Panic…panicking…panic-struck. Again, I can smell smoke drifting in through the window. The fires never seem to stop. It has been ten days now.

I remember again, last thursday, the fire is at the back fence. It is hot and smokey. I am grabbing things from inside the house, shoving them into bags. They're things I think I might need, things that might be important. Actually, I'm not thinking at all. Fear has taken over. It's instinctive.

I'm in my library. What books to take? Two walls are lined with book shelves. There are more stacked on the desk, and on the floor. There's never enough room for my books. What should I take? What should I save from the fire? I want them all. But I've only got seconds to decide. I want a particular book – a family history – where is it? I can't see it? It should be here, at this spot. But it's not. I grab two books, don't even look at them, but feel they are the right ones. I shove them in a bag, then run out of the house, throw them into the car.

It is at that moment that a fireman puts his hand on my shoulder: “Will you stay or go?” he asks. “Stay, I want to stay” I say. I don't go back to the library. All the books will be saved because I'm staying.

Later on, I bring back the bags from the car. I wonder what I have a taken. Family photos, a passport (expired), some jewellery, my wallet. No clothes, no food. Its all very light, easy to carry. Except for two books. One is the family history. The other is Ostpreussen in 1440 Bildern. They are both heavy and awkward to carry. Bloodlines, and unremembered memories. It seems a strange collection of things to face the future with – a collection chosen by instinct in a moment of dread. Trepidation has made the choices, not thought. But perhaps there is a logic in the instinct?

At first I think “material things – they don't matter – when you really have to chose, it suddenley all seems meaningless – the books are just books”. My cats and chickens had been saved by someone else – that mattered. But choosing which material things to save didn't seem to matter at the moment when choosing was most pressing. Later, however, the collection of odds and ends does matter – something beyond rational thought made me choose some things but not others. They are not just odds and ends – they are a survival kit of some sort.

What they had cost bore no relationship to the choices. It seems to come down to things to do with identity, with not forgetting who I am or how I have come to be. Personal things. Family photos, family history – they are the genealogical remembering; passport and things in wallet – documents to prove identity to others; jewellery and wallet – money for food, clothes and other things in the future: – the odd and ends begin to make sense. It just leaves Ostpreussen in 1440 Bildern – a heavy book, a type of remembering, or perhaps a bridge to another time-place. Somehow, it has come with me. I can't escape it.

Bushfires have been raging through the Blue Mountains for over seven days, all around my home. Yesterday, the fire front reached my back yard. It had broken through two containment lines. These lines encircle the town, concentric defences against attack by wild fires from the bush or forest.

I had never realised this before, but yesterday I saw the lines very clearly, and saw the fire coming upon each one, sometimes in a great rush, a huge wall of fire, roaring and flaming many metres skywards, with confusing clouds of smoke swirling everywhere; at other times silently dropping little embers from the sky on the other side of the line, each one flaring up and staring a new fire unless quickly extinguished by the firefighters. After a week of constant assault people are tired and wary: the fire is capricious and unpredictable, always lurking, probing, being beaten somewhere but gaining ground somewhere else.

I was standing on the roof yesterday, the worst day, when I suddenly saw the lines of defence, running through the forest and around the back of houses and yards. Why hadn't I seen this before?

The containment lines of the Blue Mountains – the 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions of Königsberg: the enemy is different, but their weapons not dissimilar. As the flames and smoke raged along the back of my yard, trying to break in and mercilessly destroy all in its path; as the firefighters ran around the house, training hoses on the flames, in the heat and noise and smoke I began to panic. I thought I was prepared, ready for whatever would happen, strong enough to withstand it. But, just for a few minutes, I was overcome by fear, primal and raw.

Then a fireman put his hand on my shoulder: “Will you stay or go?” he asked. “Stay, I want to stay” I said – a decision made in an instant, or an earlier decision reaffirmed. The words cast aside the panic, I was back. I joined the fight, spraying water, searching for the little spot fires, extinguishing them. And then it was done. The flames quenched. Just the acrid, searing smoke was left. The fire fighters moved down the street to continue the battle, I was left standing alone in the garden, watching and spraying water.

In terms of an outcome, it was no Königsberg. But in terms of continual assaults, of defences crumbling, of staring into the face of the enemy, of desperate fear – as I stood in the smoking garden, stunned but adrenalin still pumping, the Lady of Königsberg was with me. I had survived. I was safe. But I had been for a little while in both 2006 and 1945, bridged by panic and fear.

