How Königsberg became Kaliningrad

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How did German Königsberg become Soviet Kaliningrad? This video gives a detailed overview of the city’s history from 1945 to 1970 and discusses the ideologies behind it, the material problems and why certain, rather controversial decisions were made.

Sources:
- Brodersen, Per: Die Stadt im Westen. Wie Königsberg Kaliningrad wurde, Göttingen 2008.
- Freeman, Jamie: From German Königsberg to Soviet Kaliningrad. Appropriating Place and Constructing Identity, Oxford & New York 2021.
- Gal’cova, Svetlana: Die Geschichte des Kaliningrader Gebietes in der sowjetischen Forschung, in: Nordost-Archiv. Zeitschrift für Regionalgeschichte 3 (1994), H. 2, S. 495-506.
- Hoppe, Bert: Auf den Trümmern von Königsberg. Kaliningrad 1946-1970, München 2000.
- Kossert, Andreas: Damals in Ostpreußen. Der Untergang einer deutschen Provinz, München 2010.
- Sezneva, Olga: Living in the Russian Present with a German Past. The Problems of Identity in the City of Kaliningrad, in: Crowley, David & Reid, Susan E. (Hg): Socialist Spaces. Sites of Everyday Life in Eastern Bloc, Oxford 2002, S. 47-64.
- Smith, Mark B.: Khrushchev’s promise to eliminate the urban housing shortage. Rights, rationality and the communist future, in: Ilic, Melanie & Smith, Jeremy (Hg.): Soviet State and Society Under Nikita Khrushchev, London 2009.

Music Used:
Dvorak - Serenade for Strings
Hallen - Die Toteninsel
Sibelius - Cassazione
Tchaikovsky - Valse Sentimentale

Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:41 Königsberg in Ruins
2:57 A New History of East Prussia
4:48 First Architectural Plans
8:07 The Housing Problem
10:39 Monuments
12:13 The Fate of The Königsberg Castle
14:49 The Current Situation
15:43 Outro