Kaliningrad Flies an Orange Flag

kommersant ^

[Lukasz]

[Lukasz]

Eastern European ping list

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FRmail me to be added or removed from this Eastern European ping list ping list.

[martin_fierro]

The Institute of Me is also located in Kaliningrad!

[Verginius Rufus]

What's the size of the Kaliningrad enclave? It looks like it's about one-third the size of Estonia.

Maybe they should go back to calling the area East Prussia...rather than honoring one of Stalin's flunkeys.

[speedy]

Now that's an architectural masterpiece from the Mikhail Suslov Academy of Fine Arts.

[Hoplite]

Looks like the inspiration behind Jenga.

[franksolich]

Please put me on your Eastern European ping list, sir.

As for Memel, wouldn't it simply be easier for Russia to cede this sliver of land to Poland or Lithuania; I'm sure most of the inhabitants (formerly German, but removed after 1945) are Polish or Lithuanian anyway.

[AuH2ORepublican]

"Maybe they should go back to calling the area East Prussia...rather than honoring one of Stalin's flunkeys."

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Wasn't East Prussia much larger than the current Kaliningrad? I thought the current Kaliningrad is what used to be known as Konigsburg.

[Verginius Rufus]

Yes, Kaliningrad used to be Konigsberg (or Koenigsberg) though there may not be many of the pre-WWII structures left now. As I pointed out on another thread, the king that Koenigsberg was named for was a medieval Slavic king, not a German one (Ottokar of Bohemia)...worthier of being honored than a Soviet official.

Indeed East Prussia used to be quite a bit larger...the southern half of East Prussia was handed over to Poland in 1945 along with some German territories further west, in compensation from the eastern territories Stalin was taking from Poland.

[Lukasz]

Maybe they should go back to calling the area East Prussia...rather than honoring one of Stalin's flunkeys.

German “Prussians” stole this name. The real Prussians were Baltic people, all killed by Germans. Lithuanians are Baltic people too then if not Russia then Lithuania.

[Lukasz]

Not exactly, this is quote from Kaliningrad oblast official site

http://www.gov.kaliningrad.ru/en_region.php3

People of more than 97 nationalities live in the Kaliningrad region. Most numerous are Russians - 78%, Belorussians - 7.7%, Ukrainians - 7.4%, Lithuanians - 1.9%, Armenians -0.8%. Germans -0.6%, Poles - 0.5%. The population of Kaliningrad is 424.3 thousand, it is 43.2 thousand in Sovietsk, 42.9 thousand in Chernyakhovsk, 31.1 thousand in Baltijsk, and 27.8 thousand in Gusev.

[Lukasz]

Before and after WWII:

[AuH2ORepublican]

"People of more than 97 nationalities live in the Kaliningrad region. Most numerous are Russians - 78%"

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Very interesting. I guess the Russians made sure that it was their people who populated Konigsburg/Kaliningrad after WWII. It is still the only warm-weather port in Russia, right?

[franksolich]

Oops, my mistake based upon an assumption, sir.

Surely this minuscule enclave, this tiny isolated piece of real-estate, owned by Russia, is more of a financial drain than a benefit, to Russia.

One of course never wishes to see one's own country broken up piece-by-piece, but I for one as an American, for example, would not object to spinning Puerto Rico free, or all those isolated Pacific islands which we presently subsidize.

[1rudeboy]

Nobody did poured concrete like the Soviets.

[1rudeboy]

Klaipeda (Memel) is already part of Lithuania.

[Lukasz]

It is still the only warm-weather port in Russia, right?

I even don’t know but I suppose that St. Petersburg too. (I count Baltic ports) As for no Baltic sea ports, I know that Murmansk was.

[Lukasz]

Surely this minuscule enclave, this tiny isolated piece of real-estate, owned by Russia, is more of a financial drain than a benefit, to Russia.

Well, they don’t invest in this region too much. Honestly in whole Russia they invest mostly in gas and oil industries. I know that in Kaliningrad oblast they have a bit of oil in the Baltic coast. Kaliningrad is famous because of their amber mines.

[AuH2ORepublican]

"Kaliningrad used to be Konigsberg (or Koenigsberg)"

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In German it was spelled Königsburg, right?

[Verginius Rufus]

Same difference..."oe" is an alternative way to spell a German word with an o-umlaut (earlier spelled with a little "e" written over the "o"). I don't know how to type the umlaut in this system, but obviously there is a way. (I've seen "o+" used as a way to write the same thing online as well.)