Editing Chernyakhovsk

{{Short description|Town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox Russian inhabited locality
| en_name             = Chernyakhovsk
| ru_name             = Черняховск
| image_skyline       = Сквер у памятника Барклаю де Толли.jpg
| image_caption       = Town centre and a statue of [[Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly|Michael Barclay de Tolly]]
| pushpin_map         = Russia Kaliningrad Oblast#European Russia#Europe
| coordinates         = {{coord|54|38|05|N|21|48|43|E|display=it}}
| image_flag          = Flag of Chernyakhovsk (2023).svg
| flag_caption        = 
| image_coa           = Coat of arms of Chernyakhovsk (2019).svg
| federal_subject     = [[Kaliningrad Oblast]]
| federal_subject_ref = <ref name="KaliningradO_admlist" />
| adm_district_jur    = [[Chernyakhovsky District]]
| adm_district_jur_ref = <ref name="KaliningradO_admlist" />
| adm_inhabloc_jur    = 
| adm_inhabloc_jur_ref = 
| adm_citydistrict_type = 
| adm_selsoviet_jur   = Chernyakhovsk
| adm_selsoviet_type  = [[Town of district significance]]
| adm_selsoviet_jur_ref = <ref name="KaliningradO_admlist" />
| capital_of          = 
| capital_of_ref      = 
| adm_ctr_of1         = Chernyakhovsky District
| adm_ctr_of1_ref     = <ref name="KaliningradO_admlist" />
| adm_ctr_of2         = town of district significance of Chernyakhovsk
| adm_ctr_of2_ref     = <ref name="KaliningradO_admlist" />
| inhabloc_cat        = Town
| inhabloc_cat_ref    = <ref name="KaliningradO_admlist" />
| inhabloc_type       = 
| inhabloc_type_ref   = 
| mun_district_jur    = Chernyakhovsky Municipal District
| mun_district_jur_ref = <ref name="KaliningradOChernyakhovskyD_mun" />
| urban_okrug_jur     = 
| urban_okrug_jur_ref = 
| urban_settlement_jur = Chernyakhovskoye Urban Settlement
| urban_settlement_jur_ref = <ref name="KaliningradOChernyakhovskyD_mun" />
| rural_settlement_jur = 
| rural_settlement_jur_ref = 
| inter_settlement_territory = 
| inter_settlement_territory_ref = 
| mun_admctr_of1      = Chernyakhovsky Municipal District
| mun_admctr_of1_ref  = <ref name="KaliningradOChernyakhovskyD_mun" />
| mun_admctr_of2      = Chernyakhovskoye Urban Settlement
| mun_admctr_of2_ref  = <ref name="KaliningradOChernyakhovskyD_mun" />
| elevation_m         = 
| area_km2            = 58
| area_km2_ref        = 
| pop_density         = 628
| pop_latest          = 36423
| pop_latest_date     = 
| pop_latest_ref      = 
| population_demonym  = 
| established_date    = 1337
| established_title   = 
| established_date_ref = <ref name="gr" />
| current_cat_date    = 10 October 1583
| current_cat_date_ref = 
| abolished_date      = 
| abolished_date_ref  = 
| postal_codes        = 238150–238154, 238158, 238165, 238169, 238170, 238816
| postal_codes_ref    = 
| dialing_codes       = 40141
| dialing_codes_ref   = 
| website             = http://inster39.ru/
}}
'''Chernyakhovsk''' ({{langx|ru|Черняхо́вск}}; [[German language|German]]: '''Insterburg''') is a [[types of inhabited localities in Russia|town]] in [[Kaliningrad Oblast]], [[Russia]], and the [[administrative center]] of [[Chernyakhovsky District]]. Located at the [[confluence]] of the [[Instruch]] and [[Angrapa]] rivers, which unite to become the [[Pregolya]] river below Chernyakhovsk, the town had a population in 2017 of 36,423.