I have not written anything for this blog since May, although some people have looked at it and spoken to me about it.

I had felt exhausted since the last writings, which ended upon the 60th anniversary of the Fall. It was an emotional time. I felt so many conflciting emotions and a deep sense of loss and sorrow, but also a certain numbness that I could not explain but certainly felt.

Gradually the city has been creeping back into my consciousness. I guess it would now be the end of the warm days of summer and early autumn in Königsberg, and the first draughts of the cold winter winds would be starting to be felt. Perhaps they are awakening something in me again?

The one thing that I have thought about, or rather, which has been in my mind, is that I did not chose to do this. Back when I started this blog, I wrote that I had chosen to to do this. However, I sense now that this is not the case. The Lady of Königsberg has chosen it, and has used by hands and my skills and my implements to recall those terrible days. But for what purpose I do not as yet perceive.

I sense that another wave of longing is coming over me.

On this Victory in Europe Day, 9th May 2005, 60 years after the end of the war in Europe we remember the Königsbergers, other East Prussians and Danzigers who served in the Australian armed forces.

During the Second World War a total of 10 Königsberger men, 10 men from other East Prussian towns, and 6 Danziger men served in the Australian Army (www.ww2roll.gov.au).

The largest group of these men came from the city of Königsberg, about half of the East Prussians came from towns north of the city, notably Memel, and to the east , and about half from towns to the south. Most of the southern East Prussians came from districts close to Danzig. These were all areas of about five years of significant unrest following the end of the Great War, and many of these men may have come as boys or juveniles fleeing that unrest. Another significant group may be Jews fleeing Nazi persecution, but more research is needed to confirm this. Seven of the 26 have English style names, presumably indicating attempts to blend into the local population. The 9th May also marks the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Stutthof Concentration Camp, near Danzig, a place some of these men may only have avoided by their exile far across the seas.

More can be said, at this stage, about their distribution within Australia. Most of the men (58%) were living in Victoria, about half in Melbourne and half in the country in the shires around Tatura which contained the largest concentration of internment camps in Australia for detained civilians and POWs. The connection between these enlistees and the camps is not clear. About a third lived in New South Wales, mainly in suburban Sydney, with one each in Queensland and Western Australia.

All of the men enlisted in Australian army units and remained posted within Australia. All of them enlisted in the autmn of 1942, except for the Western Australian Danziger who had enlisted in 1940. Almost all of the men were posted to labour or employment companies, the exceptions being the two men in local volunteer garrisons, two in medical roles and two in technical support roles.

At the time when their adopted land was under direct threat of Japanese invasion, and their old land was almost at the pinnacle of its power, these 26 men had commited themselves to their new allegiance. It is a horrible coincidence that seven of the men shared a home suburb with six of the Australian airmen killed in the air raids on Königsberg in August 1944. In homes in Melbourne, in St. Kilda and in Ashfield some families mourned the loss of their city as well as their relatives, while in the same streets other families learned of the loss of loved sons.

More research is being undertaken, and this page will be updated when possible.

The Roll of Honour below lists the Königsberger, other East Prussian and Danziger men who served in the Australian Army, with their birthplace, their age when enlisted, their address when they enlisted, and the unit they served with.

Men of Königsberg
Adamsohn, Walter – Königsberg – 30 – Caulfield, Vic – Murchison PW Group
Colin, Ernest – Königsberg – 30 – Mooroopna, Vic – 124 Australian Special Hospital
Lehmann, Siegfried – Königsberg – 22 – Melbourne, Vic – 8 Labour Company
Meyer, Ralph Henry – Köngsberg – 20 – unknown – unknown
Nemenoff, Matthias – Königsberg – unknown – unknown – 2/4 Australian Base W/S
Radinowski, Erwin Israel – Königsberg – 20 – Wyong, NSW – 2 Employment Company
Radok, Jobst – Königsberg – 24 – Tatura, Vic – 8 Employment Company
Radok, Rainier – Königsberg – 21 – Tatura, Vic – 8 Labour Company
Radok, Uwe – Königsberg – 26 – Tatura, Vic – 8 Labour Company
Whitman, Howard – Königsberg – 29 – Bellevue Hill, NSW – 2 Employment Company

