Chernyakhovsk

Chernyakhovsk (English) Черняховск (Russian)
-  Town[citation needed]  -
Mikhaylovsky Cathedral
Location of Kaliningrad Oblast in Russia
Chernyakhovsk
Coordinates: 54°38′05″N 21°48′43″E / 54.63472°N 21.81194°E / 54.63472; 21.81194Coordinates: 54°38′05″N 21°48′43″E / 54.63472°N 21.81194°E / 54.63472; 21.81194
Coat of arms	Flag
Administrative status
Country	Russia
Federal subject	Kaliningrad Oblast
Administrative center of	Chernyakhovsky District[citation needed]
Municipal status (as of July 2009)
Municipal district	Chernyakhovsky Municipal District[citation needed]
Urban settlement	Chernyakhovskoye Urban Settlement[citation needed]
Statistics
Population (2010 Census, preliminary)	40,464 inhabitants[1]
Population (2002 Census)	44,323 inhabitants[2]
Time zone	USZ1 (UTC+03:00)[3]
Founded	1336[citation needed]
Previous names	Insterburg (until 1946)[citation needed]
Dialing code(s)	+7 40141[citation needed]
Official website

Chernyakhovsk (Russian: Черняхо́вск; German:  Insterburg (help·info); Lithuanian: Įsrutis; Polish: Wystruć) is a town and the administrative center of Chernyakhovsky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Instruch and the Angrapa Rivers, forming the Pregolya. Population: 40,464 (2010 Census preliminary results);^[1] 44,323 (2002 Census);^[2] 39,622 (1989 Census).^[4]

It is home to the Chernyakhovsk naval air facility.

History

In 1336, after the Prussian Crusade, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights Dietrich von Altenburg founded a castle called Instierburg at the site of a former Old Prussian fortification. During their campaign against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the place was devastated in 1376 and again by Polish troops in 1457. The castle had been rebuilt as the seat of a Procurator and a settlement grew up to serve it, also called Insterburg.

When Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach in 1525 securalized the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights, Insterburg became part of the Duchy of Prussia and was granted town privileges on 10 October 1583 by the Prussian regent Margrave George Frederick. The town became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701. Because the area had been depopulated by plague in the early 18th century, King Frederick William I of Prussia invited Protestant refugees who had been expelled from the Archbishopric of Salzburg to settle in Insterburg in 1732.

In 1818 after the Napoleonic Wars, the town became the capital of the Insterburg District within the Gumbinnen Region. Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly died at Insterburg in 1818 on his way from his Livonian manor to Germany, where he wanted to renew his health.

Insterburg became part of the German Empire during the 1871 unification of Germany. On 1 May 1901 it became an independent city separate from the Insterburg District. After World War I, the town was separated from the rest of Weimar Germany, as the province of East Prussia had become an exclave. The football club Yorck Boyen Insterburg was formed in 1921.

During World War II, Insterburg was heavily bombed by the British Royal Air Force on 27 July 1944. The town was stormed by Red Army troops on January 21–22, 1945. As part of the northern part of East Prussia, Insterburg was transferred from Germany to the Soviet Union after the war as previously agreed between the victorious powers at the Potsdam Conference. The German population was either evacuated or expelled and replaced with Russians. In 1946 Insterburg was renamed Chernyakhovsk in honor of the Soviet World War II General of the army Ivan Chernyakhovsky, who was killed in the Battle of Königsberg.

After the fall of the Iron Curtain a group of people introduced the Akhal-Teke horse breed to the area and opened an Akhal-Teke breeding stable.

Notable residents

• Martin Grünberg (1665-18th century), architect
• Eduard Heinrich von Flottwell (1786–1865), politician
• Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Jordan (1819–1904), writer and politician
• Ernst Wichert (1831–1902), author
• Therese Malten (1855–1930), opera singer
• Gerhard Neumann (1911–1996), physical oceanographer
• Kurt Kuhlmey (1913–1993), Bundeswehr major general
• Kurt Plenzat (1914–1998), military officer
• Traugott Buhre (1929–2009), actor
• Harry Boldt (born 1930), Olympic champion in dressage
• Wolfgang Brix (1930–2006), politician
• Jürgen Schmude (born 1936), politician (SPD)

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Russia

Twin towns/sister cities

Chernyakhovsk is twinned with:

• Brzeg Dolny, Poland
• Grudziądz, Poland
• Kirchheimbolanden, Germany, since 2002
• Marijampolė, Lithuania
• Węgorzewo, Poland, since 1996

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Федеральная служба государственной статистики (Federal State Statistics Service) (2011). "Предварительные итоги Всероссийской переписи населения 2010 года (Preliminary results of the 2010 All-Russian Population Census)" (in Russian). Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года (All-Russia Population Census of 2010). Federal State Statistics Service. http://www.perepis-2010.ru/results_of_the_census/results-inform.php. Retrieved 2011-04-25. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Федеральная служба государственной статистики (Federal State Statistics Service) (2004-05-21). "Численность населения России, субъектов Российской Федерации в составе федеральных округов, районов, городских поселений, сельских населённых пунктов – районных центров и сельских населённых пунктов с населением 3 тысячи и более человек (Population of Russia, its federal districts, federal subjects, districts, urban localities, rural localities—administrative centers, and rural localities with population of over 3,000)" (in Russian). Всероссийская перепись населения 2002 года (All-Russia Population Census of 2002). Federal State Statistics Service. http://www.perepis2002.ru/ct/doc/1_TOM_01_04.xls. Retrieved 2010-03-23. 
3. ^ Правительство Российской Федерации. Постановление №725 от 31 августа 2011 г. «О составе территорий, образующих каждую часовую зону, и порядке исчисления времени в часовых зонах, а также о признании утратившими силу отдельных Постановлений Правительства Российской Федерации». Вступил в силу по истечении 7 дней после дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Российская Газета", №197, 6 сентября 2011 г. (Government of the Russian Federation. Resolution #725 of August 31, 2011 On the Composition of the Territories Included into Each Time Zone and on the Procedures of Timekeeping in the Time Zones, as Well as on Abrogation of Several Resolutions of the Government of the Russian Federation. Effective as of after 7 days following the day of the official publication).
4. ^ "Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 г. Численность наличного населения союзных и автономных республик, автономных областей и округов, краёв, областей, районов, городских поселений и сёл-райцентров. (All Union Population Census of 1989. Present population of union and autonomous republics, autonomous oblasts and okrugs, krais, oblasts, districts, urban settlements, and villages serving as district administrative centers.)" (in Russian). Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 года (All-Union Population Census of 1989). Demoscope Weekly (website of the Institute of Demographics of the State University—Higher School of Economics. 1989. http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus89_reg.php. Retrieved 2010-03-23. 

External links

Postcard view of Hindenburgstraße in Insterburg, ca. 1890

• Chernyakhovsk town website with many photos of Chernyakhovsk and Insterburg, old and new town maps, town history.
• Akhal-Teke breeding farm and dressage club "Insterburg"
• Chernyakhovsk web portal