==History==
===Medieval period===
[[File:Замок Инстербург фото 5.JPG|thumb|left|Medieval castle ruins]]
Insterburg was founded in 1337 by the [[Teutonic Knights]] on the site of a former [[Old Prussians|Old Prussian]] fortification when [[Dietrich von Altenburg]], the [[Grand Masters of the Teutonic Knights|Grand Master]] of the Teutonic Knights, built a [[castle]] called ''Insterburg'' following the [[Prussian Crusade]].<ref name="gr">{{cite book|title=Энциклопедия Города России|year=2003|publisher=Большая Российская Энциклопедия|location=Moscow|isbn=5-7107-7399-9|page=517}}</ref> During the Teutonic Knights' [[Northern Crusades]] campaign against the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]], the town was devastated in 1376. The castle had been rebuilt as the seat of a [[Procurator (Teutonic Knights)|Procurator]] and a settlement also named ''Insterburg'' grew up to serve it. In 1454, Polish King [[Casimir IV Jagiellon]] incorporated the region to the [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Kingdom of Poland]] upon the request of the anti-Teutonic [[Prussian Confederation]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Górski|first=Karol|title=Związek Pruski i poddanie się Prus Polsce: zbiór tekstów źródłowych|year=1949|publisher=Instytut Zachodni|location=Poznań|language=pl|page=54}}</ref> During the subsequent [[Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466)]] between Poland and the Teutonic Knights, the settlement was devastated by Polish troops in 1457. After the war, since 1466, the settlement was a part of Poland as a [[fief]] held by the Teutonic Knights.<ref>Górski, pp. 96–97, 214–215</ref>

===Early modern period===
When the Prussian Duke [[Albert, Duke in Prussia|Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach]] in 1525 [[secularized]] the monastic [[State of the Teutonic Order]] per the [[Treaty of Kraków]], Insterburg became part of the [[Duchy of Prussia]], a vassal duchy of the Kingdom of Poland. The settlement was granted [[town privileges]] on 10 October 1583 by the Prussian regent [[George Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach|Margrave George Frederick]].<ref name=sgk>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom XIV|year=1895|language=pl|location=Warszawa|page=143}}</ref> In the early 17th century, the town had a mixed population, and had Lithuanian, German and Polish preachers.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kętrzyński|first=Wojciech|author-link=Wojciech Kętrzyński|year=1882|title=O ludności polskiej w Prusiech niegdyś krzyżackich|language=pl|location=Lwów|publisher=[[Ossolineum|Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich]]|page=588}}</ref>

Insterburg became part of the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] in 1701, and because the area had been depopulated by [[Great Northern War plague outbreak|plague]] in the early 18th century, King [[Frederick William I of Prussia]] invited [[Protestantism|Protestant]] refugees who had been expelled from the [[Archbishopric of Salzburg]] to settle in Insterburg in 1732. French-language [[Calvinist]] church services were held in the town for several decades since 1731.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gresch|first=Eberhard|title=Im Blickpunkt der Geschichte der Reformation: Evangelisch-Reformierte in (Ost-)Preußen|year=2012|page=27|language=de}}</ref> During the [[Seven Years' War]], the town was occupied by [[Russian Empire|Russia]].<ref name=sgk/>

===Late modern period===
[[File:Insterburg1899.jpg|thumb|left|A postcard view of Insterburg's Hindenburgstraße in about 1890]]
During the [[Napoleonic Wars]], [[First French Empire|French]] troops passed through the town in 1806, 1807, 1811 and 1813.<ref name=sgk/> In 1818, after the [[Napoleonic Wars]], the town became the seat of [[Insterburg District]] within the [[Gumbinnen (region)|Gumbinnen Region]]. [[Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly]] died at Insterburg in 1818 on his way from his [[Livonia]]n manor to Germany, where he wanted to renew his health. Following the unsuccessful [[November Uprising]], Polish insurgents were interned in the town in 1832.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kasparek|first=Norbert|editor-last=Katafiasz|editor-first=Tomasz|year=2014|title=Na tułaczym szlaku... Powstańcy Listopadowi na Pomorzu|language=pl|location=Koszalin|publisher=Muzeum w Koszalinie, Archiwum Państwowe w Koszalinie|page=177|chapter=Żołnierze polscy w Prusach po upadku powstania listopadowego. Powroty do kraju i wyjazdy na emigrację}}</ref> In 1863, a Polish secret organization was founded and operated in Insterburg, which was involved in [[arms trafficking]] to the [[Russian Partition]] of Poland during the [[January Uprising]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historia-polski.com/xix/rok_1863.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190210152723/http://www.historia-polski.com/xix/rok_1863.htm|archive-date=10 February 2019|title=Wydarzenia roku 1863|website=Historia Polski|access-date=8 May 2022|url-status=usurped|language=pl}}</ref> Since May 1864, the leader of the organization was Józef Racewicz.
{{multiple image|align=right|caption_align=center|perrow=2|total_width=290|header=Historic churches
| image1=Реформаторская Кирха (главный вход).JPG
| image2=Католический храм св Бруно.jpg
| caption1=Saint Michael Archangel
| caption2=Saint Bruno
}}
Insterburg became a part of the [[German Empire]] following the 1871 [[unification of Germany]], and on May&nbsp;1, 1901, it became an [[independent city]] separate from Insterburg District. During [[World War I]] the [[Imperial Russian Army|Russian Army]] seized Insterburg on 24 August 1914, but it was retaken by Germany on 11 September 1914. The [[Weimar Republic|Weimar Germany]] era after World War I saw the town separated from the rest of the country as the province of [[East Prussia]] had become an [[enclave and exclave|exclave]]. The [[association football]] club [[Yorck Boyen Insterburg]] was formed in 1921.

