A Region Divided into Three

East Prussia 1945
,
In the year the war ended, the division of East Prussia into areas later annexed by the Soviet Union and Poland had, in effect, already taken place. While the developments in the region shared many parallels, they also revealed key differences—differences that would prove to be defining for the decades that followed.
Until the summer of 1944, 
East Prussia
deu. Ostpreußen, pol. Prusy Wschodnie

East Prussia was the north-easternmost province of Prussia and at times one of the largest provinces of the Prussian state. The province goes back to the Duchy of Prussia, which was elevated to a kingdom in 1701. It emerged from the Teutonic Order in 1525, was initially a Polish fiefdom and only came under Brandenburg sovereignty in 1618. The territory was not formally given the name East Prussia until the 1770s, following the annexation of previously Polish territories as “West Prussia” as part of the first partition of Poland-Lithuania in 1772. In 1824, the two provinces were even merged to form a single province of Prussia, but separated again in 1878. The capital of the duchy and province was Königsberg until the end.

—the easternmost province of the German Reich—was considered safe from bombing. Nicknamed “Germany’s air-raid shelter,” it had become a refuge for evacuated schoolchildren, orphanages, and many women and children from other parts of the country. But this sense of security vanished overnight in late August 1944, when British bombers launched a heavy attack on 
Kaliningrad
deu. Königsberg, rus. Калинингра́д

Kaliningrad is a large city in present-day Russia with almost 500,000 inhabitants. It is located in the Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave between Lithuania and Poland, which roughly corresponds to the northern part of the Prussian province of East Prussia before 1945 (today excluding Lithuanian areas). Before 1945, Königsberg was not only the capital of the province and the northeasternmost major city in Prussia, but also royal capital and residence in Prussia from 1724.

. Just weeks later, in October, the first Soviet tank units entered East Prussia and parts of the Memel Territory. While some civilians were evacuated—among them the residents of the city of 
Klaipėda
deu. Memel

With almost 170,000 inhabitants, Klaipėda is Lithuania's third largest city and is located at the mouth of the Dange River (Danė in Lithuanian) into the Curonian Lagoon. Located on the Baltic Sea opposite the Curonian Spit, it has one of the largest year-round ice-free Baltic ports.

—others, like those living in 
Šilutė
deu. Heydekrug

Šilutė (formerly Heydekrug) is a town in the far west of Lithuania, just a few kilometers from the border with the Russian Kaliningrad Oblast in the south and from the shore of the Curonian Lagoon. Within the Prussian province of East Prussia, the town has been a district town since 1818. From 1920, the town and large parts of the district were part of Memelland, which was initially administered by France from 1920 as a result of the Treaty of Versailles and annexed by Lithuania in 1923.

, were completely unprepared for the invasion of the Red Army that same month. In the late fall of 1944, the Gauleitung, the East Prussian state authority at the time, imposed a strict ban on escape south of the 
Neman
rus. Нѣманъ, rus. Njeman, rus. Neman, rus. Неман, lit. Nemunas, bel. Nëman, bel. Njoman, bel. Нёман, deu. Njemen, pol. Niemen, deu. Memel, rus. Němanʺ

The Memel is a 937-kilometre-long river that rises not far from Minsk in Belarus and flows into the Baltic Sea via the Curonian Lagoon south of the Lithuanian city of Klaipėda. On its lower course along the northern border of the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, it is at times a Lithuanian-Russian border river, before briefly forming a small part of the Belarusian-Lithuanian border on its middle course. For centuries, the Memel was used as a waterway, and in the 18th and 19th centuries it was expanded and connected to other rivers by canal systems. However, its economic importance came to an end after the First World War. Before Kaunas, the Memel has been dammed for a hydroelectric power plant since 1960.

