The Kaliningrad Euphemism

There's been a lot of talk lately about Russia's plans to deploy new missiles in Kaliningrad Oblast. Alan Cullison's description in today's Journal is typical:

Kaliningrad is a Russian enclave in Europe that borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania

The exclave district is two countries away from Russia proper and, 17 years after the breakup of Soviet Union, is still named after a Communist party boss. Maybe the Russians were too embarrassed to give the city its original name back.

The city's real name is Königsberg, and the district is East Prussia. It was a part of Germany not given to Poland after WWI and existed as a German exclave between the world wars. The Red Army occupied East Prussia and Königsberg in 1945 and proceeded to loot, rape and deport what was left of its civilian population, Russify the district and rename it. There are no ethnic Germans in East Prussia today. It remains the last piece of Europe still occupied from WWII.


(Map from this BBC article)