Pierwsze lata istnienia obwodu kaliningradzkiego a problem kształtowania się tożsamości jego mieszkańców
The early years of the existence of the Kaliningrad Oblast and the difficulties in constructing the identity of its inhabitants

Summary/Abstract: In the last two decades, the Kaliningrad Oblast has been subject to changes of a manifold nature, not only political but also societal and cultural. As a result of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the region has become a semi-enclave which has led to the consequences of the former occupation being even greater. As a result, the Oblast differs from other parts of Russia. Experts involved with the Kaliningrad Oblast, both from Russia and abroad, agree that it constitutes a unique part of the historic, cultural and societal mosaic of Russia. It comes as no surprise that geopolitical processes have left a significant mark on the Kaliningrad Oblast identity. Nowadays the semi-exclave is often described as the most European among the Russian regions. Yet the question of the contemporary identity of the Kaliningrad Oblast’s inhabitants cannot be properly addressed and examined without research into the very first years of the regions’ existence (from 1945 to the end of the 1950s). This paper aims at briefly summing up changes that took place in the northern part of former East Prussia in four areas after the Second World War. This will include: the taking over of control by the Soviet administration of the newly conquered territory; settling the region with a new population and the deportation of Germans still remaining there; replacing German names of towns and villages with Soviet (Russian) ones; the attitude of central and local authorities towards religious communities and attempts to spontaneously organise religious life in the region. All of the above-mentioned elements of post-war life in the Kaliningrad Oblast contributed to the creation of a new politico-social reality which encompassed a total denial of the region’s past. Together with further changes, these elements laid the foundations of the identity of its inhabitants after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In this sense, they can be considered as a starting point for further research which is my main objective as a PhD student at the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

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