. Even preparing for escape, such as constructing a covered wagon, was punished. 
It was not until early January 1945, with the launch of the Soviet offensive, that civilians were finally allowed—and urgently required—to leave their homes. By then, however, it was far too late. The delay, largely attributed to East Prussia’s Gauleiter Erich Koch, resulted in a rushed and chaotic evacuation. A particularly harsh winter further complicated the escape, claiming many lives. As the Red Army advanced, railway links to Königsberg were severed. Most rural residents fled using their own horses and carts, forming massive, slow-moving convoys known as trecks. Families were torn apart. Entire wagons broke through the thin ice of the 
Vistula Lagoon
deu. Frisches Haff, rus. Калининградский залив, rus. Kaliningradski saliw, pol. Zalew Wiślany, rus. Вислинский залив, rus. Wislinkij saliw, . Aīstinmari, pol. Zalew Fryski, pol. Zatoka Świeża, pol. Fryszchaf, lat. Mare Recens et Neriam, rus. Kaliningradskij zaliv, rus. Vislinskij zaliv, pol. Zatoka Fryska, deu. Vrychsches Mer, lat. Recenti Mari Hab, deu. Weichselhaff, eng. Gulf of Kaliningrad, pol. Zalew Kaliningradzki, deu. Vrische Hab, eng. Friesches Haven

The Vistula Lagoon is largely separated from the Baltic Sea by the Vistula Spit. Almost two thirds of its 838 km² have belonged to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad since 1945, the rest to Poland. The lagoon is located in the historical region of West Prussia. The right branch of the Vistula - the Nogat - flows into the lagoon. In addition to the natural passage near the Russian town of Baltiysk (formerly Pillau), an artificial canal has existed on the Polish side since 2022, creating a new artificial island in the lagoon. Both during the Third Reich and after the Second World War in Poland, there were plans to drain the Vistula Lagoon.

, which had become a desperate last escape route. Others perished aboard refugee ships torpedoed in the Baltic Sea, while countless infants and young children froze to death along the way. Eventually, the Red Army blocked all overland routes leading to the west and, between February and April 1945, deported able-bodied civilians—including many young women—deep into the Soviet Union. Then the division of East Prussia began: the Memel Territory and northern East Prussia, including the Königsberg area, were annexed by the Lithuanian and Russian Soviet Republics, respectively. Southern East Prussia was handed over to 
Poland
deu. Polen, eng. Republic of Poland, pol. Polska, lit. Lenkijos Respublika, bel. Polʹŝa, bel. Polʹšča, bel. Польшча, . Pòlskô, yid. republyq pyn pojln, yid. republyk pyn pojln, yid. rʿpublyq pyn pojln, yid. pojln, yid. רעפובליק פון פוילן, yid. polin, yid. פוילן

Poland is located on the Baltic Sea and is the largest state (population in 2023: 37,636,508, area: 313,964 km²) in East Central Europe. The name of the state is derived from the West Slavic Polans, who brought more and more territories under their rule from the 9th century onwards, which were known as Duchy of Poland in the 10th century. Under Mieszko (ca. 960-992), the extent of the country reached approximately its current borders. He was at times subject to tribute to the German Emperor, at least for parts of his land. Poland probably adopted Christianity in 966 and from 1025 it was a kingdom. Between 1138 and 1295, the country was fragmented as a result of inheritance disputes. The extinction of the ruling Piast dynasty led to a Polish-Hungarian personal union in 1370, which was replaced by a Polish-Lithuanian dual monarchy as early as 1386 due to pressure from the Polish nobility. The growing role of the nobility resulted in an elective monarchy in 1572. However, the disunity of the nobility led to the three partitions of Poland (1772-1795) between Prussia, Russia and the Habsburg Monarchy. Poland only became independent after the end of the First World War in 1918 and lost its independence in 1939 after the German attack from the west at the beginning of the Second World War and the Russian invasion from the east. From 1945-1989 it was a satellite state of the Soviet Union. Poland has been a member of the European Union since 2004.

.

