Demographics of Kaliningrad

This is a room for the discussion of travel plans or experiences and the culture of places you have visited or plan to visit.
User avatar
Olekander
Orange Belt
Posts: 205
Joined: Fri Jun 17, 2016 4:00 pm
Location: Moscow
Languages: Speaks: English (Native), French, Russian.
Studied: Latin, Catalan, Spanish, Mandarin, Czech, Ukrainian

Studying: Turkish
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2995
x 194
Contact:

Demographics of Kaliningrad

Postby Olekander » Thu Jul 14, 2016 5:49 pm

Hi guys,

Since the members of this forum are so well travelled, I was wondering whether you could help me. I can't seem to get any reliable figures as to the demographics of Kaliningrad, I find it hard to believe that the entire population has changed its mother tongue in less than 80 years? I believe it became soviet in 1946 with the first Russian influence in 1933?

Can anyone tell me a quick overview of the recent-ish linguistic breakdown of Kaliningrad Konigsberg?

Thanks!
Last edited by Olekander on Thu Jul 14, 2016 6:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
0 x
Да нет. :roll:

: 1000 / 1000 1,000 Russian words: started 15/06/2016 :)
: 15 / 365 365 scriptorium transcriptions: started 19/06/2016
: 2 / 1010 Russian books: 4/06/2016
: 3 / 2121 units of Parla.cat

User avatar
Saim
Blue Belt
Posts: 676
Joined: Sun Nov 15, 2015 12:14 pm
Location: Rheinland
Languages: Native: English
Others: Catalan, Serbian, Spanish, Polish, Hungarian, Urdu, French etc.
Main focus: German
x 2314

Re: Demographics of Kaliningrad

Postby Saim » Thu Jul 14, 2016 6:17 pm

Olekander wrote:I find it hard to believe that the entire population has changed its mother tongue in less than 80 years?


There was a huge campaign of ethnic cleansing. Most historical Kaliningrad residents and their descendents live in Germany now, as do most Lower Silesians, eastern Prussians, Sudetenlanders, Volga Germans, Danube Swabians or Transylvania Saxons.

Image
3 x
log

شجرِ ممنوع 152

User avatar
aokoye
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1818
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 6:14 pm
Location: Portland, OR
Languages: English (N), German (~C1), French (Intermediate), Japanese (N4), Swedish (beginner), Dutch (A2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=19262
x 3309
Contact:

Re: Demographics of Kaliningrad

Postby aokoye » Fri Jul 15, 2016 2:06 am

Olekander wrote:I find it hard to believe that the entire population has changed its mother tongue in less than 80 years? I believe it became soviet in 1946 with the first Russian influence in 1933?


When countries invade other countries linguistic change can be swift especially colonization and/or genocide (among other things) are at play. It happened in North America, the Soviet Union attempted (and failed) to do it to Latvia, there was an attempt in South Africa during Apartheid (and we know how that went)...
1 x
Prefered gender pronouns: Masculine

DaveBee
Blue Belt
Posts: 952
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2016 8:49 pm
Location: UK
Languages: English (native). French (studying).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7466
x 1386

Re: Demographics of Kaliningrad

Postby DaveBee » Wed Nov 09, 2016 12:35 pm

Olekander wrote:Hi guys,

Since the members of this forum are so well travelled, I was wondering whether you could help me. I can't seem to get any reliable figures as to the demographics of Kaliningrad, I find it hard to believe that the entire population has changed its mother tongue in less than 80 years? I believe it became soviet in 1946 with the first Russian influence in 1933?

Can anyone tell me a quick overview of the recent-ish linguistic breakdown of Kaliningrad Konigsberg?

Thanks!
Wasn't there a major effort to evacuate the civilian population of Kaliningrad towards the end of ww2? I have a vague memory that the sinking of one of their civilian evacuee ships was the greatest single loss of life at sea.

EDIT
I think that factoid came from a Bernie Gunther novel.
For this eleventh book, Kerr’s homework took him to Kaliningrad because he “always wanted to write about the Battle of Königsberg, Germany’s equivalent of Stalingrad.” The city Königsberg is today called Kaliningrad because, explains Kerr, “the Russians ethnically cleansed it of Germans, and made it a Russian city,” keeping it as a “port for their submarines, even though it should technically belong to Poland.” The Cold War may be a thing of the past, but Kerr warns, “I don’t recommend you go there; Russians are not welcoming.”
0 x

User avatar
Josquin
Blue Belt
Posts: 646
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 2:38 pm
Location: Germany
Languages: German (native); English (advanced fluency); French (basic fluency); Italian, Swedish, Russian, Irish (intermediate); Dutch, Icelandic, Japanese, Portuguese, Scottish Gaelic (beginner); Latin, Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew, Sanskrit (reading only)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=737
x 1764

Re: Demographics of Kaliningrad

Postby Josquin » Wed Nov 09, 2016 6:05 pm

DaveBee wrote:Wasn't there a major effort to evacuate the civilian population of Kaliningrad towards the end of ww2? I have a vague memory that the sinking of one of their civilian evacuee ships was the greatest single loss of life at sea.

Well, the evacuation of East Prussia was a chaotic flight of the civilian population. Most of them left on foot or using horse-drawn vehicles in the midst of winter. The ship you're referring to was the Wilhelm Gustloff, which was hit by a torpedo after leaving the harbour of Gdingen near Danzig. Thousands of people died. Günter Grass wrote about this tragedy in his novel "Im Krebsgang".
3 x
Oró, sé do bheatha abhaile! Anois ar theacht an tsamhraidh.


Return to “Travel and Culture”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests