Editing Kaliningrad Oblast (section)

=== 20th century ===
====World War I and II====
[[File:Stallupönen, Ostpreußen - Goldaperstraße (Zeno Ansichtskarten).jpg|thumb|[[World War I]] destruction in Stallupönen, modern [[Nesterov]]]]
In September 1914, after hostilities began between the [[German Empire]] on the one hand and France and Russia on the other, the [[Imperial German Army]] was about to seize [[Paris]], and the French urged Russia to attack East Prussia. [[Nicholas II of Russia|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 the Germans to send many troops to their East provinces.<ref name="auto">Roqueplo O: La Russie et son Miroir..., 2018</ref> 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.<ref>Roqueplo O: La Russie et son miroir...2018</ref>

During World War II, the {{ill|Hohenbruch concentration camp|de|KZ Hohenbruch}} was operated at modern [[Gromovo, Kaliningrad Oblast|Gromovo]] mostly interring Polish prisoners, as well as several subcamps of the [[Stutthof concentration camp]], the Oflag 52, Oflag 60 and [[Dulag Luft]] [[German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II|prisoner-of-war camps]],<ref>{{cite book|last1=Megargee|first1=Geoffrey P.|last2=Overmans|first2=Rüdiger|last3=Vogt|first3=Wolfgang|year=2022|title=The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV|publisher=[[Indiana University Press]], [[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]]|pages=128, 212, 217|isbn=978-0-253-06089-1}}</ref> and a camp interring [[Romani people]] in Königsberg (see ''[[Romani Holocaust]]'').<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=2284|title=Lager für Sinti und Roma Königsberg|website=Bundesarchiv.de|access-date=21 May 2024|language=de|archive-date=7 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907110709/https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=2284|url-status=live}}</ref>

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 the war, over two million people fled, anticipating imminent [[Red Army]] conquest, and were [[Evacuation of East Prussia|evacuated by sea]].

==== Soviet annexation ====
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 [[Bagrationovsk|Iławka]], however, the area was eventually annexed by the Soviet Union and included within the Kaliningrad Oblast.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Eberhardt|first=Piotr|year=2018|title=Kwestia podziału Prus Wschodnich w okresie II wojny światowej|journal=Przegląd Geograficzny|language=pl|volume=90|issue=4|page=610|doi=10.7163/PrzG.2018.4.4 |issn=0033-2143|url=https://rcin.org.pl/dlibra/docmetadata?showContent=true&id=68042 }}</ref>

Under the [[Potsdam Agreement]] of 1 August 1945, Königsberg 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 the area surrounding Königsberg, is as follows (note that Königsberg is spelt "Koenigsberg" in the original document):

<blockquote>'''VI. CITY OF KOENIGSBERG AND THE ADJACENT AREA'''<br />The Conference examined a proposal by the [[Politics of the Soviet Union|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 [[Gdańsk Bay|Bay of Danzig]] to the east, north of [[Braniewo|Braunsberg]]&nbsp;– [[Gołdap|Goldep]], to the meeting point of the frontiers of [[Lithuania]], the [[Poland|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.

U.S. president [[Harry Truman]] and British prime minister [[Clement Attlee]] supported the proposal of the Conference at the forthcoming peace settlement.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1945/450802a.html|title=The Potsdam Declaration|access-date=April 2, 2009|archive-date=21 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210221123957/http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1945/450802a.html|url-status=live}}</ref></blockquote>

[[File:Памятник Калинину.jpg|thumb|upright|The monument to Kalinin on the [[Kalinin Square]], built in 1959]]
In 1946, Königsberg was added as a [[enclave and exclave|semi-exclave]] to the [[Russian SFSR]] and renamed Kaliningrad, after the [[Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet]] of 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]]).<ref>[https://www.klgd.ru/city/history/almanac/a5_4.php Кёнигсберг мог стать Балтийском.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201084522/https://www.klgd.ru/city/history/almanac/a5_4.php |date=1 February 2022 }} // klgd.ru</ref><ref>[https://www.klgd.ru/city/history/almanac/a8_5.php Кёнигсберг-Калининград. Поиск самоидентификации.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106035920/https://www.klgd.ru/city/history/almanac/a8_5.php |date=6 November 2018 }} // klgd.ru</ref> The German language was replaced with the Russian language, and the remaining German population was [[Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–50)|expelled]] between 1947 and 1948. The territory was then re-populated with [[Soviet people|Soviet citizens]], mostly ethnic Russians but to a lesser extent also Ukrainians and Belarusians.<ref name="Milan Bufon 2014 97">{{cite book|author=Milan Bufon|title=The New European Frontiers: Social and Spatial (Re)Integration Issues in Multicultural and Border Regions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GpoxBwAAQBAJ&q=kaliningrad&pg=PA97|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|page=98|isbn=978-1-4438-5936-3|date=11 April 2014}}</ref>

Some historians{{Who|date=August 2024}} speculate that it may have originally been offered to the [[Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic|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{{Who|date=August 2024}}, [[Joseph Stalin]] created it as an oblast separate from the [[Lithuanian SSR]] because it further separated the Baltic states from the West.<ref>{{cite book|last=Weinberg|first=Gerhard L.|title=Visions of Victory: The hopes of eight World War II leaders|url=https://archive.org/details/visionsofvictory00wein|url-access=registration|year=2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-85254-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/visionsofvictory00wein/page/114 114]}}</ref> 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.<ref name="autogenerated1">Roqueplo O: La Russie et son miroir d'Extrême-Occident, 2018</ref> 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.<ref name="Milan Bufon 2014 97" /><ref>{{cite book |title=The Kaliningrad Question |first=Richard J. |last=Krickus |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sDOUZEEnHFUC |via=[[Google Books]] |isbn=978-0-7425-1705-9 |year=2002 |publication-place=Lanham, Maryland, United States |page=39 |chapter=2. Kaliningrad under Soviet and Russian Rule |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sDOUZEEnHFUC&pg=PA39 }}</ref>

