Bagrationovsk
Encyclopedia
Bagrationovsk is a town and the administrative center of Bagrationovsky District of Kaliningrad Oblast
, Russia
, located 37 kilometres (23 mi) south of Kaliningrad
. Population:
built a castle
called "Yladia" or "Ilaw", later known as "Preussisch Eylau", in the center of the Old Prussian region Natangia. Ylow is the Old Prussian term for mud or swamp. The settlement nearby developed slowly, but in 1348 the Teutonic Order gave the privilege to establish 12 pubs at the surrounding area of the castle. Even though the village had only a few inhabitants, due to its central position it was often used as meeting place for different officials of the Order. In 1427 e.g. the Eylau County Law (Eylauer Landesordnung) was published by the Order. Throughout the Thirteen Years' War the castle was besieged on May 24, 1455 by troops of the Prussian Confederation
under the command of Remschel von Krixen, but the garrison defeated these troops. Also throughout the Horsemen's War in 1520 the castle was unsuccessfully besieged by Troops of the Polish Kingdom, which caused a devastation of the village itself.
Preußisch Eylau received its civic charter
in 1585. In 1709 - 11 the Bubonic Plague
caused the death of 2212 inhabitants of the Eylau area.
The bloody Battle of Eylau
(7–8 February 1807) during the Napoleonic Wars
involved the French
troops of Napoleon Bonaparte
, the Russian
troops of General Bennigsen
and Prussian troops of General Anton Wilhelm von L'Estocq
.
While only three inhabitants of Eylau died throughout the battle, 605 persons died due to hunger and diseases in the year 1807 (average death rate in "normal" years: 80-90). Napoleon used the local courthouse as his headquarters in Eylau on February 7, - 17, 1807.
On April 1, 1819 the town became capital of the administrative district Preußisch Eylau (Kreis Pr. Eylau). In 1834 a Teachers' Seminary was founded, educating every East Prussia
n teacher until it was closed down in 1924. The town was connected to the railway on September 2, 1866. The town was occupied without a struggle by Russian troops on August 27, 1914, but these troops left again on September 3, 1914.
After 1933 large barracks were built by the Wehrmacht
and in 1935 Infantry
and Artillery
units were stationed there.
On 9 February 1945, during the Soviet
Red Army
's East Prussian Offensive
, the town was occupied by troops of the 55th Guards "Irkutsk-Pinsk" Division commanded by Major General Turtchinski. The German population that had not already fled during the evacuation of East Prussia
was subsequently expelled
, the last transport leaving on November 23, 1947. Soviet NKVD
established a prison camp for German civilians inside the former Wehrmacht barracks in 1945-49. It held an estimated 13,000 inmates, of whom some 6,000 people died.
In early August 1945 Polish officials took over the administrative power in the town, but left again on January 1, 1946, as the new borderline between the Soviet Union
and Poland
was set just at the southern outskirts of the town. The Polish administrative area south of the border was called "Powiat Ilawka" until 1958.
In January 1946 the town became part of the Russian Kaliningrad Oblast
and the town's name was changed to Bagrationovsk, honouring General Pyotr Bagration
, who was one of the senior Russian leaders in the Napoleonic Wars
.
Today the main border crossing point between Russia and Poland (Bezledy/Bagrationowsk) is located 2 km south of the town. Since April 2007, government restrictions on visits to border areas have been tightened and travel to the Sovetsk and Bagrationovsk areas is only allowed with special permission, unless in transit.
with: Verden an der Aller, Lower Saxony
, Germany
Górowo Iławeckie, Poland
Bartoszyce
, Poland
Jonava
, Lithuania
Kaliningrad Oblast
Kaliningrad Oblast is a federal subject of Russia situated on the Baltic coast. It has a population of The oblast forms the westernmost part of the Russian Federation, but it has no land connection to the rest of Russia. Since its creation it has been an exclave of the Russian SFSR and then the...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, located 37 kilometres (23 mi) south of Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad is a seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea...
