Coronation of Frederick I of Prussia in 1701.
The people of Europe are aware that peace in this part of the world is a thing of the past. It begins to boil in subsequent places. The war in Ukraine, which has been ongoing since February this year, is beginning to spread around wider and has a real impact not only on the behavior and standard of living of Europeans, but also on the inhabitants of the entire globe.
The Kaliningrad region, together with Kaliningrad, is the westernmost region of Russia. Its territory is separated from the rest of the country by the borders of independent states and devoid of direct land communication with the main part of the Russian state. This small piece of land, located on the northern border of Poland, has been experiencing turbulent history for many centuries of its existence and often had a significant impact on the fate of neighboring states and nations. For some time now, it has again been increasingly present on the lips of both state leaders, politicians, the military, and ordinary citizens, who until now knew little about its existence and were not aware of the threat it poses to European peace.
The present lands of this region were historically occupied by Prussian tribes which, in the thirteenth century, were conquered by the Teutonic Order. As a result of Germanization and German settlement, the territory of the present region became an area inhabited mostly by the German population during the course of time. In order to strengthen their rule, the monks set up a settlement by the sea and erected a brick castle. The newly established settlement with the castle took the name Königsberg (“king’s mountain”) and, in 1286, obtained city rights. After the loss of Malbork by the Teutonic Knights, from 1457 the seat of the Grand Master was moved to Königsberg (pol. Królewiec). After the victory of the Republic of Poland in the Thirteen Years’ War (1454-1466), this area passed under Polish sovereignty and then, after master Albrecht paid homage to the Polish king Sigismund I in 1525, Königsberg became one of the main centers of Polish Protestantism and a thriving center of Polish printing. In 1626, the Republic of Poland and the entire region known as Prussia were attacked and plundered by the Swedes. With time, Königsberg became the capital and seat of princes, and after the coronation in 1701, the seat of the king of Prussia. In 1724, the three towns around the castle merge into one town of Königsberg. The city becomes a well-known university center, chaired by Immanuel Kant – a brilliant scholar, lecturer and rector of the university. During the Napoleonic Wars in 1807, the army of the French emperor also entered Prussia, and the troops of Frederick William III, in alliance with Russia, suffered defeat. Eventually, East Prussia joined the German Reich in 1871.
Royal castle before World War I.
The Treaty of Versailles in 1919, again, separates East Prussia from Germany. The separating area went to Poland and received the name of the “Polish corridor”. In 1938. Hitler demanded that the Polish government agree to the annexation of Gdańsk, agree to the construction of an extraterritorial motorway and railway line connecting East Prussia with German Pomerania, and join the Anti-Comintern Pact. In return, Poland was to receive a 25-year guarantee of maintaining the border with the Reich and strengthening cooperation. However, the Polish side did not agree to this “tempting proposal”, which became one of the reasons for the attack on Poland in 1939.
Königsberg within the borders of East Prussia from 1919 to 1939.
During the war in Prussia, the Nazis carried out fortification works on a large scale, and then, in the face of the offensive of the Soviet troops, they turned Königsberg into a fortress. Already at the end of 1943, during a meeting in Tehran of the so-called “Big Three” the first decisions on the future of Polish and East Prussia were made.
Surrender of Königsberg.
In the Iranian capital, Churchill’s proposal that the entire area of East Prussia should enter the borders of the Polish is initially accepted, but later Stalin changes his mind and forces the seizure of Polish eastern lands, and new borders in the east are established on the so-called “Curzon line”. The Russian dictator points to the need for the USSR to access ports in the Baltic Sea. In his speech, he claims that “the Russians would need non-freezing ports: Königsberg and Klaipeda and the appropriate part of East Prussia.” The shape of the future eastern border of Poland and the division of East Prussia are de facto only a whim and a vision of Stalin’s foreign policy yet do not meet with protest from Churchill and Roosevelt. Western leaders do not intend to inform the Polish side about the decisions made, and at the request of the American president, counting on the votes of the Polish American community, all decisions on the Polish issue are further classified. The final decisions on the Polish-Russian border and the continued affiliation of East Prussia were made in February 1945 at the Yalta Conference, which becomes a symbol of the Allied betrayal of Poland and their consent to the subordination of Central and Eastern Europe to Joseph Stalin. Little known is the fact that, initially, Stalin was considering the inclusion of the northern part of East Prussia in the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, but the authorities there were not interested in these areas.
Despite the great damage suffered during the British carpet bombing raids, Königsberg defended itself from January to April 1945. The fortress city was turned into ruins. Of interest may be the fact that shortly before the end of the war, the Polish community in Königsberg, numbering several thousand people, who did not know the previous Allied arrangements, attempted to create a city council and a civic guard, which met with a negative reaction from the Soviet side. After the Potsdam Conference, Königsberg and the northern part of former East Prussia were incorporated directly into the Russian Federate Soviet Socialist Republic. Researchers point out that Stalin’s intention in creating the “oblast” (region) was to separate the Baltic states from Poland, which gave the opportunity to control the republics on the western flank of the USSR. Not without significance was also the issue of access to the port of Königsberg.
