How to be Russian with a Difference? Kaliningrad and its German Past¹

1. I am grateful to the British Academy for financing the research in Kaliningrad which made possible the writing of the article. The British Academy also funded the workshop on enclaves at the University of Manchester in December 2007, where I presented a version of this article as a paper. The actual writing of the article was done at the Freiburg Institute of Advanced Studies, where I had the privilege of staying as Senior Research Fellow in 2008/2009. I am grateful to the Institute's directors, Joern Leonhard and Ulrich Herbert, and my co-fellows for providing a wonderfully conducive atmosphere for scholarly endeavours.

Abstract

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Notes

1. I am grateful to the British Academy for financing the research in Kaliningrad which made possible the writing of the article. The British Academy also funded the workshop on enclaves at the University of Manchester in December 2007, where I presented a version of this article as a paper. The actual writing of the article was done at the Freiburg Institute of Advanced Studies, where I had the privilege of staying as Senior Research Fellow in 2008/2009. I am grateful to the Institute's directors, Joern Leonhard and Ulrich Herbert, and my co-fellows for providing a wonderfully conducive atmosphere for scholarly endeavours.

2. We follow here Anssi Paasi, ‘Boundaries as Social Processes: Territoriality in the World of Flows’, Geopolitics 3 (1998) pp. 69–88, who has convincingly demonstrated the fluidity and continuous remaking of boundaries understood as social processes.

3. It should be obvious that my approach to memory has been heavily influenced by Pierre Bourdieu and Anatoly Bakhtin. See, for example, Pierre Bourdieu, The Field of Cultural Production (New York: Columbia University Press 1993); and Mikhail Bakhtin, The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays (Austin: The University of Texas Press 1985).

4. Geoffrey Cubitt, History and Memory (Manchester: Manchester University Press 2007) pp. 219–221.

5. O. Sezneva, ‘Historical Representation and the Politics of Memory in Kaliningrad, Former Königsberg’, Polish Sociological Review 131/3 (2000).

6. P. Aalto, ‘A European Geopolitical Subject in the Making? EU, Russia and the Kaliningrad Question’, Geopolitics 7 (2002) pp. 142–174.

7. Christopher S. Browning and Pertti Joenniemi, ‘Contending Discourses of Marginality: The Case of Kaliningrad’, Geopolitics 9 (2004) pp. 699–730.

8. On all aspects of city planning after 1945 see B. Hoppe, Auf den Trümmern von Königsberg. Kaliningrad 1946–1970 (Munich: Oldenbourg 2000); and P. Brodersen, Die Stadt im Westen. Wie Königsberg Kaliningrad wurde (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2008).

9. A. Day, Building Socialism. The Politics of Soviet Cityscape in the Stalin Era, PhD dissertation (New York 1997); also: Karl D. Qualls, ‘Imagining Sewastopol. History and Power – Community Construction, 1942–1953’, National Identities 5/2 (2001) pp. 123–139; and several contributions in D. J. Raleigh (ed.), Provincial Landscapes: Local Dimensions of Soviet Power, 1917–1953 (Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh University Press 2001).

10. On the debates surrounding the development of Kaliningrad in the 1990s see P. Joenniemi and J. Prawitz (eds.), Kaliningrad: The European Amber Region (Aldershot: Ashgate 1998); R. J. Krickus, The Kaliningrad Question. New International Relations of Europe (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books 2002); and P. Holtom, A Litmus Test for Europe? Constructing Kaliningrad's Identity in Moscow, Brussels and Kaliningrad, PhD dissertation, University of Birmingham, 2002; H.-M. Birckenbach and C. Wellmann (eds.), The Kaliningrad Challenge: Options and Recommendations (Münster: Lit 2003).

11. The manuscript was finished in 1992 and its publication was delayed until 2002. Interview with Yuri Kostyashov, 14 Sept. 2006; see also the German translation of his book: Als Russe in Ostpreussen. Sowjetische Umsiedler über ihren Neubeginn in Königsberg/Kaliningrad nach 1945 (Ostfildern: Edition Tertium 1999).

12. Interview with Christian Welscher, Co-ordinator of the European Institute Klaus Mehnert, 13 Sept. 2006.

13. V. Gil'manov, ‘Das Fortwirken der Albertina in der Universität Königsberg/Kaliningrad heute: im 450. Jahr der Albertina’, Nordost-Archiv 3 (1994) pp. 518–527.

14. O. Sezneva, ‘Converting History into “Cultural Treasure” in post-1991 Kaliningrad: Social Transitions and the Meaning of the Past’, Working Paper no. 5 of the International Center for Advanced Studies, New York University, May 2002. The debate surrounding the renaming of the city is ongoing. More and more Kaliningraders are doubtful whether one of Stalin's henchmen, Kalinin, is an ideal patron of their city.

15. ‘Pasko bleibt zäh’, Königsberger Express (KE), March 2005, p. 7; ‘Oblast oder Republik’, KE, April 2005, p. 5; ‘“Kants Ideen sind uns nah”’, KE, June 2005, p. 5; ‘Ein Herbst in Orange’, KE, Dec. 2005, p. 4. On the issue of regionalism/separatism see also P. Holtom, ‘A “Baltic Republic in the Russian Federation” or the “Fourth Baltic Republic”? Kaliningrad's Regional Programme in the 1990s’, Journal of Baltic Studies 34 (2003) pp. 153–179.

16. ‘Das wichtigste Problem bleibt die Schaffung von Arbeitsplätzen’, Die Welt am Samstag, 2 July 2005.

17. ‘Russlands Auslandsgebiet?’, KE, March 2005, p. 6.

18. <http://www.altstadt.ru/>, accessed 12 Nov. 2008.

19. ‘Putin für Wiederaufbau des Königsberger Schlosses’, RU-Aktuell, 13 Sept. 2006.

20. Interview with Guido Herz, 13 Sept. 2006.

21. ‘Königsberg – Kaliningrad: Persönlichkeiten, Fakten, Ereignisse’, KE, Nov. 2006, p. 17.

22. ‘Wegweiser nach Königsberg’, KE, Feb. 2006, p. 2.

23. ‘Stalin ist wieder da’, KE, June 2005, p. 13; Interview with Jürgen Manthey, 27 Oct. 2006; Günter Grass, Im Krebsgang (Göttingen: Steidl 2002).

24. ‘Was erzählen wir den Nachkommen?’, KE, May 2006, p. 5.

25. Interview with Yuri Kostjashov, 14 Sept. 2006, and with Elena Emilianova, 12 Sept. 2006.

26. Interview with the Swedish General Consul Erik Hammarskjöld, 12 Sept. 2006; see also ‘Nachhilfe in Heimatliebe’, KE, Feb. 2006, p. 10.

27. ‘Deja-vu? – Boos befürchtet separatistische Tendenzen’, KE, May 2006, p. 4; Interview with Christian Welscher, 13 Sept. 2006.

28. ‘Nomen est omen? Streit um Umbenennung des Deutsch-Russischen Hauses’, KE, Feb. 2006, p. 12.

29. G. Gnauck, ‘Wolken über Kaliningrad. Vier Jahre nach der Öffnung: eine Zwischenbilanz’, in F. Kluge (ed.), ‘Ein schicklicher Platz’? Königsberg/Kaliningrad in der Sicht von Bewohnern und Nachbarn (Osnabrück: fibre 1994) p. 62 f.

30. ‘Königsberg orthodox’, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), 11 Sept. 2006.

31. Interview with Yuri Kostyashov, 14 Sept. 2006.

32. ‘Kaliningrad – 750: Nachbarländer schenken Denkmäler’, RU-Aktuell, 25 April 2005.

33. ‘Nur zwei Prozent halten sich für Europäer’, KE, July 2005, p. 6.

34. T. Plath, ‘Wir wehren uns nur – Kaliningrader zur Raketenfrage’, RU-Aktuell, 7 Nov. 2008.

35. On all survey data see E. Vinokurow, A Theory of Enclaves (Lanham/MD: Lexington Books 2007) p. 102 f.

36. P. Ahonen, After the Expulsion. West Germany and Eastern Europe, 1945 – 1990 (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2003).

37. Lynn M. Tesser, ‘European Integration and the Legacy of the post-World War II German Expulsions in East-Central Europe’, Geopolitics 4 (1999) pp. 91–119.

38. Interview with the Bundesgeschäftsführer of the Landsmannschaft, Sebastian Husen, Hamburg, 31 Oct. 2006.

39. O. Ihlau, ‘“Mich kriegt hier keiner weg”’, Der Spiegel, 15 Dec. 1997; Interview with Olaf Ihlau, Berlin, 29 Oct. 2006.

40. Interview with Vladimir Michailov, Kaliningrad, 12 Sept. 2006.

41. Interview with Günter Bischof of the Protestant church in Kaliningrad, 14 Sept. 2006.

42. <http://www.drh-k.ru/main-deu.htm>, accessed 4 Nov. 2008.

43. Interview with Generalkonsul Guido Herz, Kaliningrad, 14 Sept. 2006.

44. Viktor Major, Kaliningrad/ Königsberg: Auf dem schweren Weg zurück nach Europa. Bestandsaufnahmen und Zukunftsvisionen aus einer europäischen Krisenregion (Münster: Lit 2001) p. 61.

45. <http://www.bosch-stiftung.de/content/language1/html/index.asp>; <http://www.stifterverband.org/site/php/stiftung.php?SID=&seite=StiftungDetail&stiftung=225 &herkunft=0&detailansprechnr=457&detailexansprechnr=>, both accessed 7 Nov. 2008; on the Klaus Mehnert Institute of European Studies see Birgit Adolf, ‘750-Jahr-Geschenk mit Zukunft: Europa verstehen lernen’, KE, April 2006, p. 17; and the Institute's website at <http://www.europastudien-kaliningrad.de/content/view/14/36/>, accessed 13 Nov. 2008.

46. Y. Zverev, ‘The Kaliningrad Region of Russia in a New Geopolitical Setting’, in M. Waller, B. Coppieters, and A. Malashenko (eds.), Conflicting Loyalties and the State in Post-Soviet Russia and Eurasia (London: Frank Cass 1998) p. 86.

47. A selection of the major articles includes: ‘Moskaus ungeliebte Beute’, Der Spiegel, 27 June 2005; Thoralf Plath, ‘“Wir spürten nur Hass”’, Frankfurter Rundschau, 9 April 2005; ‘Sonderzug nach Kaliningrad’, Die Welt, 15 April 2005; Thoralf Plath, ‘Wenn Kant das wüsste’, Die Zeit, 15 May 2003; ‘Ganz nah am fernen Westen’, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 1 July 2005; ‘Europäischer Humanismus mit slawischer Seele’, FAZ, 2 July 2005; Manfred Quiring, ‘Moskau feiert 750 Jahre Kaliningrad’, Die Welt am Samstag, 2 July 2005; ‘Kaliningrads verzwicktes Jubiläum’, Neues Deutschland, 2 July 2005; ‘Kaliningrad feiert seinen 750. Geburtstag’, Die Welt am Sonntag, 3 July 2005; Reinhard Wolff, ‘Geburtstagsparty ohne die Nachbarn’, Tageszeitung, 4 July 2005; Daniel Brössler, ‘Letzte Ausfahrt Kaliningrad’, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 4 July 2005; Nils Schmidt, ‘Kaliningrad feiert Königsberg’, Der Stern, 5 July 2005; a detailed newspaper analysis has also been performed by Corinna Jentzsch, ‘750 Jahre Kaliningrad: das Jubiläum in der deutschen, russischen, polnischen und litauischen Presse’, unpublished manuscript. I am grateful to Ms Jentzsch for sending me a copy of the manuscript.

48. <http://wortschatz.uni-leipzig.de/wort-des-tages/2005/07/04/Kaliningrad.html>, accessed 7 Nov. 2008.

49. J. Manthey, Königsberg. Geschichte einer Weltbürgerrepublik (Munich: Carl Hanser 2005).

50. Interview with the director of the German Russian House, Peter Wunsch, 14 Sept. 2006.

51. Interview with Cornelius Sommer, general consul to Kaliningrad until 2005, Berlin, 30 Oct. 2006.

52. Christoph-Michael Adam, ‘750 Jahre Königsberg – das heutige Kaliningrad sucht seine Zukunft’, ARD, 9 Feb. 2005, 21.45 Uhr; ‘Mit dem Sehnsuchtsexpress von Berlin nach Kaliningrad’, ZDF, 21 March 2005, 22.45 Uhr; Dirk Sager, ‘Königsberg – ferne, fremde Heimat’, ZDF, 26 April 2005; Klaus Bednarz, ‘Reise durch Ostpreussen’, ARD, 6 March 2005; Max & Gilbert, ‘Königsberg is dead’, absolut medien DVD, 2004; Peter Kahane, ‘Eine Liebe in Königsberg’, ZDF, 2006.