Men of other East Prussian towns
Bruch, Herbert – Insterburg – 21 – Artmoro, Vic – 8 Labour Company
Eichler, Albert Lane Kurt – Memel – 51 – Puckawidgee, NSW – 21 Battalion VDC
Einars, Richard – Memel – 36 – Crows Nest, Qld – 42 Australian Landing Craft Company RAE
Kent, Caron – Cranz – 37 – East Melbourne, Vic – 4 Employment Company
Lennig, Leslie Raymond – Tilsit – 21 – Coogee, NSW – 3 Employment Company
Lewinski, Kurt – Marienwerder – 20 – Melbourne, Vic – 8 Employment Company
Liebermann, Peter Oscar – Allenstein – 23 – Melbourne, Vic – 6 Employment Company
Ruben, Felix – Braunsberg – 45 – Windsor, Vic – 6 Employment Company
Willow, James – Elbing – 21 – Ashfield, NSW – 2 Employment Company
Willow, Max – Zinten – 55 – Ashfield, NSW – 2 Employment Company

Men of Danzig
Lewinsohn, Siegmund – 19 – Danzig – Tatura, Vic – 8 Labour Company
Lukin, Frederick Martin – 47 – Danzig – Innisfail, Qld – 15 Garrison Battalion
Meyer, Gerhard – 37 – Letzkauerweide, Danzig – St Kilda, Vic – 4 Employment Company
Podbielski, Gerhard Rene – Danzig – 29 – Royal Park, Vic – 8 Employment Company
Regehr, Otto – 35 – Danzig Free City – Rockingham, WA – 2/7 Field Ambulance
Spak, Salli – Danzig – 56 – Tatura, Vic – 8 Labour Company

For King and Country : Lest We Forget

On this Anzac Day, 60 years and 8 months after the air raids on Königsberg, we remember the Australian airmen killed in those raids.

The RAF air raids on Königsberg were carried out over the nights of Saturday 26th/Sunday 27th August 1944, and again over Tuesday 29th/Wednesday 30th August 1944. Large numbers of RAAF air crew on secondment to the RAF were among the crews of the planes. During the air raids a total of 48 Australian airmen were killed (www.ww2roll.gov.au). The numbers of injured have not been identified.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported on 28th August 1944 that “A great force of R.A.F. heavy bombers, including Lancasters with Australian crews, last night flew to within 100 miles of the Russian front to launch a major attack on Konigsberg, capital of East Prussia, starting huge fires. Twenty nine bombers are missing”. It reported again on 31st August 1944 that “Very strong forces of R.A.F. heavy bombers last night attacked Stettin and Konigsberg. Konigsberg, principal East Prussian port, plays a considerable part in supplying the German forces defending East Prussia. 1,200 tons of high explosive and incendiary bombs were dropped on Stettin … an hour after the attack saw smoke from large fires rising to a height of five miles. Forty-one aircraft were lost”.

The flight to the target city, cloaked in secrecy, was safer than the return to England. The 8 deaths on the first raid to Königsberg were over the North Sea and Germany, while on the return there were twelve in an arc over Denmark, the North Sea and the English Channel. The two deaths on the second raid were over Germany, while on the return there were 26 spread over East Prussia, Germany, the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and ‘North West Europe’. While the Germans may not have anticipated the second raid so soon after the first, they scattered the homebound raiders over a wider area and were able to inflict greater casualties on them – 54% of all Australian deaths came during this second return flight to England.

The Australian airmen came from every mainland state, with just over a third remembered on local honour rolls in New South Wales, about a quarter each in Victoria and Queensland and the remainder in Western Australia and South Australia. Some regions were particularly hard-hit by these deaths, notably suburban Sydney (25%), Inner City Melbourne (20%), Mid West NSW (10%), Far North Queensland (10%) and the Lower Hunter Valley (8%). They were overwhelmingly (85%) aged between 19 and 23, with the remainder in their late 20s or early 30s.