Return to the Memel Territory

Survivors of the refugee trecks—primarily people from rural areas who had been overtaken by the Red Army during the winter and spring of 1945—were ordered by Soviet military authorities to return to their home villages, provided they had not been conscripted for forced labor along the way. In most cases, Soviet soldiers had confiscated horses and food supplies. Those returning to areas north of the Memel River, in what had once been the Memel Territory, were met with unpleasant surprises. As early as February 1945, the 
Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic
rus. Литовская Советская Социалистическая Республика, lit. Lietuvos Tarybų Socialistinė Respublika, deu. Litauische Sozialistische Sowjetrepublik

The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (LiSSR) was one of the union republics of the Soviet Union for the first time from 1940 and again from 1944 - after the end of the German occupation in the Second World War. Lithuania only regained its independence in 1990.

 government had begun resettling new inhabitants in the region. Many of the best houses were already occupied by the time the original residents returned. Lithuanians who had fled the city of Memel in 1939 following its forced annexation to East Prussia now came back to reclaim homes and property.

Königsberg

The city of Königsberg, which had been declared a fortress by the Nazis, fell on April 9, 1945. The Red Army drove the civilian population out of the city, forcing them to march through the surrounding area for days and crowding them, at night, into whatever makeshift shelters or barns were nearby. These marches were interrupted by interrogations, arrests, and acts of sexual violence. After several days, civilians were allowed to return and found their city completely looted and ravaged by fires. Any decent housing was quickly requisitioned by the occupying forces, and the Germans had to make do with whatever makeshift accommodation they could find. There was no running water, no sewage system, and no electricity in 1945. These services only gradually began functioning again the following year—but even then, only to a very limited extent.
In the course of occupying the region, Soviet soldiers in many areas engaged in willful destruction of houses, factories, and their contents. In all three parts of East Prussia, units of the Red Army were stationed to register war booty and oversee its dismantling and transport to the Soviet Union. This included factory equipment, narrow-gauge railways, and their associated tracks. As these units had to supply their own rations, subsidiary farms were set up, or existing farms were seized. Civilians were conscripted for agricultural labor. This proved difficult, however, as the remaining livestock had been transported into the interior of the Soviet Union in the spring of 1945, and agricultural machinery had already been requisitioned as war booty. In most cases, the yields were not sufficient to feed both the military and the labor force. Both the Soviet-Lithuanian and Polish governments lodged objections to the dismantling operations and attempted to halt them—but without success.

Southern East Prussia

On March 14, 1945, the Polish government decided to provisionally divide the former German territories into four administrative districts, which they named “Regained Territories”. One of these was the southern, now Polish, part of East Prussia. It wasn’t until the end of May 1946 that it officially became the 
Voivodeship Olsztyn
deu. Woiwodschaft Olsztyn

The Olsztyn Voivodeship was established in 1945 as one of the higher-level administrative units of the People's Republic of Poland, whereby it was initially one of 14 voivodeships (plus the cities of Warsaw and Łódź, which also had the status of a voivodeship). The eponymous capital was the East Prussian city of Olsztyn (Allenstein). After changing borders several times in the course of territorial and administrative reforms in 1950 and 1975, the voivodeship was merged into the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship (województwo warmińsko-mazurskie) in 1999.

. According to estimates from July 31, 1945, this Polish section of East Prussia had a population of 30,828—4,933 in towns and 25,895 in rural areas. As in other parts of East Prussia, the population was predominantly female, with a high proportion of children and young people. In addition, new settlers from Poland’s former eastern regions began arriving—particularly people with rural backgrounds from 
Volhynia
deu. Wolhynien, pol. Wolyń, ukr. Воли́нь, ukr. Wolyn, deu. Wolynien, lit. Voluinė, rus. Волы́нь, rus. Wolyn

