The "unknown" pages of the Soviet history of the Kaliningrad region
A special project for the 75th anniversary of the region

1940s

Settlement of the Kaliningrad region

1940s

Settlement of the Kaliningrad region

"Those who took discharge from the army were persuaded
to stay and work in Königsberg": on the eve of mass settlement

Arrival of small groups of the Soviet people started in the spring of 1945 immediately after the end of the war. They were either repatriates or demobilised soldiers. Soon specialists — engineers, workers in the pulp and paper industry, fishermen and others — began to come. By April 1946, besides 100 thousand soldiers and officers of the Red army, there were 35 thousand Soviet citizens living in a new Soviet territory. Early in August there were already 84.5 thousand of them. But until the autumn of 1946 the Germans dominated in the civilian population structure of the region.
“
After my demobilisation I got a job in a loading and unloading office on the railway. I was a driver at the time. It was possible to change the job, but there were few of those who knew their job well, so they tried not to let such people go. Those who took discharge from the army were persuaded to stay and work in Königsberg. If they signed a three-year contract with the organisation they wanted to work for, they were paid an allowance of three thousand roubles…
Excerpt from the memories of Nikolai V. Enin
East Prussia through the eyes of the Soviet settlers. St. Petersburg, 2002. P. 17.
"I was a desperate girl and persuaded the whole family: let’s go to Germany to see a new country!": Preparations for mass settlement of the region
In the summer of 1946 mass organised move of workers, engineers and technicians began. Designated representatives of the Ministry of Labour Reserves signed individual labour contracts with the settlers for at least one year. Representatives of various enterprises came from Kaliningrad to the regions of the USSR, agitating people to move to the region.

The Party and Soviet officials sent by the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of the Bolsheviks began to arrive for superior positions. Graduates of Soviet educational institutions followed the distribution to Kaliningrad.
The Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of 9 July 1946 No. 1522 "On priority measures for the settlement and development of agriculture in the Kaliningrad region" launched the mass settlement of rural areas. According to it, 12 thousand families of collective farmers from the RSFSR and the Belorussian SSR were to be moved to the region by the end of the year. People from other republics of the USSR were coming as well.

The inspectors of the settlement department, called recruiters, used various techniques to attract potential settlers: lectures at collective farm meetings, advertisements in newspapers, reading of enthusiastic letters from Kaliningrad citizens on the radio, propaganda posters.
“
Once in the summer of 1946 some men from the district centre came to our collective farm field and announced that they were recruiting people who wanted to go to East Prussia. Many were frightened: how could it be? Going to Germany, to the enemy?! My mother considered me the eldest in the family, because my sister Zina worked in a summer camp and did not live with us, and my brother Misha had not yet demobilised from the army. At first I somehow let the announcement pass my ear. Then a meeting of collective farmers was held, where they said that two families had to be sent from our village council. Many were frightened. The Zatruskin family went from the neighboring kolkhoz, and one family from our kolkhoz had to be sent. I was a desperate girl and persuaded the whole family: let’s go to Germany to see a new country
From the memories of Anna Ivanovna Trubchanina
East Prussia through the eyes of the Soviet settlers. St. Petersburg, 2002. P. 22.
Finding candidates was not easy — many were deterred by rumours about the difficult conditions of life in the former East Prussia, the unfavourable climate, German hostility and the possible outbreak of a new war. Chairmen of the collective farms where the recruiters came also tried to hinder them, as the Soviet collective farms themselves were experiencing a severe labour shortage after the war.
The motivation to move was the benefits the settlers got. However, the promises made by recruiters were not always kept in full.
Those who ventured to move had to fill in a special application form accompanied by a job reference and undergo a security check by the police and state security service, because a secret government decree of 29 June 1946 declared the region a restricted border zone, which could be entered only with a pass. After that settlers got settlement cards with information about family members, the time and place of boarding the train.

Uncoordinated "spontaneous" move was a widespread phenomenon. Some people came to the region on the advice of relatives or acquaintances, and some left their previous place of residence in search of a better life. "Spontaneous" migrants found ways to overcome restrictions.