Two of the dead had been decorated for bravery (Flight Lieutenant Lyons DFM and Flight Lieutenant Wilkinson DFC), and the loss of such experienced airmen was felt within the RAAF, especially as the air war was the main scene of Australian involvement in Europe by this time. The impact within Australia of these 48 deaths can also be understood by two vignettes: only two of these men are buried in known graves, and one of them had apparently been destined for greatness. The body of Flying Officer Kenneth Hutchins, an apprentice fitter from Hurstville NSW, was recoved from a beach in northern Germany, and later interred in the Kiel War Cemetery. The body of Flight Sergeant Simon Solomons of Coogee NSW, and a violinist in the ABC Symphony Orchestra in Sydney, was found on a Swedish beach and interred in the Malmo Jewish Cemetery, where he remains to this day. In 1939 the Orchestra had been reformed under the leadership of Sir Bernard Heinze and was on the threshold of becoming a national institution, but was then seriously depleted by the conscription of musicians such as Solomons. The potential musical greatness of Simon Solomons was never to be realised. The other 46 men have no known resting place.

As the Königsbergers wandered around their shattered city, distraught and shocked at their losses, tears also flowed in the south. From tiny hamlets and country towns to the streets of the suburbs and the city lights, families received the news of the loss of their sons, brothers, husbands and fathers with similar distress and shock. About 100 Königsbergers were killed by the raids for every Australian airman killed making the raids. In grief they were unknowingly bound; the 'achievements' or otherwise of the Königsberg firestorm rarely articulated, with air raid itself seemingly consigned to a mere footnote in the histories of the air war in Europe.

The Roll of Honour below lists the Australian airmen killed in the raids, with their age when killed, and the local honour roll on which they are recorded.

Killed flying to Königsberg on the night of Saturday 26th August 1944
Billing, Albert Norman James – 21 – Port Melbourne, Vic
Boatswain, James Attewood – 22 – Canowindra, NSW
Bucirde, Reginald John – 23 – Melbourne, Vic
Connolly, Daryl Owen – 28 – Ashfield, NSW
Hutchins, Kenneth Millett – 19 – Hurstville, NSW
Leigh, James Standish – 29 – not known
Pavey, Kevin Ambrose – 19 – Williamstown, Vic
Smith, Leslie Joseph – 29 – Melbourne, Vic

Killed returning from Königsberg in the early morning of Sunday 27th August 1944
Baxter, William Samuel – 23 – Nathalia Numerkah, Vic
Carrier, William John – 21 – not known
Dyer, Bruce Douglas – 20 – Merewether, NSW
Fischer, David Ralston – 23 – Melbourne, Vic
Hawkes, Frank Sidney – 33 – Hurstville, NSW
Jackson, Allen Stewart – 20 – Toowoomba, Qld
Keys, Noel Richart – 23 – not known
McCurdy, Thomas Neil – 27 – not known
Moran, William John – 21 – Milsons Point, NSW
Mullins, Raymond James – 22 – Sutherland, NSW
Tennent, Keith George – 22 – Rockhampton, Qld
Webber, Athol Grant – 19 – West Maitland, NSW

Killed flying to Königsberg on the night of Tuesday 29th August 1944
Mahar, Maurice John – 20 – Minalton, SA
Shoesmith, George Arthur – 21 – Boyup Brook and Bunbury, WA

Killed returning from Königsberg in the early morning of Wednesday 30th August 1944
Adcock, Thomas – 24 – Douglas Shire, Qld
Barrett, Noel Charles – 22 – Melbourne, Vic
Brady – Alan John – 23 – Essendon, Vic
Clarke, Thomas Kenneth – 22 – Newcastle, NSW
Dodd, Thomas Henry – 27 – Marrickville, NSW
Griffin, Felix Ivor – 22 – Lidcombe, NSW
Harding, Robert Edward – 19 – Hunters Hill, NSW
Heath, Laurence David – 21 – Gunnedah, NSW
Hiscock – William Warren – 22 – St. Kilda, Vic
Jamieson, Thomas George – 24 – Cardwell, Qld
Laidler, Gordon James – 20 – not known
Lyons DFM, Kenneth Marcus Denbigh – 33 – Rockhampton, Qld
McLean, Robert Hudson – 23 – Cairns, Qld
McWhinney, Joseph – 25 – Lane Cove, NSW
Parker, Ralf – 21 – Molong, NSW
Perrie, James William – 21 – not known
Peut, Robert Henry Christopher – 20 – Julia Creek, Qld
Powers, David Kingsley – 20 – Kew, Vic
Roe, Morris James – 22 – Brisbane, Qld
Ryan, Terence Russell – 23 – Trangie, NSW
Sandell, David John – 21 – Killara, NSW
Solomons, Simon Stanley – 22 – Sydney, NSW
Taylor, Neville Alfred – 20 – Toowoomba, Qld
Ware, Jack Beaumont – 25 – Woodville, SA
White, Frederick William – 28 – Bairnsdale, Vic
Wilkinson DFC, John Hudson – 30 – Rutherglen, Vic

