-Prussia.
Brandenburg-Prussia
Because Brandenburg was overrun by
Sweden during the
Thirty Years' War, the Hohenzollern court fled to Königsberg. On
1 November 1641, Elector
Frederick William persuaded the Prussian diet to accept an
excise tax. In the
Treaty of Königsberg of January 1656, the elector recognized his Duchy of Prussia as a fief of Sweden and allied with that country. In the
Treaty of Wehlau in 1657, however, he negotiated the release of Prussia from
Polish sovereignty in return for an alliance with Poland. The 1660
Treaty of Oliva confirmed Prussian independence from both Poland and Sweden.
In 1661 Frederick William informed the Prussian diet he possessed
jus supremi et absoluti domini, and that the Prussian
Landtag could only be convened with his permission. The Königsberg burghers, led by
Hieronymus Roth of Kneiphof, opposed "the Great Elector's"
absolutist claims, but Frederick William succeeded in imposing his authority after arriving with 2,000 troops in October 1661. Refusing to request mercy, Roth was imprisoned in
Peitz until his death in 1678.
The Prussian estates, which swore fealty to Frederick William in Königsberg on
October 18 1663, refused the elector's requests for military funding, and Colonel Christian Ludwig von Kalckstein sought assistance from neighboring Poland. After Kalckstein was abducted by the elector's agents, he was executed in 1672. The Prussian estates' submission to Frederick William followed; in 1673 and 1674 the elector received taxes not granted by the estates and Königsberg received a garrison without the estates' consent. The economic and political weakening of Königsberg strengthened the power of the
Junker nobility within Prussia.
Königsberg was for long a center of Lutheran resistance to
Calvinism within Brandenburg-Prussia; Frederick William forced the city to accept Calvinist citizens and property-holders in 1668.
Kingdom of Prussia
By the act of coronation in
Königsberg Castle on
18 January 1701, Frederick William's son, Elector Frederick III, became
Frederick I,
King in Prussia. The elevation of the Duchy of Prussia to the
Kingdom of Prussia was possible because the Hohenzollerns' authority in Prussia was independent of Poland and the
Holy Roman Empire. Since "Kingdom of Prussia" was increasingly used to designate all of the Hohenzollern lands, former ducal Prussia became known as the
Province of Prussia, with Königsberg as its capital. However, Berlin and
Potsdam in Brandenburg were the main residences of the Prussian kings.
The city was wracked by
plague and other illnesses from September 1709 to April 1710, losing 9,368 people, or roughly a quarter of its populace. On
June 13 1724,
Altstadt,
Kneiphof, and
Löbenicht amalgamated to formally create the larger city Königsberg. Suburbs that later became city quarters included Sackheim, Rossgarten, and Tragheim. Five
Imperial Russian general-governors administered the city during the war from 1758–62; the Russian army didn't abandon the town until 1763.
After the
First Partition of Poland in 1772, Königsberg became the capital of the
province of East Prussia in 1773, which replaced the Province of Prussia in 1773. By 1800 the city was approximately five miles in circumference and had 60,000 inhabitants, including a military garrison of 7,000, making it one of the most populous German cities of the time.
After Prussia's defeat at the hands of
Napoleon Bonaparte in 1806 during the
War of the Fourth Coalition, King
Frederick William III of Prussia fled with his court from Berlin to Königsberg. The city was a center for political resistance to Napoleon. In order to foster
liberalism and
nationalism among the Prussian middle class, the "League of Virtue" was founded in Königsberg in April 1808. The
French forced its dissolution in December 1809, but its ideals were continued by the
Turnbewegung of
Friedrich Ludwig Jahn in Berlin. Königsberg officials, such as
Johann Gottfried Frey, formulated much of
Stein's 1808
Städteordnung, or new order for urban communities, which emphasized self-administration for Prussian towns. The East Prussian
Landwehr was organized from the city after the
Convention of Tauroggen.
In 1819 Königsberg had a population of 63,800. It served as the capital of the united
Province of Prussia from 1824–1878, when East Prussia was merged with
West Prussia. It was also the seat of the
Regierungsbezirk Königsberg, an administrative subdivision.