. Population:
History
In 1325 the Teutonic KnightsTeutonic Knights
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...
built a castle
Ordensburg
An Ordensburg was a fortress built by crusading German military orders during the Middle Ages. "Ordensburg" was also used during Nazi Germany to refer to training schools for Nazi leaders.- Medieval Ordensburgen :...
called "Yladia" or "Ilaw", later known as "Preussisch Eylau", in the center of the Old Prussian region Natangia. Ylow is the Old Prussian term for mud or swamp. The settlement nearby developed slowly, but in 1348 the Teutonic Order gave the privilege to establish 12 pubs at the surrounding area of the castle. Even though the village had only a few inhabitants, due to its central position it was often used as meeting place for different officials of the Order. In 1427 e.g. the Eylau County Law (Eylauer Landesordnung) was published by the Order. Throughout the Thirteen Years' War the castle was besieged on May 24, 1455 by troops of the Prussian Confederation
Prussian Confederation
The Prussian Confederation was an organization formed in 1440 by a group of 53 gentry and clergy and 19 cities in Prussia to oppose the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights. It was based on the basis of an earlier similar organization, the Lizard Union...
under the command of Remschel von Krixen, but the garrison defeated these troops. Also throughout the Horsemen's War in 1520 the castle was unsuccessfully besieged by Troops of the Polish Kingdom, which caused a devastation of the village itself.
Preußisch Eylau received its civic charter
German town law
German town law or German municipal concerns concerns town privileges used by many cities, towns, and villages throughout Central and Eastern Europe during the Middle Ages.- Town law in Germany :...
in 1585. In 1709 - 11 the Bubonic Plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
caused the death of 2212 inhabitants of the Eylau area.
The bloody Battle of Eylau
Battle of Eylau
The Battle of Eylau or Battle of Preussisch-Eylau, 7 and 8 February 1807, was a bloody and inconclusive battle between Napoléon's Grande Armée and a Russian Empire army under Levin August, Count von Bennigsen near the town of Preußisch Eylau in East Prussia. Late in the battle, the Russians...
(7–8 February 1807) during the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
involved the French
First French Empire
The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...
troops of Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
, the Russian
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
troops of General Bennigsen
Levin August, Count von Bennigsen
Levin August Gottlieb Theophil , Count von Bennigsen was a German general in the service of the Russian Empire....
and Prussian troops of General Anton Wilhelm von L'Estocq
Anton Wilhelm von L'Estocq
Anton Wilhelm von L'Estocq was a Prussian cavalry general best known for his command of the Prussian troops at the Battle of Eylau.-Biography:...
.
While only three inhabitants of Eylau died throughout the battle, 605 persons died due to hunger and diseases in the year 1807 (average death rate in "normal" years: 80-90). Napoleon used the local courthouse as his headquarters in Eylau on February 7, - 17, 1807.
On April 1, 1819 the town became capital of the administrative district Preußisch Eylau (Kreis Pr. Eylau). In 1834 a Teachers' Seminary was founded, educating every East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
n teacher until it was closed down in 1924. The town was connected to the railway on September 2, 1866. The town was occupied without a struggle by Russian troops on August 27, 1914, but these troops left again on September 3, 1914.
After 1933 large barracks were built by the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
and in 1935 Infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
and Artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
units were stationed there.
On 9 February 1945, during the Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
's East Prussian Offensive
East Prussian Offensive
The East Prussian Offensive was a strategic offensive by the Red Army against the German Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front . It lasted from 13 January to 25 April 1945, though some German units did not surrender until 9 May...