For King and Country : Lest We Forget

Monday 9th April 1945 – The day of the Fall. Despite the hysterical urgings of Hitler, General Lasch knew that he could not fight on. Beseiged in the city centre at his headquarters in the Paradeplatz in front of the university, the city smashed and burning all around him, men, weapons and ammunition rapidly running out, the remaining townsfolk shocked and cowed, he knew the time had come. Envoys were sent out, parleys were held, and at 9.00am General Lasch and Red Army officers Janovsky and Kruglov signed a surrender document in the Paradeplatz bunker. At the 9th hour of the 9th day, it was all over. Half an hour later the fighting stopped, and some 50,000 German soldiers surrendered as the Red Army entered the ruins of the city. Hitler sentenced Lasch to death in absentia and detained and tortured his family. The people waited in the void, thinking the nightmare might be over. Sadly, the real nightmare was just about to begin.

+ + + + + + + +

The fears of the Königsbergers, continually raised since the air raids and then Nemmersdorf, compounded by the consistent stories that filtered into the city of rape, killing, looting and terror inflicted upon the civilian population by the Red Army as it swept through Poland and Eastern Germany were fully realised during the invasion of the city, and then during the occupation.

Sunday 8th April 1945 – The day before the Fall. The 3rd Byelorussian Front is pressing in upon the city from the north and the south. The bombardment is relentless, the sky is dark and thick with smoke, the noise deafening. The second position has been smashed wide open and the third position has also been breached on the south, with the Red Army now on the south bank of the Pregel. The cathedral and Kneiphof Island are directly on the front line, and the southern suburbs and the Sudbahnhof has been taken. The city's defenders have tried a counter-attack to break out to Gross Holstein at the river mouth, but have failed and are now falling back towards the city centre. The third and final position follows the old city walls and gates, and although the northern suburbs have also fallen to the invaders the northern parts of the old city are holding out under merciless attack. The castle, the university, the shopping strip along The Steindamm, the parklands, the closely built streets, they're all burning, exploding. The 200 000 Königsbergers left in the city are huddled in their cellars and air raid shelters, beseiged, fearful and waiting while their defenders under General Lasch fight a loosing battle.

——

Five and half years before, the fury of World War Two had erupted in September 1939 when German forces invaded Poland and Danzig. Six months earlier Memel had been re-annexed to Germany, and within weeks of the invasion of Poland, Danzig and West Prussia were also re-annexed. East Prussia was geographically re-united with Germany. At the same time the Soviet Union invaded and occupied eastern Poland and later Lithuania, and Königsberg became once again a frontier town, with the Soviet borders between 100 – 200 kilometres away to the north east. Two years later the invasion of the USSR began, and German forces drove north and eastwards into Lithuania and Byelorussia (Belarus), moving the frontier endlessly eastwards and away from the city. Königsberg became an important centre for distributing troops and supplies, and because of its distance from either front it remained safe from direct air attacks.

The mood began to change in early 1943 as victories began turning to defeats after the failure to capture Stalingrad and the retreat from North Africa. At about the same time a concentration camp was being established at Stutthof, at the western end of the Frisches Haff. The curtain was rising on the madness that was soon to descend.

In July 1944 the city celebrated the 400th anniversary of the Albertus University, one of the oldest in Germany and in Europe. The philosopher Kant, the physicist Bessel and many other of its professors with a world reputation were remembered, and a special postage stamp was issued to commemorate the anniversary. It was probably the last celebration held in the city of the city's heritage.

The war came directly and visciously eight weeks later over two terrible nights in August 1944. Waves of RAF bombers, with their British, Australian, New Zealander and Canadian crews, pounded the city over the night of Saturday 26th/Sunday 27th August, and again over Tuesday 29th/Wednesday 30th August, creating huge firestorms and bringing destruction to much of Königsberg's old city. The castle was severely damaged, as was the cathedral, and the medieval old town of narrow streets and picturesque timbered buildings and Hanse warehouses burnt for days. Some 4 500 Königsbergers perished in the raids.