The historical landscape of Volhynia is located in northwestern Ukraine on the border with Poland and Belarus. Already in the late Middle Ages the region fell to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and from 1569 on belonged to the united Polish-Lithuanian noble republic for more than two centuries. After the partitions of Poland-Lithuania at the end of the 18th century, the region came under the Russian Empire and became the name of the Volhynia Governorate, which lasted until the early 20th century. The Russian period also saw the immigration of German-speaking population (the so-called Volhyniendeutsche), which peaked in the second half of the 19th century. After the First World War Volhynia was divided between Poland and the Ukrainian Soviet Republic, from 1939, as a result of the Hitler-Stalin Pact, completely Soviet and already in 1941 occupied by the Wehrmacht. Under German occupation there was systematic persecution and murder of the Jewish population as well as other parts of the population.
After World War II, Volhynia again belonged to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and since 1992 to Ukraine. The landscape gives its name to the present-day Ukrainian oblast with its capital Luzk (ukr. Луцьк), which is not exactly congruent.

 and the 
Vilnius Region
lit. Vilniaus kraštas, bel. Vilenščyna, bel. Vìlenščyna, bel. Віленшчына, pol. Wileńszczyzna, deu. Wilnagebiet

The Vilnius region is a large area around the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, which in the years following the First World War was claimed equally by the two states that became independent in 1918, Poland, Lithuania and the Soviet Union. From the beginning of 1919, there were several alternating occupations of the area, which was annexed by Poland in the fall of 1920 as a result of the Polish-Lithuanian War. The region subsequently declared itself independent as the Republic of Lithuania Minor (Litwa Środkowa), before joining Poland in 1922.
From today's perspective, the Vilnius region extended on both sides and almost along the entire length of today's Lithuanian-Belarusian border.

. By late summer, their numbers had grown to around 25,000.
In May 1945, the Soviet military authorities in the Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany (SBZ) began sending refugees back to East Prussia. Public notices were issued, urging former residents to return by September 1, 1945, if they wished to retain their property rights there. The rural population, in particular, responded to this call. In some cases, trains were arranged for their return, but many made the journey on foot. To support these movements, authorities in the SBZ carried out checks of local registration records to identify people’s former places of residence, and in some cases, threatened to block access to food ration cards. The background to this policy was the Soviet occupation forces’ need for agricultural laborers to support their army units stationed in East Prussia.
On July 16, 1945, on the eve of the Potsdam Conference, Soviet border guards were deployed along the 
Braniewo
deu. Braunsberg

Braniewo ist eine Kleinstadt im äußersten Norden Polens mit gut 16.000 Einwohner:innen (Januar 2024). Sie liegt nur wenige Kilometer entfernt von der Grenze zur russischen Oblast Kaliningrad und dem Frischen Haff im historischen Ostpreußen. Die Stadt war im Mittelalter nicht nur bedeutende Hafen- und Handelsstadt und Mitglied der Hanse, sondern auch Standort einer bis heute erhaltenen Deutschordensburg.

Vištytis
yid. vyšṭynec, rus. Виштитис, lit. Vystyčiai, deu. Wyschtyten, deu. Wystiten, pol. Wisztyniec, yid. vyšṭyneṣ, yid. vyšṭynʿṣ, yid. vishtinets, yid. ווישטינעץ, rus. Vištytis, rus. Vištynec, rus. Vyštynec, rus. Выштынец, rus. Виштынец

Vištytis is a town with just over 300 inhabitants (2021) in south-western Lithuania, located directly on the border with the Russian Kaliningrad Oblast.

 line, which today forms the southern border of the 
Oblast Kaliningrad
rus. Kaliningradskaja Oblast, deu. Kaliningrader Gebiet, rus. Калининградская область

Kaliningrad Oblast (rus. Калининградская область) is located between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea. The oblast is an exclave of Russia and at the same time its westernmost part. It is inhabited by around 1 million people. The capital of the oblast is Kaliningrad (formerly Königsberg).