, the town was occupied by troops of the 55th Guards "Irkutsk-Pinsk" Division commanded by Major General Turtchinski. The German population that had not already fled during the evacuation of East Prussia
Evacuation of East Prussia
The evacuation of East Prussia refers to the evacuation of the German civilian population and military personnel in East Prussia and the Klaipėda region between 20 January, and March 1945, as part of the evacuation of German civilians towards the end of World War II...
was subsequently expelled
Expulsion of Germans after World War II
The later stages of World War II, and the period after the end of that war, saw the forced migration of millions of German nationals and ethnic Germans from various European states and territories, mostly into the areas which would become post-war Germany and post-war Austria...
, the last transport leaving on November 23, 1947. Soviet NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
established a prison camp for German civilians inside the former Wehrmacht barracks in 1945-49. It held an estimated 13,000 inmates, of whom some 6,000 people died.
In early August 1945 Polish officials took over the administrative power in the town, but left again on January 1, 1946, as the new borderline between the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
was set just at the southern outskirts of the town. The Polish administrative area south of the border was called "Powiat Ilawka" until 1958.
In January 1946 the town became part of the Russian Kaliningrad Oblast
Kaliningrad Oblast
Kaliningrad Oblast is a federal subject of Russia situated on the Baltic coast. It has a population of The oblast forms the westernmost part of the Russian Federation, but it has no land connection to the rest of Russia. Since its creation it has been an exclave of the Russian SFSR and then the...
and the town's name was changed to Bagrationovsk, honouring General Pyotr Bagration
Pyotr Bagration
Prince Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration was a general of the Russian army. He was a descendant of the Georgian royal family of the Bagrations.- Life :...
, who was one of the senior Russian leaders in the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
.
Today the main border crossing point between Russia and Poland (Bezledy/Bagrationowsk) is located 2 km south of the town. Since April 2007, government restrictions on visits to border areas have been tightened and travel to the Sovetsk and Bagrationovsk areas is only allowed with special permission, unless in transit.
Population
- 1782: 1,453
- 1804: 1,816
- 1820: 1,631
- 1846: 2,630
- 1852: 2,988
- 1871: 3,719
- 1885: 3,547
- 1890: 3.446 (including 42 Catholics, 42 Jews)
- 1900: 3,248
- 1910: 3,270
- 1925: 3,787
- 1933: 4,123
- 1939: 7,485 (including 1,185 military personnel)
- 1946: 2,275 (including 1,339 Germans )
- 1968: 4,300
- 1989: 6,728
- 2002: 7,216
- 2010: 6,399
Notable people
- Konrad Theodor PreussKonrad Theodor PreussKonrad Theodor Preuss was a German ethnologist.Preuss was born in Preußisch-Eylau and died in Berlin.- Works :* Die geistige Kultur der Naturvölker. Leipzig, 1914...
(1869–1938), ethnologist - Hugo FalkenheimHugo FalkenheimHugo Falkenheim was a German Medical Doctor and the last Chairman of the Jewish congregation of Königsberg.-Biography:...
(1856–1945), medical doctor and last Chairman of the Jewish parish of KönigsbergKönigsbergKönigsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...
Twin towns/sister cities
Bagrationovsk is twinnedTown twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
with: Verden an der Aller, Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Górowo Iławeckie, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Bartoszyce
Bartoszyce
Bartoszyce is a town on the Łyna River in northeastern Poland with 25,621 inhabitants . It is the capital of Bartoszyce County within the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship.-History:...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Jonava
Jonava
Jonava is the ninth largest city in Lithuania with a population of ca 35,000.It is located in Kaunas County in central Lithuania, north east of Kaunas, the second-largest city in Lithuania. It is served by Kaunas International Airport. The largest fertilizer factory in the Baltic states is...
, Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
Sources
- Horst Schulz, Preußisch Eylau — eine Kreisstadt in Ostpreußen, LübeckLübeckThe Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...
,1998 - Horst Schulz, Der Kreis Preußisch Eylau, Verden, 1983
- Wolf, Dr. Horst, Ich sage die Wahrheit oder ich schweige, LeerLeerLeer is a town in the district of Leer, the northwestern part of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated at the river Ems, near the border with the Netherlands....
, 1983