The largest number of settlers in 1946—1950 came from Moscow and the Moscow region, Smolensk region, Leningrad and Leningrad region, where centralized recruitment was not carried out. This can be explained by the fact that Smolensk region was the closest Russian territory to Kaliningrad and at the same time one of the hardest hit during the war, while specialists and party workers were sent to the region from the cadres of Moscow and Leningrad.
While recruiters continued to look for people willing to move to Kaliningrad region, a special commission under the chair of Vasily A. Borisov, the head of the civil affairs department of the region, worked to identify locations for collective farms, prepare accommodation and railway stations where settlers were to arrive.
"Chickens, geese, cattle, everything that is left of the property are in one carriage, we ourselves are in the other":
on the way to Kaliningrad region
The settlers were getting ready for their journey. They took food and clothing, household implements and musical instruments, kitchen utensils and memorabilia, pets and cattle. Some travelled light-handed.
Soon long trains, sometimes up to 60 carriages, went westwards. They did not adhere to a timetable and reached their destination in several weeks. Because of that they were given the jocular name of "pyat'sot-vesyoly" ("five hundred-merry"). Although conditions on the trains were not the best, people stayed positive and the journey was full of memorable anecdotes.
“
Chickens, geese, cattle, everything that was left of the property were in one carriage, we ourselves were in the other. Everybody stationed themselves differently — on the bunk, under it… We, kids, were upstairs. Families were large, with many children. And of course there was not just one family in the carriage, no. There were three or four families. Both men and women. Well, somehow there was room for all of them, and nobody offended others or was ill-treated.
Excerpt from the memories of Evgenia F. Tikhomirova
The villagers: a folk story. Kaliningrad, 2006. P. 20.
"The first secretary of the district committee of the party himself met [us]": the arrival of settlers to the Kaliningrad region
On 23 August 1946 the first train with settlers arrived from Bryansk region to the railway station of Gumbinnen (today Gusev). The process of settlement was based on the principle of regional fellowship, i. e. settling people from the same areas in a compact territory. As new trains arrived, places of settlements varied, but in general the principle was implemented.
People arriving in the region were first taken to Kaliningrad or to district centres, which had been given the status of temporary reception centres. The first trains were greeted solemnly, with music and welcoming speeches. Later the practice of large-scale meetings was stopped. The newcomers were given a bath, a medical examination and hospitalization. At the same time, cattle were inspected. Ideological events were not ignored either.
“
We arrived at Nesterov station. The fog was heavy. We were told: ‘Don't go anywhere, there are shells all around’. Some people shouted, ‘Where have we come to?’ Then there was a rally, music, a military band. The first secretary of the district committee of the party himself met [us]. I don't remember his surname. He was a little tall and overweight. Well dressed, he was wearing white boots. There was also Galkin, the chairman of the district executive committee. He fought here. We elected him ourselves afterwards.
Excerpt from the memories of Ekaterina S. Morgunova
East Prussia through the eyes of the Soviet settlers.
St. Petersburg, 2002. P. 34.
In the reception centre the settlers were told about the international and domestic situation, the significance of renaming Königsberg into Kaliningrad and the necessity of being vigilant in the border area. After that the settlers with all their belongings went to their places of settlement. However, not all the newcomers were so fortunate — some of them were not met at all.
First impressions of the new homeland
A large part of the new settlers had no idea of the Kaliningrad region other than what their recruiters told them and what they read in newspapers. Long hours of travelling were reinforced by mysterious anticipation of what the new homeland would look like. The first, strongest and most lasting impressions of the majority of those arriving in the region were positive and sometimes even enthusiastic: some were delighted by the beauty of nature, others were impressed by the abundance of greenery and some were happy to see the sea coast.
Stalingrad avenue (Mira Avenue), the late 1940s
"They put us in a house, in a room with an earthen floor and a window with no glass": the hardships that the settlers had to face
The first settlers could occupy any empty house - there was no housing distribution system. Soon all the surviving houses and flats were taken into account. The housing stock was managed by civil administrations, housing offices functioned at large enterprises, and in villages flats were distributed by collective or state farm directors.
On the distribution of housing in rural areas (interesting fact)

In rural areas at the beginning of the mass settlement of the region the best houses were given to the collective farm superiors — the chairman and the members of the board. For example, in "Vernyi Put’" collective farm of Slavsky district after the chairman Arhipov retired in 1950 his house was divided among several teachers of local school.