As the townsfolk began to recover from the air raids, news of the Red Army's brief occupation of two East Prussian border districts hit the city in October 1944. The village of Nemmersdorf was occupied for several days, during which the civilian population was violently and deliberately tortured and then massacred. Foreign press were invited to view the massacres, and the Nazi propaganda authorities spread the news far and wide hoping to stiffen resistance to the invaders.

By Christmas 1944, however, refugees were pouring into the damaged city as the Red Army began its push into East Prussia. Soon they were nearing the gates of Insterberg, only 80 kilometres east of the city. Cannon fire could be heard, and Soviet planes were begining to strafe the city. New Years Day 1945 was bleak. The weather was bitterly cold, one of the coldest on record. Long convoys, or treks, of refugees began snaking out of Königsberg and other East Prussian towns, crossing the frozen Frisches Haff to Pillau and the seaward side of the Frisches Nehrung, where one of the largest seabourne evacuations of the war was underway. Other Königsbergers decided to stay, although in March many were evacuated into the countryside and the resort towns on the Samland coast, leaving the city in the hands of its defenders under the command of General Lasch. Hitler declared the city a fortress, never to be surrendered, while Gauleiter Koch (the chief Nazi functionary in East Prussia) berated the refugees as cowards and traitors before fleeing himself. Soviet planes straffed and bombed the treks, and the roads were soon lined with abandoned and destroyed household goods and the bodies of refugees. The ice on the Frisches Haff was frequently shattered by enemy fire, and unknown numbers of people drowned in the freezing waters. Refugee ships were under constant attack by Soviet submarines and ships, with over 7 000 people drowning in the sinking of one ship alone. During March the ice began to melt and the trek became even more hazardous. Unknown numbers of Königsbergers and East Prussians were already dieing on the treks, but the flight continued to grow.

Saturday 7th April 1945 – two days before the Fall – the Red Army attack has begun in earnest after four days of bombardment. The breach of the first position is growing wider in the north-west as the 3rd Byelorussian drive towards Gross Holstein on the Frishes Haff coast, and also begin to breach the second position's minefields and barricades on the edges of the northern suburbs. On the south the second position is also being breached as the Byelorussians drive towards the southern suburbs.

—–

Twenty five years before, one of the most momemtous outcomes of the Great War was the rebirth of Poland, which included the old Polish province of West Prussia. This formed the hinterland of Danzig, and its re-incorporation into the Polish state 146 years after the first partition of Poland again separated East Prussia from the rest of Germany. Danzig was also separated from Germany as a Free City under a League of Nations mandate to provide a neutral port for both Polish and German trade. Plebiscites were held in the southern districts of East Prussia (Masuria and Marienwerder) to determine their future national alignment: in 1922 a vote of 97% favoured remaining in Germany. North of Königsberg the city of Memel was also under a League of Nations mandate until the new Lithuanian army occupied the city in 1923 and annexed it to Lithuania.

By the mid 1920s, after five years of turmoil since the Indian summer of 1918, including the period of hyper-inflation, Königsbergers could begin to feel some sense of peace, however isolated. Sea and rail links were re-restablished with Germany, and new air links were established. The city's economy struggled, but this was to some extent countered by the annual Deutsche Ostmesse ('East fair'), a huge trade fair held on a specially designed site in Königsberg between 1920 and 1941.

North of the city, the Samland coast and the Kurische Nehrung had been something of a bohemian retreat since the early 1900s. The Niddener Künstlerkolonie (artist colony) was established in the 1920s by Impressionist painters such as Ernst Mollenhauer at Nidden, a fishing village on the Kurische Nehrung, and other artists in the area included the painter Max Pechstein and the epic novelist Thomas Mann, the sculptor Herman Brachert at Georgenswalde, and the painter and photographer Käthe Koller at Rauschen. The Nazis considered Impressionist art 'degenerate', and most of the Niddener or Kurische artists, as they were sometimes known, were banned from exhibiting their work during the fascist period.

An underlying discontent that had simmered since the autumn of 1918 was manifested when the Nazi Party took control of the East Prussian government in a coup in 1932 following victories in some local elections. Hitler dissolved all state governments in 1934, and established the same centralised, repressive machinery of fascist government in the state as elsewhere in Germany.

Friday 6th April 1945: three days before the Fall. The city is under constant attack. The Red Army broke through the northern side of the outer belt yesterday, taking Fuchsberg and Neuhausen-Tiergarten, and also on the southern side of the outer belt where Heidevaldburg on the Frisches Haff and Alternberg have fallen. Today the first position, a series of trenches about 6-7 kilometres from the city centre, is also breached on its north-western corner. A long north-south lake is contining to protect the city's eastern flank, but the western window to the sea is quickly closing.

