- Mayakovskoye
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Coordinates: 54°31′12″N 22°03′56″E / 54.52°N 22.06556°E
Angrapa River in Kaliningrad Oblast
Mayakovskoye (Russian: Маяко́вское; German: Nemmersdorf; Lithuanian: Nemirkiemis) is a rural locality (a settlement) in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located to the southeast of the town of Gusev, on the banks of the Angrapa (Angerapp) river.
Until 1945, the settlement Nemmersdorf was a part of German East Prussia. It became known during World War II on October 22, 1944 as the site of the first Soviet war crime on German territory against Germans, the Nemmersdorf massacre.
Place name [Edit]
The Old Prussian derived from the name refers to marshes in the area (nemiršele, "Marsh Forget-me-not"). After the massacre at that place names of Nemmersdorf was named the alleged members of the Red Army on 21 October 1944 German civilians committed.
History
Mayakovskoye developed as the Prussian village called Nemmersdorf. The Old Prussian name derived from the name refers to marshes in the area (nemiršele or "Marsh Forget-me-not").
The first documented mention of the village was in 1515 in a decree of the Central Office Insterburg (now Russian: Chernyakhovsk)[1].
In 1910 the village counted a total of 484 residents, the number rising to 637 by 1939[2]. Between 1874 and 1945 Nemmersdorf was the main urban centre to the administrative district within the county Nemmersdorf-Gumbinnen in the administrative district of Gumbinnen inside the Prussian province of East Prussia. The municipality included 13 rural communities including the villages Kaimelswerder (Russian: Maximowka), Gut Pennacken (Russian: Orlovka) and Waldhaus Nemmersdorf[3].
On 22 October 1944 the area was the scene of a massacre perpetrated by the Soviet soldiers against German civilians and French and Belgian noncombattants. Determining the facts has aroused controversy.[4]
Following World War Two Nemmersdorf came under Soviet administration in 1946 and received the new place name "Majakowskoje". The native German population who survived the massacre either fled or were formally expelled.
By the year 2009, the urban centre of "Mayakovsky Soviet" (village Soviet Majakowskoje) had been incorporated in the 27 villages. Because of structural and administrative reform in 2009 was Majakowskoje central location for the Majakowskoje selskoje posselenije (rural municipality Majakowskoje)[5].
ChurchThe Nemmersdorf stone church was constructed on the orders Albert, Duke of Prussia, but it was completed after his death, in 1589. It was a simple rectangular bay near the Angerapp (Russian: Angrapa) river, with sacristy facing east. In 1769 the church was renovated with an altar from the workshop of Isaac of Riga.[6].
The church has survived two world wars, despite the damage in 1944 and the nave has been preserved, now with a flat ceiling, although the tower is missing. After 1945 the church was used for other purposes and as a business building. In the early 1960s it was rebuilt and now serves as a cultural center and library.
Until 1945, Nemmersdorf was a predominantly Protestant with 30 Protestant clergy[7]. During the Soviet period church life was forbidden. Only in the 1990s was the new Kaliningrad Oblast evangelical church organised. The Parish belongs to the Provost's Kaliningrad Evangelical Lutheran Church in European Russia.[8]
Footnotes
- ^ http://www.kreis-gumbinnen.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=300&Itemnid=119
- ^ http://www.verwaltungsgeschichte.de/gumbinnen.html
- ^ http://territorial.de/ostp/gumbinn/nemmersd.htm
- ^ Fisch, Bernhard. Nemmersdorf, Oktober 1944: Was in Ostpreußen tatsächlich geschah. Berlin: 1997. ISBN 3-932180-26-7
- ^ Nach dem Gesetz über die Zusammensetzung und Territorien der munizipalen Gebilde der Oblast Kaliningrad vom 25. Juni/1. Juli 2009, nebst Gesetz Nr. 255 vom 30. Juni 2008, präzisiert durch Gesetz Nr. 370 vom 1. Juli 2009
- ^ http://www.ostpreussen.net/index.php?seite_id=12&kreis=05&stadt=03&bericht=02
- ^ Friedwald Moeller, Altpreußisches evangelisches Pfarrerbuch von der Reformation bis zur Vertreibung im Jahre 1945, Hamburg, 1968, Seite 100
- ^ http://www.propstei-kaliningrad.info/
References- Brandenburg, Christel Weiss and Dan Laing. Ruined by the Reich: Memoir of an East Prussian Family, 1916-1945. McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864-1615-7
- Dönhoff, Marion. Namen die keiner mehr nennt. Munich: Deutscher Taschenbücher Verlag, 1962.
- Fisch, Bernhard. Nemmersdorf, Oktober 1944: Was in Ostpreußen tatsächlich geschah. Berlin: 1997. ISBN 3-932180-26-7
- Samuel, Wolfgang. "War on the Ground", in The War of Our Childhood: Memories of World War II, University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 1-57806-482-1
- Thorwald, Jürgen.Wielka ucieczka (Große Flucht). Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1998. ISBN 83-08-02890-X
Categories:- Rural localities in Kaliningrad Oblast
- Northwestern Russia geography stubs
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