State Archive of the Kaliningrad Oblast.
Fond P-1052, list 1, file 13, page 15.
The condition of the housing received was different — many houses had been destroyed during the war, and many flats had been looted before the mass settlement of the region began. Looters stole valuables and furniture, windows and doors, tiles and parquet. Some of the newcomers found only bare walls as they received their flats. At first there were problems with electricity and water supply.
“
We arrived at some village. It was a state farm. At that time all state farms were given numbers. I think it was "Baltiets" or "Yantarny". They put us in a house, in a room with an earthen floor and a window with no glass. Mum was crying, she didn’t want to get out of the car, she said to Dad: "Where have you brought us?"
Excerpt from the memories of Izabella A. Chirkova
The villagers: a folk story. Kaliningrad, 2006. P. 36.
The summer of 1946 was arid and poor in yield. As a consequence, in December 1946 the Soviet Union was hit by a terrible famine, which lasted until the next year’s harvest. The Kaliningrad region was not spared and experienced it very hard. There was a catastrophic shortage of food resources. There was no opportunity to replenish them with the new harvest, because the establishment of collective farms in the region had just begun, and settlers started to arrive en masse at the end of the agricultural season. Pyotr A. Ivanov, the Secretary of the Regional Committee and Vasily A. Borisov, the Head of the Civil Affairs Department, applied to neighbouring Lithuania for help but did not receive a positive response. The situation got worse because of severe frosts during the winter of 1946—1947. This period was a real ordeal for the settlers and the remaining German population of the region.
The difficulties of settling down in a new place, the mismatch between reality and recruiters’ stories, hunger and food shortage — all this led to a mass exodus of settlers to their homeland or to other regions ("obratnichestvo"). Between 1946 and 1950 215 587 people left the region. These figures take into account not only the "obratniks" (those who returned), but also those who were forced to leave this territory because of job transfers to another region (including their family members).
"We were always impressed by their punctuality": relations between the settlers and the Germans who remained in the region
After the war, a large German population (over 100 000 people) remained in the province, although most of the Germans left in 1944—1945 after the retreating German troops. Before the massive settlement of the region by the Soviet citizens, German labour was widely employed in factories and agriculture. The relationship between them and the incoming Soviet population varied: sometimes there were conflicts, but more often there was cooperation and collaboration.
“
We were always impressed by their punctuality. They would start work at nine o'clock and not a second later, [they] went to lunch dead on time, and [they] could leave a screw underwound.
Excerpt from the memories of Mikhail N. Churkin
East Prussia through the eyes of the Soviet settlers. St. Petersburg, 2002. P. 148.
The mass arrival of settlers made it possible to begin the gradual deportation of the Germans to the Soviet zone of German occupation in 1947. The vast majority of the Germans were repatriated between 1947 and 1948. In May 1951 the last group of 193 people left for the GDR.
The results of the mass settlement of the region
Despite all the difficulties, due to organized and spontaneous immigration, the Soviet population of the Kaliningrad region was formed in a short period of time. By 1 August 1946 there were about 84.5 thousand Soviet citizens in the region and by the beginning of 1950 their number increased to 467.4 thousand. The settlement of the region continued in the 1950s as well, but less intensively. The natural increase was taking precedence over the mechanical one.
The project was carried out with the support from the Government of the Kaliningrad Region. The study was conducted within the framework of "The history of transition from fires of the Great Patriotic war to a peaceful life: the history of the Kaliningrad Region" research