—–

Twenty six years before, the German victory on the eastern front in March 1918 promised Königsberg increased wealth and status, but it was a false dawn. Eight months later the collapse of the western front during October 1918, the mutiny of the German fleet on 29 October and the abdication of the Kaiser on 9 November encouraged a collapse of central authority and the outbreak of local revolutions inspired by the Bolshevik coup in Russia. Workers & Soldiers Soviets seized local authorities in the west, then the south, Berlin on 9 November, and spreading into eastern industrial cities such as Breslau, Poznan and Königsberg on 10 November. Mercantile Danzig was one of the few cities to escape the wave of local revolutions. (Kinder & Hilgemann, The Penguin Atlas of World History, Vol. II, Penguin, London 1978: 130-131)

Parliamentary leaders in Berlin negotiated with the various parties to hold elections for a national assembly, and began to reassert central authority and take back the cities. By December the revolution in Königsberg had come to an end, but the legacy of Imperial flight and revolutionary response was to produce a bitter harvest. (Kinder & Hilgemann, The Penguin Atlas of World History, Vol. II, Penguin, London 1978: 130-131)

Evidence of the uprising may have been revealed 65 years later by Soviet archaeologists searching for the elusive Amber Room. Jelena Storozhenko reported in 1984 that, following ten years of searching, one of the things uncovered was “…under the floor of a private house in the centre of the city we found dead bodies, a coffin and a red flag on which was the hammer and sickle. Perhaps this flag dates from the Revolution period of 1918, when Soviet workers rose up for the first time against East Prussia. Maybe then this workers' flag flew over Königsberg.” Clearly, the interpretation of the relics is shaped by the 'sovietising' of the city's history, and the fate of the relics is not stated, although they may still be in the custody of the KGB archives in Moscow, but the find hints at the ways in which central authority was reasserted in the city. (Scott-Clark & Levy, The Amber Room, Atlantic Books, London 2004: 303-304)

Wednesday 4th April 1945 – Five days before the Fall. The 3rd Byelorussian Front of the Red Army has almost surrounded the city on the north, east and south. Only the Pregel River channel into and through the Frisches Haff remains open. Aircraft from the Soviet Baltic Fleet are straffing and bombing the city as Red Army artillery bombard the city’s outer defensive ring some thirteen to fourteen kilometres from the city centre.

—–

Seventy four years before, the German Empire (Deutsche Reich) was proclaimed in 1871, uniting the northern and southern German states into one nation. The King of Prussia was crowned Emperor (Kaiser) as Wilhelm I. Unification followed the victory of the Prussians in a brief war with France. Königsberg, a thousand kilometres to the east, was unaffected by the war but prospered in the new empire. Prussia had taken the Danzig hinterland a century before in the first partition of Poland in 1772, geographically joining East Prussia for the first time to 'the Reich', or metropolitan Germany, but unification seemed to make the link permanent, and economic development soon followed.

Köningsberg was never the glamorous ‘Konigin von der Ostsee’ (Queen of the Baltic) that Danzig was, but it was the capital of the largest state in the federation and the seat of imperial coronations. The harbour was a major outlet for Russian exports of grains and hemp, and an important international market for grains, hemp, flax, hides and other agricultural products. The building of a canal linking the harbour to the sea overcame problems with silting and shifting shoals in the Frisches Haff, and allowed the harbour to operate ice-free all year round. The development of the railway systems made the city a central hub on the rail lines between Germany and Russia and around the south-eastern Baltic. Industrial development included paper manufacturing and large printing plants, based upon the regions extensive forests, shipbuilding and train repairs and maintenance, brewing, machine building, making musical instruments, amber working (for which it was the world centre), and fishing.

The creation of an industrial working class and mercantile middle class also lead to the development of seaside resorts such as Rauschen and Cranz on the Samland coast at the turn of the 20th century. The Albertus University, founded in 1544, had a well established reputation in the arts such as philosophy and music, and the sciences such as physics and mathematics, and there were several other colleges and institutes of higher education in the city. The city had been founded in 1255 by the Teutonic Order, and its strategic defence role was enhanced during the Imperial period with the completion in 1905 of major new naval and military fortifications.