===World War II and post-war period===
During [[World War II]], the Germans operated a [[Dulag Luft]] transit [[German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II|prisoner-of-war camp]] for [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] POWs in the town.<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]]|page=128|isbn=978-0-253-06089-1}}</ref> A local branch of the [[Peasant Battalions]] was established by the [[Polish resistance movement in World War II|Polish resistance]], under the cryptonym "Wystruć", the historic Polish name of the town.<ref name=wb>{{cite journal|last=Brenda|first=Waldemar|year=2007|title=Pogranicze Prus Wschodnich i Polski w działaniach polskiej konspiracji w latach II wojny światowej|journal=Komunikaty Mazursko-Warmińskie|issue=4|language=pl|page=515}}</ref> Several French [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced laborers]] cooperated with the Polish resistance.<ref name=wb/> The town was heavily bombed by the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[Royal Air Force]] on July&nbsp;27, 1944. The town was stormed by [[Red Army]] troops on January&nbsp;21–22, 1945. As part of the northern part of East Prussia, Insterburg was transferred from Germany to the [[Soviet Union]] after the war as previously agreed between the [[Allies of World War II|victorious powers]] at the [[Potsdam Conference]]. On 7 April 1946, Insterburg was renamed as Chernyakhovsk in honor of the Soviet World War II [[Army General (Soviet rank)|Army General]], [[Ivan Chernyakhovsky]], who commanded the army that first entered East Prussia in 1944.<ref name="gr" />

After 1989, a group of people introduced the [[Akhal-Teke]] horse breed to the area and opened an Akhal-Teke breeding [[stable]].

==Administrative and municipal status==
Within the [[subdivisions of Russia#Administrative divisions|framework of administrative divisions]], Chernyakhovsk serves as the [[administrative center]] of [[Chernyakhovsky District]].<ref name="KaliningradO_admlist">Resolution #640</ref> As an administrative division, it is, together with five [[types of inhabited localities in Russia|rural localities]], incorporated within Chernyakhovsky District as the '''[[town of district significance]] of Chernyakhovsk'''.<ref name="KaliningradO_admlist" /> As a [[subdivisions of Russia#Municipal divisions|municipal division]], the town of district significance of Chernyakhovsk is incorporated within Chernyakhovsky Municipal District as '''Chernyakhovskoye Urban Settlement'''.<ref name="KaliningradOChernyakhovskyD_mun">Law #262</ref>

==Population trends==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Number
|-
| 1790 || 4,972, without military<ref>A. E. Henning: ''Topographisch-historische Beschreibung der Stadt Insterburg''. Königsberg 1794, [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_yNkAAAAAcAAJ/page/n100 p. 44.]</ref>
|-
| 1875 || 16,303<ref name="DVG">Michael Rademacher: ''[http://www.verwaltungsgeschichte.de/insterburg.html Deutsche Verwaltungsgeschichte Ostpreußen - Kreis Insterburg]'' (2006)</ref>
|-
| 1880 || 18,745<ref name="DVG" />
|-
| 1885 || 22,227<ref name="DVG" />
|-
| 1890 || 31,624, incl. 437 Catholics and 348 Jews<ref name="DVG" />
|-
| 1900 || 27,787, incl. 788 Catholics and 350 Jews<ref>''Meyers Koversations-Lexikon''. 6. Auflage, Band 9, Leipzig und Wien 1908, p. 873.</ref>
|-
| 1910 || 31,624, incl. 29,672 Protestants and 1,040 Catholics<ref name="DVG" />
|-
| 1925 || 39,311, incl. 36,792 Protestants, 1,174 Catholics, 86 other Christians, and 338 Jews<ref name="DVG" />
|-
| 1933 || 41,230, incl. 39,458 Protestants, 1,078 Catholics, five other Christians, and 273 Jews<ref name="DVG" />
|-
| 1939 || 43,620, incl. 40,677 Protestants, 1,388 Catholics, 563 other Christians, and 87 Jews<ref name="DVG" />
|-
| 1959 || approx. 29,100{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}
|-
| 1979 || approx. 35,600{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}
|-
|[[Soviet Census (1989)|1989 Census]]|| 39,622<ref name="1989Census">{{ru-pop-ref|1989Census}}</ref>
|-
|[[Russian Census (2002)|2002 Census]]|| 44,323<ref name="2002Census">{{ru-pop-ref|2002Census}}</ref>
|-
|[[Russian Census (2010)|2010 Census]]|| 40,449<ref name="2010Census">{{ru-pop-ref|2010Census}}</ref>
|}

==Military==
Chernyakhovsk is home to the [[Chernyakhovsk (air base)|Chernyakhovsk naval air facility]].