Soviet tanks and infantry in Mühlausen 25 km south of Königsberg in January 1945.
In 1946, the name of the city was changed to Kaliningrad in honor of the Soviet revolutionary Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin, co-responsible for many mass communist crimes. His signature appears on the decision to murder Polish officers in Katyn in 1940. The establishment of the boundaries between the new oblast and Poland took place in 1947 on the basis of the Polish-Soviet agreement. After the war, the city was partially rebuilt, and the remnants of the German population were deported. In the years 1967-1969, the Russians blew up the ruins of the castle and, in their place, the House of Soviets was built – the seat of the Communist Party.
For many post-war years, foreigners did not have the right to stay in the Kaliningrad region, except upon the presentation of a special pass. The region performed the function of a militarized zone, while its area is packed with fortifications and devices of a military nature. During the Cold War, the Kaliningrad Oblast is not an exclave: Lithuania is part of the USSR, and Poland is a vassal of Moscow. It loses its importance after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Mikhail Gorbachev intends to return this territory to Germany, but is met with protest from the Polish authorities. They believe that if the Kaliningrad region returns to Germany, Poland will be surrounded by NATO and Germany. The then Chancellor Helmut Kohl accepts Warsaw’s protest and in this way these lands become an independent enclave of the Russian state. Over time, the region is transformed from a closed military area into a tourist destination, and the Polish-Russian agreement allows residents of the border zone to move visa-free in a previously inaccessible area for several years. However, the opening of Kaliningrad to the West does not reduce its military aspect. On the contrary, the military importance of this area is increasing significantly at the time of Sweden’s and Finland’s aspirations to join NATO.
Port of Baltiysk (until 1946 Piława, German: Pillau).
Recently, there have been voices in Russia that the Kaliningrad region is militarily very weak and does not threaten anyone. This is contrary to the perception of this exclave by its neighbors and the entire West. The relatively small number of soldiers and heavy weapons, as well as geographical isolation from Russia, do not mean, however, that this region with Kaliningrad at the forefront is the proverbial paper tiger because, in a war scenario, it would have no offensive tasks. The Russians do not need many thousands of soldiers, tanks or armored personnel carriers here. The only function of the oblast is to defend itself and paralyze enemy movements. This purpose is served by bringing various types of missile weapons here, including systems for combating sea targets (Bastion) and air targets (S-400). And there are Iskanders which, from Kaliningrad, can reach far into the enemy territory, destroying key objects and concentrations of troops, possibly with the use of nuclear weapons. It is the missiles that are the real threat to NATO.
Destroyer and 2 frigates in the war port of Baltiysk.
Recently, Lithuanians told the Russians: “enough!” If sanctions, then let it be sanctions – and the transit of some goods through Lithuanian territory to the Kaliningrad region has been suspended. The Decision of the Lithuanian authorities follows the instructions of the European Commission on compliance with the sanctions imposed on Russia. Panic broke out in the cut-off piece of the world. Residents rushed to shops to buy supplies. Local businessmen expect Moscow to shoulder the burden and costs of reorganizing logistical chains. In theory, Russia can deliver everything by sea, in practice, it is a logistically complicated undertaking. The Russians, in the form of an ultimatum, demanded that the Lithuanians immediately lift all restrictions and restore full transit. Official representatives of the Kremlin, the Russian Foreign Ministry, and the parliament have sent threats against Vilnius. Soon, Kaliningrad was visited by Putin’s closest associate, the Secretary of the Security Council Nikolai Patrushev. He announced very serious consequences for the inhabitants of Lithuania, which would occur if the Lithuanian side does not withdraw from the blockade. In turn, representatives of the Lithuanian government have emphasized that Moscow is dramatizing the situation around transit, especially by talking about the blockade. According to Lithuanians, there is no blockade of the Kaliningrad region, because goods not subject to sanctions are cleared by Lithuania without problems, and there is no question of limiting passenger transit. The Lithuanian leaders are supported by the head of EU diplomacy Josep Borrell, who declares that Lithuania is implementing joint EU decisions. Residents of the region are convinced that Moscow must take care of the maintenance of the local economy, otherwise the region will face an economic collapse. They are also aware that the Kremlin will not do so for humanitarian reasons, but only because it must maintain a stable socio-economic situation in the region, which plays a strategic role militarily. This modest-looking area of 15,000 square kilometers on the map is, in fact, a shoe pressed into the doors of NATO and the European Union. These gigantic barracks between Poland and Lithuania are a potential bomb that can explode at any time under any pretext. Vladimir Putin needs Kaliningrad to blackmail his European union and NATO neighbors – nothing more.
A soldier patrolling the Polish-Russian border.
Author:Aleksander Wietrzyk