53. A detailed report about the expellees’ celebrations can be found in Königsberger Bürgerbrief 66 (2005) pp. 18–36. A detailed programme in included in Königsberger Bürgerbrief 65 (2005) p. 7 f.

54. <http://www.stadtgemeinschaft-koenigsberg.de>, accessed 7 Nov. 2008. On the disappointment of representatives of the expellees see Königsberger Bürgerbrief 66 (2005) pp. 6, 8, 39 ff. Also the interview with Christian Wagner, Preussische Allgemeine Zeitung, 26 Nov. 2005; L. Grimoni, ‘750 Jahre Königsberg – was bleibt? Ein Rückblick gegen die Resignation’, Königsberger Bürgerbrief 66 (2005) p. 87; and interview with Lorenz Grimoni, Duisburg, 26 Oct. 2006.

55. Interview with Erik Hammarskjöld, 12 Sept. 2006.

56. R. Lass, ‘Aussterbende Erinnerung’, Junge Freiheit (JF), 18 Feb. 2005; H.-J. Mahlitz, ‘Kaliningrad? – Königsberg!’, PAZ, 9 July 2005.

57. B. Knapstein, ‘Münchhausen fliegt in Kaliningrad’, JF, 1 July 2005.

58. Interview with Sebastian Husen, 31 Oct. 2006.

59. Interview with Eliana Emilianova, 12 Sept. 2006; Interview with Lilia Krasnowskaja, 13 Sept. 2006.

60. Daily Telegraph, 21 Jan. 2001.

61. B. Niven (ed.), Germans as Victims. Remembering the Past in Contemporary Germany (Houndmills: Palgrave MacMillan 2006).

62. P. Joenniemi, ‘Kaliningrad as a Discursive Battlefield’, in P. Ganster (ed.), Co-operation, Environment and Sustainability – Border Regions (San Diego: San Diego State University Press 2001) pp. 319–338.

63. Poland and Lithuania cannot be dealt with separately in a brief article like this. See, for an introduction: R. Janušauskas, Four Tales on the King's Hill: The ‘Kaliningrad Puzzle’ in Lithuanian, Polish, Russian and Western Political Discourse (Warsaw: Instytut Studiów Politycznych Polskiej Akademii Nauk 2001).

64. Aalto (note 6).

65. W. Böhm and A. Graw (eds.), Königsberg morgen. Luxemburg an der Ostsee (Asendorf: Mut 1993); J. M. Swerev, Rußlands Gebiet Kaliningrad im neuen geopolitischen Koordinatenfeld (Cologne: Boehlau 1996); Friedemann Kluge (ed.), ‘Ein Schicklicher Platz?’ Königsberg Kaliningrad in der Sicht von Bewohnern und Nachbarn (Osnabrück: fis 1994) p. xvi f.

66. I. Oldberg, ‘The Emergence of a Regional Identity in the Kaliningrad Oblast’, Co-operation and Conflict 35/3 (2000) pp. 269–288.

67. David J. Galbreath and Jeremy W. Lamoreaux, ‘Bastion, Beacon or Bridge? Conceptualising the Baltic Logic of the EU's Neighbourhood’, Geopolitics 12 (2007) pp. 109–132.

68. <http://www.petersburger-dialog.de/>, accessed 6 Nov. 2008.

69. Thus the view of Guido Herz, German general consul in Kaliningrad between 2005 and 2008. Interview with Herz, 13 Sept. 2006; also interview with the editorial team of KE, 13 Sept. 2006.

70. Alexander and Margarete Mitscherlich, Die Unfähigkeit zu trauern: Grundlagen kollektiven Verhaltens (Munich: Piper 1967); Theodor Adorno, ‘What Does Coming to Terms with the Past Mean?’, in Geoffrey Hartman (ed.), Bitburg in Moral and Political Perspective (Bloomington: Indiana University Press 1986) pp. 114–129.

71. Jeffrey K. Olick, The Politics of Regret. On Collective Memory and Historical Responsibility (London: Routledge 2007) p. 14. See also, pp. 122 ff.

72. Yael Zerubavel, Recovered Roots: Collective Memory and the Making of Israeli National Tradition (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press 1995) pp. 7–10.