Zheleznodorozhny or Zheleznodorozhniy village is located in the Kaliningrad region, 70 km southeast of Kaliningrad. Founded in the 14th century as a fortification of the Teutonic Order, Zheleznodorozhny is now a slowly dying town in the south of the region, nevertheless preserving the romantic beauty of the ruins of East Prussia. In 1325, the Teutonic knights built a stone castle and a watermill, around which a settlement was formed, called Gerdauen. Over the next almost 700 years, little has changed here. During the Second World War, the city suffered little damage, and under Soviet rule it almost did not develop and retained the ensemble of a provincial Prussian town. In recent decades, the historical buildings left unattended have been gradually destroyed.
Zheleznodorozhniy is located on the Stogovka River (Pregolya basin), near the border with Poland, 70 km south-east of Kaliningrad and 22 km from the city of Pravdinsk. Zheleznodorozhniy has a railway station on the line Chernyakhovsk - Olsztyn (Poland).
Order Castle (XIV century) and the castle territory
Church of the
Order (XV century)
Historical building of the village
Water Mill
The Kinderhof brewery (as of 2010, abandoned and gradually falling apart
Outbuildings of the XIV century in Kooperativny Lane
Housekreis
(department of agriculture)
Monument of architecture boarding school
№ 6
Hospital "Kationov"
Two mass graves of soldiers who died in
1812
Mass graves of soldiers who died during the Second World War
Train Station
Residential buildings
Coming
water towers
burgher houses
monument to V. I. Lenin
The settlement was founded in the XIV century as the city of
Gerdauen. The name Gerdauen is derived from the name of Girdava, one
of the tribal leaders of the Prussians from the noble family of
Rendalia. The name Girdava is derived from the Prussian word
"girdin", which means "to speak". In 1260, Girdava together with his
father voluntarily converted to Christianity. During the Prussian
uprising of 1262, he fled to Konigsberg, under the protection of the
Teutonic Order. Dynasty ceased to exist as the ruling, and the town
became the property of the Order.
In 1325, the knight of the
Teutonic Order, Heinrich von Eisenberg, built a stone castle and a
dam with a water-mill on the site of the former fortifications.
German immigrants began to arrive in Gerdauen, settling around the
fortress. Over time, Gerdauen became a major provincial city. 66
land plots, which the Order gave to the city, were mastered in seven
years. From the same time in the village stands the church.
In 1398, the settlement near the walls of the castle of Gerdauen
received city rights. In 1404 there were 60 courtyards in the city.
In 1409 a school was opened.
In the XV century in Gerdauen
completed the arrangement of fortifications. The wall of the church
was connected with the fortress wall (later for these disappeared
city gates they began to consider a residential building built next
door and having an entrance arch). In 1585 and 1665 marked by strong
fires that destroyed almost the entire city.
Gerdauen sought
to be a free city, led the fight against the Teutonic Order. After
forty years of war, the crusader von Schlieben from Saxony restored
order and calm in the city. Having become a possession, the city
lost its administrative independence, becoming a private city (the
citizens' rights did not change at the same time). In the 18th
century, half of the villagers died of plague in the estate of von
Schlieben, about 800 people survived.
In 1718, the castle had
50 breweries. From all these breweries by 1939, only one Brauerei
Kinderhof brewery remained.
In 1909, a castle mill was built
in Gerdauen.
In the pre-war guides to Prussia there were
routes passing through Gerdauen, including the Bactinsee lake near
the dam, where until the XVIII century there was a four-meter
floating island.
In the First World War, the city lost about
half of its buildings, and was rebuilt in 1916-1918. a team of
authors under the leadership of Heinz Shtoffregena, becoming an
outstanding example of the "East Prussian restoration". The Second
World War, preserving the rebuilt buildings, destroyed most of the
older houses.
After World War II Gerdauen in the USSR. In
1946, renamed Zheleznodorozhny.
The status of urban
settlement MO "City settlement Zheleznodorozhny" - from February 1,
2006.
The settlement is far from the regional center (74 km
along the road, 135 km along the railway). It represents the best
example of a revived city, which even contemporaries confused with
the preserved medieval buildings, fairly, however, dilapidated and
continuing to collapse.
In the Soviet period, a brewery, butter-making and brick factories
worked in Zheleznodorozhny. There was also a large railway border
crossing, in which the European railway gauge enters the territory of
Russia. The European gauge line continues to the Chernyakhovsk freight
station, and a broad gauge line runs in parallel. After the collapse of
the USSR and with the development of road transport, the importance of
the railway crossing has decreased significantly. There has been no
regular passenger traffic since 2010.
As of 2012, the brewery is
abandoned, its building was arbitrarily disassembled into bricks by
local residents.
On the territory of the municipality "Urban
settlement Zheleznodorozhnoye" there are industrial enterprises: LLC
"Sirius" (brick factory), road enterprise DP2, a branch of the railway,
a branch of OJSC "Moloko", Zheleznodorozhny forestry, an agricultural
enterprise Pravdinskoye pig production, Znamya Labor, a collective farm
"Zarya", peasant farms and personal subsidiary farms, private enterprise
"Marbi", private enterprises for trade, household services, woodworking,
cultural institutions, education, medicine Federal structures:
hydrometeorological post, customs post, border point, post office,
office Sberbank of Russia, police station, subdivision of the Russian
Emergencies Ministry.
Head of the Municipal Formation "Urban Settlement Zheleznodorozhnoe".
Niklas von Rutter (XV century) - knight of the Teutonic Order,
captain of Gerdauen, landowner Willkamm.
Georg von Schlieben (XV
century) - a knight of the Teutonic Order and subsequently the owner of
extensive possessions in Prussia. In 1469 he acquired Gerdauen Castle
and the village of Nordenburg. He is considered the founder of the
Prussian branch of the noble Saxon family "Schlieben".
Johann
Friedrich von Schlieben (1630–1696), general and statesman.
Theodor
Gottlieb von Hippel the Elder (1741-1796) was a German statesman, writer
and critic. Burgomaster of Königsberg.
Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel
the Younger (1775-1843) - lawyer and official, freemason, friend of
Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, author of "An Mein Volk", governor of
Marienwerder and Oppeln. Member of the Prussian Progressive Reformers
and promoter of many liberal political ideas, including bilingual
education in Silesia.
Gustav Mehlhausen (1823–1913) was a Prussian
physician.
Julius Stobbe (1879–1952), German architect.
Helmut
Lobell (1894–1964) was a German physician and professor at the Wilhelm
University of Westphalia.
Joachim Freiherr von Braun (1905–1974),
German lawyer and forced migrant, cousin of Wernher von Braun.
Hans
Jenisch (1913-1982), German naval officer.
Elisabeth Löckenhoff
(1929–1985) was a German communications specialist who worked
extensively in press theory in the GDR. From 1972 until her death, she
was professor of journalism at the Free University of Berlin.
Wolfgang Jürkat (1929–2017) was a German mathematician and professor at
the University of Ulm.
Degenhard Sommer (1930-2020) - German
architect, professor at the Technical University of Vienna.
Heinrich
Küssner (1943–) was a German Protestant theologian, politician, and
member of the SPD.
Theodor Schulz (1770–1850) Herrnguter missionary and author of a
German-Arawakan dictionary.
Wilhelm Steputat (1868-1941) was a German
writer, lawyer and politician of Lithuanian origin.