Led by the provincial president
Theodor von Schön and the
Königsberger Zeitung newspaper, Königsberg was a stronghold of
liberalism against the conservative government of King
Frederick William IV. During the
revolution of 1848, there were 21 episodes of public unrest in the city; major demonstrations were suppressed. Königsberg became part of the
German Empire in 1871 during the Prussian-led
unification of Germany.
The extensive
Prussian Eastern Railway linked the city to
Breslau,
Thorn,
Insterburg,
Eydtkuhnen,
Tilsit, and
Pillau. In 1860 the railroad connecting
Berlin with
St. Petersburg was completed and increased Königsberg's commerce. Extensive electric tramways were in operation by 1900; and regular steamers plied to
Memel,
Tapiau and
Labiau,
Cranz, Tilsit, and
Danzig. The completion of a canal to Pillau in 1901 increased the trade of Russian grain in Königsberg, but, like much of eastern Germany, the city's economy was generally in decline. By 1900 the city's population had grown to 188,000, with a 9,000-strong military garrison.
Jews flourished in the culturally pluralistic city.
Weimar Republic
Following the defeat of the
Central Powers in
World War I, Imperial Germany was replaced with the democratic
Weimar Republic. The Kingdom of Prussia ended with the abdication of the Hohenzollern monarch,
William, and the kingdom was succeeded by the
Free State of Prussia. Königsberg and East Prussia, however, were separated from the rest of Weimar Germany by the creation of the
Polish Corridor. The
Ostmesse (Eastern Fair) at the
Königsberg Tiergarten was organized every year since 1920; it was intended to compensate for the geographical distance that handicapped the economic development of East Prussia and Königsberg. In 1922 the first permanent
airport and commercial terminal solely for commercial aviation was built at Königsberg-Devau. In 1929, Königsberg
amalgamated with some surrounding suburbs.
Nazi Germany
In 1932 Prussia's legal (
Social Democratic) government under
Otto Braun was ousted by the Reich Government, and
Gauleiter Erich Koch replaced the elected local government during
Nazi rule from 1933 to 1945.
In 1935, the
Wehrmacht designated Königsberg as the Headquarters for
Wehrkreis I, (under the command of General der Artillerie
Albert Wodrig) which originally took in all of
East Prussia. Wehrkreis I was extended in March 1939 to include the
Memel area. In October 1939, it was extended again to include the
Ciechanów and
Suwałki areas. In 1942, the Wehrkreis was again expanded to include the
Białystok district. Army units that called Königsberg home included the I Infantry Corps, which was part of the pre-Nazi era Standing Army, and the 61st Infanterie Division, which was formed upon mobilization from reservists from East Prussia. It took part in the invasion of
Belgium, which was part of
Case Yellow, and
Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the
Soviet Union. In Book XII of his
World War II,
Winston Churchill referred to Königsberg as "a modernised heavily defended fortress".
According to the census of
May 17 1939, Königsberg had a population of 372,164.
One-third of East Prussia's 13,000 Jews lived in Königsberg after World War I. The city's Jewish population shrank from 3,200 in 1933 to 2,100 in October 1938. The New Synagogue of Königsberg, constructed in 1896, was destroyed during
Kristallnacht; 500 Jews left the city after
November 9 1938. After the
Wannsee Conference of
January 20 1942, Königsberg's Jews began to be deported to camps such as
Maly Trostenets,
Theresienstadt, and
Auschwitz.
World War II
The city hosted
Radio Königsberg, a propaganda station, during
World War II.
In 1944 Königsberg suffered heavy damage from
British bombing attacks and burned for several days. The historic city center, especially the original quarters Altstadt, Löbenicht, and Kneiphof, was completely destroyed, among it the cathedral, the castle, all churches of the old city, the old and the new universities, and the old shipping quarters
Many people fled Königsberg ahead of the
Red Army's advance after October 1944, particularly after word spread of the alleged Soviet atrocities at
Nemmersdorf and
Gumbinnen. Soviet forces under General
Chernyakhovsky reached the city on
January 13,
1945, and had encircled the city by the end of the month, but a temporary German breakout allowed many of the remaining civilians to escape via train and naval evacuation from the nearby port of Pillau. The siege of Königsberg, which had been declared a "fortress" (
Festung) by the Germans and fanatically defended, raged all through February and March.
