Königsberg as Kaliningrad

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

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

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

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

Author Michael Wieck, a Holocaust survivor who grew up in Königsberg and returned in 1992, once wrote that: “Anyone who goes to Kaliningrad today shouldn’t expect to find Königsberg. There is a building here or there that recalls the past, but these leftovers from Königsberg’s existence are like finding bones in a cemetery.”

The following sets of pictures compare the same location in 2005, with roughly 60 years in between … So much has changed here! (More images like this can be found at: http://www.kng750.kanet.ru)

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

Rebuilding a city Soviet-style.

Often referred to as  the ultimate insult to architecture anywhere – the multi-story House of Soviets at the site of the destroyed Königsberg Castle – a concrete apparition so excruciatingly ugly, it has been frequently referred to as the ugliest building in the world. It  was intended to be the central administration building of the Kaliningrad Oblast.

Left unfinished for over 20 years, the exterior was painted light blue and windows were installed July of 2005 at the occasion of the 750 year anniversary of the city that obviously included the period prior to the Soviet annexation of the former East German homelands. (Interestingly,  the name Königsberg was not used during the three days of celebrations that  included a meeting between Russia’s President Vladimir Putin , German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac.)  However, the interior of remains unfinished and unusable.

Rumour has it that the building is structurally unsound after the discovery that its foundations were built over previously unknown underground caves dating back to the earliest days of the massive Königsberg castle over which ruins it has been built.

On the other hand,  the civic rulers of  Kaliningrad must be given full credit  for wanting to pay some respect to the rich architectural history of Königsberg. As recently as 2014  – and as part of a project known as “Heart of the City” – the “Kaliningrad City” Urban District Administration held an Architectural Competition  to rebuild Königsberg City Center in the context of regenerating some aspects of the historical part of the city and its longstanding Prussian heritage.

As well,  for restoring and maintaining at least some of the buildings that defined its character for so long. This included the historic Dom cathedral  on Kneiphof Island, which  had been left untouched in it’s bombed-out condition until the early 1990s.

The restoration  of the Dom cathedral on former Kneiphof island  appears complete and includes a new organ that Vladimir Putin is said have donated the funds for .  Apparently, Germany contributed to some of the restoration costs.

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