. From that point on, the area was completely sealed off, as all travel in and out was prohibited. The Soviet delegation formally submitted this proposed border line to the Potsdam Conference on July 22, 1945. However, it had already been agreed upon in a secret pact between the USSR and the Lublin Committee (the precursor to the Provisional Government of the Polish People’s Republic) on July 27, 1944. Since as early as February 1945, Polish authorities had begun settling people from the former Polish eastern territories in villages located near this future Soviet border. For nearly a year, Polish border troops tried to challenge the proposed boundary through unconventional means.

Reparations, violence, and looting

The only connection to Germany was via freight trains. German railway workers were tasked with transporting reparation goods from Greater Berlin and the Soviet Occupation Zone into northern East Prussia. There, the cargo was transferred onto broad-gauge tracks and sent deep into the Soviet Union. During the summer, 300 freight trains, each with 50 wagons, were in constant operation. All postal traffic from the Königsberg region and the Memel territory was routed through 
Moskwa
eng. Moscow, deu. Moskau, rus. Москва, rus. Kučkov, rus. Kučkovo, rus. Кучков, rus. Кучково, rus. Moskov, rus. Moskovʺ, rus. Московъ, rus. Москов, rus. Moskva

Moscow (population 2023: 12,412,154) is the capital of the Russian Federation and the most populous city located entirely in Europe. It is located in the west of the country. Moscow is also the capital of the Central Russian Federal District. With a population of 13,149,803, the administrative unit City of Federal Importance Moscow includes several other localities. The city is by far the most important political, economic, scientific and cultural center of the country.

Moscow was built around the 11th/12th century. The creation of the fortifications (Kremlin) is dated to the beginning of the second half of the 12th century. In the 13th century, Moscow became the capital of a sub-principality of the Grand Duchy of Vladimir. In the 14th century, the princes of Moscow established themselves as the rulers of the entire Rus. However, in 1247-1480 Rus was subject to tribute to the Golden Horde which devastated Moscow in 1238. In 1571, the almost completely wooden city was burned down by Tatar troops. At this time, however, Moscow was the undisputed center of power in Russia. The first higher education institution in Russia was opened in the city in 1687 and it's first university in 1775. Peter the Great moved the capital to St. Petersburg in 1712. In addition to the loss of power, weakened by riots and plagues, its development lagged behind that of the new capital. The invasion of Napoleon's troops in 1812 brought a deep break in Moscow's development, and the city's population set fire to their houses to defend themselves. The reconstruction that quickly began gave Moscow a modern cityscape.

In the 1890s, Moscow's population exceeded 1,000,000, and shortly after the October Revolution in 1917 and the transfer of the capital of Russia and the Soviet Union to Moscow in 1918, the city's population surpassed that of St. Petersburg. Moscow experienced an enormous expansion of its public infrastructure, and numerous showpiece buildings were constructed up until the Second World War. However, the partly considerable expansion of living space was never able to keep pace with the population growth, which could not be slowed down by various immigration restrictions, some of which still apply today. However, the city also grew as a result of incorporations, particularly in 1960 and 2012.

In 1980, Moscow hosted the Summer Olympics. In the following years, however, the growing crisis in the Soviet Union also affected the city, which, following the decentralized movements in the republics and unrest in Russia itself, was finally directly affected by the attempted coup in 1991. After the final collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, Moscow remained the capital of Russia, a much smaller but still the largest country in the world in terms of area. Since then, the city center in particular has been increasingly characterized by modern, prestigious buildings. The reconstruction of churches that were destroyed or repurposed during the Soviet era, the renovation of buildings from the pre-Soviet era in the city center and the expansion of the transport infrastructure on the outskirts are further features of the city's development in the post-Soviet era.