On
21 January during the
Red Army's
East Prussian Offensive, mostly Polish and Hungarian Jews from Seerappen, Jesau,
Heiligenbeil, Schippenbeil, and Gerdauen (subcamps of
Stutthof concentration camp) were gathered in Königsberg. Up to 7,000 of them were forced on a
death march to
Samland; those that survived were subsequently executed at
Palmnicken. The remaining 20,000 German residents were
expelled in 1949-50.
Russian Kaliningrad
At the end of World War II in 1945, the city was annexed by the
Soviet Union pending the final determination of territorial questions at the peace settlement (as part of the
Russian SFSR) as agreed upon by the Allies at the
Potsdam Conference:
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 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 and Goldap, 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 the area adjacent to it as described above, subject to expert examination of the actual frontier.
The President of the United States and the British Prime Minister have declared that that'll support the proposal of the Conference at the forthcoming peace settlement.(External Link
)
After Königsberg's conquest by the Red Army, the city was briefly
Russified as
Kyonigsberg (Кёнигсберг). It was renamed
Kaliningrad on
July 4 1946, after the death of the
Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR,
Mikhail Kalinin, one of the original
Bolsheviks. The German population was either
deported to the Western Zones of
occupied Germany, or deported into
Siberian
labor camps, where about half of them perished of hunger or diseases.
After the
ethnic cleansing, the city's former population was entirely replaced with Russian citizens. Life changed dramatically: the city had a new name (Kaliningrad), and
German was replaced by
Russian as the language of everyday life. Parts of the city were rebuilt, although the former Altstadt remained an urban fallow with few buildings that survived the destruction. The city went through
industrialisation and
modernisation. As one of the westernmost territories of the Soviet Union, the
Kaliningrad Oblast became a strategically important area during the
Cold War. The Soviet
Baltic Fleet was headquartered in the city in the 1950s. Because of its strategic importance, Kaliningrad was
closed to foreign visitors.
Culture
Königsberg was the birthplace of the mathematician
Christian Goldbach and the writer
E.T.A. Hoffmann, as well as the home of the philosopher
Immanuel Kant. In 1736, the mathematician
Leonhard Euler used the arrangement of the city's bridges and islands as the basis for the
Seven Bridges of Königsberg Problem, which led to the mathematical branches of
topology and
graph theory. In the 19th century Königsberg was the birthplace of the influential mathematician
David Hilbert.
The dialect spoken by most citizens was
Low Prussian. A popular dish from the city was
Königsberger Klopse.
In the König Strasse (King Street) stood the Academy of Art with a collection of over 400 pictures. About 50 works were by
Italian masters; and some early
Dutch paintings were also to be found there. At the Königs Tor (King's Gate) stood statues of King
Ottakar I of Bohemia,
Albert of Prussia, and
Frederick I of Prussia. Königsberg had a magnificent Exchange (completed in 1875) with fine views of the harbor from the staircase. Along Bahnhof Strasse ("Railway Street") were the offices of the famous Royal Amber Works — Samland was celebrated as the "
Amber Coast". There was also an observatory fitted up by the astronomer
Friedrich Bessel, a botanical garden, and a zoological museum. The "Physikalisch", near the Heumarkt, contained botanical and anthropological collections and prehistoric antiquities. Two large theatres built during the
Wilhelmine era were the Stadt (city) Theatre and the Appollo.
Königsberg Castle was one of the city's most notable structures. The former seat of the
Grand Masters of the Teutonic Knights and the
Dukes of Prussia, it contained the
Schloßkirche, or palace church, where
Frederick I was crowned in 1701 and
William I in 1861. It also contained the spacious Moscowiter-Saal, one of the largest halls in the
German Reich, and a museum of Prussian history.
Königsberg became a centre of education when the
Albertina University was founded by Duke Albert of Prussia in 1544. The university was situated opposite the north and east side of the
Königsberg Cathedral. Lithuanian scholar
Stanislovas Rapalionis, one of founding fathers of the university, was the first professor of theology.
Numerous
German and
Polish publications were printed in Königsberg espousing the Protestant Reformation. The city was a center for the publication of books in the
Lithuanian language, especially by educated
Prussian Lithuanians from
Lithuania Minor. After the territory became
Lutheran, prayer books were printed in the Lithuanian vernacular. The first non-religious Lithuanian books were published later as well. With the support of the government,
Ruhig and
Mielcke published Lithuanian dictionaries in 1747 and 1800, respectively.
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