[[File:Königsberger schloss schlossturm sprengung 1959.tif|thumb|left|Demolition of the [[Königsberg Castle]] with explosives, 1959. The last remnants were destroyed by 1968.]]In the Soviet era, the city was [[Closed city|completely closed]] and, with the exception of rare visits of friendship from neighboring Poland, it was practically not visited by foreigners.<ref>[http://window.edu.ru/window/library/pdf2txt?p_id=5810 Социально-экономическая география Балтийского региона.] // window.edu.ru</ref><ref>[http://www.newkaliningrad.ru/news/politics/k95640.html Калининград: От реликта России до процветающего города Прибалтики («The Independent», Великобритания).] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827151959/http://www.newkaliningrad.ru/news/politics/k95640.html|date=27 August 2016}} // newkaliningrad.ru</ref> 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,<ref name="NG">{{Cite web |url=http://www.ng.ru/regions/2008-11-11/100_zamok.html |title=Калининградские руины еще немного подождут |first=Alexander |last=Ryabushev |website=ng.ru |date=November 11, 2008 |access-date=March 19, 2020 |language=ru |archive-date=18 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090218011251/http://www.ng.ru/regions/2008-11-11/100_zamok.html |url-status=live }}</ref> on [[Leonid Brezhnev]]'s personal orders,<ref name="NG" /><ref>{{cite news |last1=Artamonova |first1=Alexandra |title=Raze and rebuild: Kaliningrad's battle to preserve its complex post-war cityscape |url=https://www.calvertjournal.com/features/show/10130/beyond-the-game-kaliningrad-architecture |publisher=The Calvert Journal |access-date=5 January 2021 |date=7 June 2018 |archive-date=8 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230508090334/https://www.calvertjournal.com/features/show/10130/beyond-the-game-kaliningrad-architecture |url-status=live }}</ref> despite the protests of architects, historians and residents of the city.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.archikld.ru/publications_3_56 |archive-url = https://archive.today/20120730023356/http://www.archikld.ru/publications_3_56 |url-status = dead |archive-date = 30 July 2012 |title = Калининградская архитектура. }} // archikld.ru</ref><ref>[https://www.klgd.ru/city/history/almanac/a2_1.php О восстановлении послевоенного Калининграда 1946—1953 гг.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925103426/https://www.klgd.ru/city/history/almanac/a2_1.php |date=25 September 2020 }} klgd.ru</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Андрей Павлович Клемешев |author2=Калининградский государственный университет |script-title=ru:На перекрёстке культур: русские в Балтийском регионе. Выпуск 7. Часть 2 |date=2004 |publisher=КГУ |pages=206–207}}{{clarify|reason=is this really a book?|date=March 2024}}</ref> 

The reconstruction of the oblast, threatened by hunger in the immediate post-war years, was carried out through an ambitious policy of oceanic fishing<ref>Roqueplo O: La Russie et son Miroir d'Extrême-Occident, Langues'O, HAL, 2018</ref> 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.<ref name="autogenerated1" /> From 1953 to 1962, 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 the border between the [[Polish People's Republic]] (a Soviet [[satellite state]] at the time) and the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite web |title=Russia (USSR) / Poland Treaty (with annexed maps) concerning the Demarcation of the Existing Soviet–Polish State Frontier in the Sector Adjoining the Baltic Sea 5 March 1957 |url=https://www.un.org/Depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/PDFFILES/TREATIES/RUS-POL1957SF.PDF |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127095055/https://www.un.org/Depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/PDFFILES/TREATIES/RUS-POL1957SF.PDF |archive-date=27 November 2020 |access-date=2 April 2009}}</ref><ref>For other issues of the frontier [[delimitation]] see {{cite web |title=Maritime boundary delimitation agreements and other material |url=https://www.un.org/Depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/STATEFILES/POL.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231115090449/http://www.un.org/depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/STATEFILES/POL.htm |archive-date=15 November 2023 |access-date=2 April 2009}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web |last=Wiegrefe |first=Klaus |date=22 May 2010 |title=Zeitgeschichte: Historischer Ballast |work=[[Der Spiegel]] |archive-date=14 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014130823/http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-70569479.html |url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-70569479.html |language=German |trans-title=Contemporary History: Historical Ballast |publication-place=Hamburg, Germany |issn=2195-1349 |publisher=Spiegel-Berlag |editor1-first=Mathias |editor1-last=Müller von Blumencron |editor2-first=Georg |editor2-last=Mascolo }}</ref> However, this story was later denied by [[Mikhail Gorbachev]].<ref>{{cite web |work=[[The Guardian]] |archive-date=6 February 2021 |editor-first=Alan |editor-last=Rusbridger |editor-link=Alan Rusbridger |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206033943/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/jul/31/kalingrad-kant-home-return-german |publication-place=London, England, United Kingdom |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/jul/31/kalingrad-kant-home-return-german |issn=1756-3224 |oclc=60623878 |title=Should Kant's home once again be German? |first=Stefan |last=Berger |date=31 July 2010 }}</ref>