== Coat of arms controversy ==
[[File:RUS Chernyakhovsk COA (historic).svg|thumb|left|110px|Coat of arms of Insterburg]]In September 2019 the local court ruled<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-court-finds-illegal-german-coat-of-arms-of-town-in-far-western-exclave/30169130.html|title=Russian Court Finds Illegal 'German' Coat Of Arms Of Town In Far Western Exclave|website=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty|language=en|access-date=2019-09-18}}</ref> that the coat of arms was illegal because it carries "elements of foreign culture." The local court alleged that [[Law of Russia|Russian laws]] do not allow the use of foreign languages and symbols in Russian state symbols and ordered the town "to remove any violations of the law."

The town's coat of arms, adopted in 2002, was based on the historic coat of arms of the town that before 1946 was known under its original [[Prussia]]n name – Insterburg.

The full version of coat of arms in question has a picture of a Prussian man with a horn and the Latin initials G.F. for the Regent of Prussia [[George Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach|George Frederick]], [[margrave]] of [[Principality of Ansbach|Brandenburg-Ansbach]] (1543–1603), who gave Insterburg the status of town and with it his family coat of arms.

The case brought before the court follows a trend among several towns in the region that have announced their intentions to change their coat of arms as tensions mount between Russia and the West following the [[annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation]] in 2014 and its support for pro-Russian separatists in [[Donbas|eastern Ukraine]].<ref name=":0" />

==Notable people==
*[[Martin Grünberg]] (1665–c.1706), architect
*[[Johann Otto Uhde]] (1725–1766), composer and violinist
*[[Johann Friedrich Goldbeck]] (1748–1812), geographer and Protestant theologian
*[[Eduard Heinrich von Flottwell]] (1786–1865), politician
*[[Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Jordan]] (1819–1904), writer and politician
*[[Ernst Wichert]] (1831–1902), author
*[[Edward Frederick Moldenke]] (1836–1904) Lutheran theologian and missionary
*[[Hans Horst Meyer]] (1853–1939),  pharmacologist
*[[Therese Malten]] (1855–1930), opera singer
*[[Hans Orlowski]] (1894–1967) woodcut artist and painter
*[[Hans Otto Erdmann]] (1896–1944), member of the [[German resistance to Nazism]]
*[[Fritz Karl Preikschat]] (1910–1994), engineer and inventor
*[[Kurt Kuhlmey]] (1913–1993), Bundeswehr major general
*[[Kurt Plenzat]] (1914–1998), military officer
*[[Traugott Buhre]] (1929–2009), actor
*[[Harry Boldt]] (born 1930), Olympic champion in dressage
* [[Anatol Herzfeld]] (1931–2019), German sculptor and mixed media artist
*[[Jürgen Schmude]] (born 1936), politician (SPD)
*[[Hans-Jürgen Quadbeck-Seeger]] (born 1939), chemist
*[[Anatole Klyosov]] (born 1946), a scientist in physical chemistry, enzyme catalysis and industrial biochemistry.
*[[Yuri Vasenin]] (1948–2022) Soviet football player and Russian coach.

==Twin towns and sister cities==
{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in Russia}}

Chernyakhovsk is [[twin towns and sister cities|twinned]] with:
*{{Flagicon|Germany}} [[Kirchheimbolanden]], [[Germany]], since 2002

==References==
===Notes===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
*{{RussiaAdmMunRef|kgd|adm|list}}
*{{RussiaAdmMunRef|kgd|mun|list|chernyakhovsky}}

==External links==
*[http://inster39.ru/ Official website of Chernyakhovsk] {{in lang|ru}}
*[https://chernyahovsk.jsprav.ru/ Chernyakhovsk Business Directory] {{in lang|ru}}
*[http://www.chernyahovsk.com/ Unofficial website of Chernyakhovsk] {{in lang|ru}}

{{Kaliningrad Oblast}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Cities and towns in Kaliningrad Oblast]]
[[Category:Populated places established in the 1330s]]
[[Category:Castles in Russia]]
[[Category:Chernyakhovsky District]]