, and correspondence from the Polish part of East Prussia to Germany was likewise subject to surveillance. Radios had been generally confiscated by the Red Army, and up-to-date newspapers were not yet available. As had already occurred in the Memel territory at the turn of the year 1944/45, the ruble was introduced as the means of payment in the Königsberg region in May 1945—though people were not able to exchange their German money through any official channels.
Especially in rural areas, German civilians were left defenseless against marauding and looting soldiers. Many abandoned their isolated farms and homes to seek refuge in larger parish villages—and above all, in the towns. Arson, assaults, murders, and rapes were daily occurrences throughout the region. Looting was equally widespread, with raiders arriving from the Lithuanian and Polish heartlands to systematically strip homes of property and possessions. Villages that were completely looted and left without German inhabitants after the war often held no interest even for incoming Soviet citizens and gradually vanished from the map.
As of September 1, 1945, a total of 139,902 civilians were registered in northern East Prussia. In addition, there were large numbers of former forced laborers and concentration camp prisoners who had not yet decided whether to return home. Also present were some groups of Belgian, French, and Italian prisoners of war, who were gathered and repatriated in accordance with inter-Allied agreements. By late summer, German prisoners of war were being put to work in Memel, Heydekrug, and Kaliningrad, clearing mines, removing rubble, and helping with reconstruction.
Throughout the entire first year after the war, northern East Prussia remained under the authority of a military command. The region had not yet been formally incorporated into the Soviet Union, and there was no plan in place for dealing with the remaining German civilian population. Many soldiers and officers were demobilized locally right after the war and brought their wives and children to join them. In September 1945, the first Russian school was opened—and it remained the only one operating that school year. For the local children who had remained in the area, there were no official educational opportunities at all during the 1945–46 school year.

Work under the occupiers

Immediately after the arrival of the Red Army, the German population was issued orders to work. Everyone aged 14 and older was required to contribute, though even younger children often worked just to earn the bare minimum amount of bread. Finding steady employment in the Königsberg region was difficult—but only those who worked were eligible for a bread ration card. Children were listed on their mother’s registration form, which entitled them to 200 grams of bread. If someone died, their registration form had to be surrendered to the military command office. If a mother died, her children had to find another adult willing to take them onto their form—something that depended entirely on the discretion of the authorities. Children and the elderly who had no working relatives were simply left to their fate.
In October 1945, the Soviet military administration conducted a population count in the city of Königsberg. It recorded 59,120 Germans, roughly half of all German civilians in the entire Soviet-occupied area. Of these, 42,000 were classified as “unfit for work.” This category included not only children, the sick, and the disabled, but also those who, for a range of reasons, were unable to find registered employment. After all, there was no functioning labor market anymore. Nevertheless, many Germans worked as domestic helpers, piano teachers, or seamstresses in Russian households, typically paid in kind and often expected to work on Sundays as well. Market vendors, cigarette sellers, and casual laborers were also counted among the 42,000 officially deemed “unfit for work.”

Religious reorganization

In the immediate aftermath of the war, structured, regulated medical care had all but collapsed. In some towns, hospitals were still operating with a handful of German doctors, often thanks to the dedication of deaconesses or nuns serving as nurses. In all three parts of the region, Protestants and Catholics continued to gather for church services, held by the few remaining clergy. These gatherings were closely monitored by the Soviet authorities, but generally permitted. In the Memel territory, where the use of German had been banned as an official language, services were held in Lithuanian. In the Polish-administered area, such a rule could not be enforced in the early postwar years. Religious structures in the now Polish part of East Prussia changed rapidly and fundamentally. The Polish settlers were almost exclusively Catholic, including priests from the Archdiocese of Vilnius and the Diocese of Łuck. Although Protestant communities were still allowed to practice their faith, they were required to hand over many of their churches to the larger and growing Catholic congregations.
From the beginning of 1945—well before the end of the war was even in sight—the Soviet-Lithuanian and Polish People’s governments began taking steps to incorporate parts of the East Prussian region into their respective spheres of control. The Königsberg area, by contrast, remained in a state of limbo as a provisional military district well beyond the end of the year, offering the German population no sense of what lay ahead. It was not until April 7, 1946, that the region was formally annexed to the Russian Soviet Republic.
English translation: William Connor

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