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Chernyakhovsk (; ; ; ) is a town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, and the administrative center of Chernyakhovsky District. With a population of 35,705 as of 2023, it is the third-largest city of the Kaliningrad Oblast (behind Kaliningrad and Sovetsk).
It is located at the confluence of the Instruch and Angrapa rivers, which unite to become the Pregolya river below Chernyakhovsk.
Founded in 1337, it is one of the main towns of the region of Lithuania Minor. It was formerly inhabited by Lithuanians, Germans, Poles and French. It was the location of a German-operated prisoner-of-war camp for Allied POWs during World War II. It has a number of preserved heritage sights, including the ruins of two medieval castles and a historic stud farm. It hosts the Chernyakhovsk Air Base.
Insterburg became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701, and because the area had been depopulated by plague in the early 18th century, King Frederick William I of Prussia invited Protestantism refugees who had been expelled from the Archbishopric of Salzburg to settle in Insterburg in 1732. French-language Calvinist church services were held in the town for several decades since 1731. During the Seven Years' War, the town was occupied by Russian Empire.
Insterburg became a part of the German Empire following the 1871 unification of Germany, and on May 1, 1901, it became an independent city separate from Insterburg District. During World War I the Russian Army seized Insterburg on 24 August 1914, but it was retaken by Germany on 11 September 1914. The Weimar Republic era after World War I saw the town separated from the rest of the country as the province of East Prussia had become an exclave. The association football club Yorck Boyen Insterburg was formed in 1921.
After 1989, a group of people introduced the Akhal-Teke horse breed to the area and opened an Akhal-Teke breeding stable.
Mayovka, formerly a separate village, forms part of the town.
The town's coat of arms, adopted in 2002, was based on the historic coat of arms of the town that before 1946 was known under its original name – Insterburg.
The full version of coat of arms in question has a picture of a Prussian man with a horn and the Latin initials G.F. for the Regent of Prussia George Frederick, margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1543–1603), who gave Insterburg the status of town and with it his family coat of arms.
The case brought before the court follows a trend among several towns in the region that have announced their intentions to change their coat of arms as tensions mount between Russia and the West following the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014 and its support for pro-Russian separatists in Donbas.
Late modern period
During the Napoleonic Wars, French troops passed through the town in 1806, 1807, 1811 and 1813. In 1818, after the Napoleonic Wars, the town became the seat of Insterburg District within the Gumbinnen Region. Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly died at Insterburg in 1818 on his way from his manor to Germany, where he wanted to renew his health. Following the unsuccessful November Uprising, Polish insurgents were interned in the town in 1832. In 1863, a Polish secret organization was founded and operated in Insterburg, which was involved in arms trafficking to the Russian Partition of Poland during the January Uprising. Since May 1864, the leader of the organization was Józef Racewicz.
World War II and post-war period
During World War II, the Germans operated a Dulag Luft transit prisoner-of-war camp for Allied POWs in the town. (2025). 9780253060891, Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. ISBN 9780253060891 A local branch of the Peasant Battalions was established by the Polish resistance, under the cryptonym "Wystruć", the historic Polish name of the town. Several French forced laborers cooperated with the Polish resistance. The town was heavily bombed by the United Kingdom Royal Air Force on July 27, 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. On 7 April 1946, Insterburg was renamed as Chernyakhovsk in honor of the Soviet World War II Army General, Ivan Chernyakhovsky, who commanded the army that first entered East Prussia in 1944.
Administrative and municipal status
Within the framework of administrative divisions, Chernyakhovsk serves as the administrative center of Chernyakhovsky District.Resolution #640 As an administrative division, it is, together with five rural localities, incorporated within Chernyakhovsky District as the town of district significance of Chernyakhovsk. As a municipal division, the town of district significance of Chernyakhovsk is incorporated within Chernyakhovsky Municipal District as Chernyakhovskoye Urban Settlement.Law #262
Population trends
4,972, without militaryA. E. Henning: Topographisch-historische Beschreibung der Stadt Insterburg. Königsberg 1794, p. 44. 16,303Michael Rademacher: Deutsche Verwaltungsgeschichte Ostpreußen - Kreis Insterburg (2006) 18,745 22,227 31,624, incl. 437 Catholics and 348 Jews 27,787, incl. 788 Catholics and 350 Jews Meyers Koversations-Lexikon. 6. Auflage, Band 9, Leipzig und Wien 1908, p. 873. 31,624, incl. 29,672 Protestants and 1,040 Catholics 39,311, incl. 36,792 Protestants, 1,174 Catholics, 86 other Christians, and 338 Jews 41,230, incl. 39,458 Protestants, 1,078 Catholics, five other Christians, and 273 Jews 43,620, incl. 40,677 Protestants, 1,388 Catholics, 563 other Christians, and 87 Jews approx. 29,100 approx. 35,600 39,622 44,323 40,449
Military
Chernyakhovsk is home to the Chernyakhovsk naval air facility.
Coat of arms controversy
September 2019 the local court ruled that the coat of arms was illegal because it carries "elements of foreign culture." The local court alleged that Russian laws do not allow the use of foreign languages and symbols in Russian state symbols and ordered the town "to remove any violations of the law."
Notable people
Twin towns and sister cities
Chernyakhovsk is twinned with:
Notes
Sources
External links
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