Nesterov


Nesterov, until 1938 known by its German name Stallupönen and in 1938-1946 as Ebenrode, is a town and the administrative center of Nesterovsky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located east of Kaliningrad, near the Russian-Lithuanian border on the railway connecting Kaliningrad Oblast with Moscow. Population figures:

History

In the Middle Ages, the area in Old Prussia had been settled by the Nadruvian tribe of the Baltic Prussians. It was conquered by the Teutonic Knights in about 1276 and incorporated into the State of the Teutonic Order. From the 15th century onwards, the Knights largely resettled the lands with Samogitian and Lithuanian colonists.
The settlement itself was first mentioned as Stallupoenen, or Stallupönen, in 1539, named after a nearby river called Stalupė in Lithuanian. At that time, with the secularization of the Order's Prussian lands in 1525, Stallupönen had already become part of the Duchy of Prussia, a Polish fief which in 1618 was inherited by the Hohenzollern margraves of Brandenburg. Stallupönen then belonged to Brandenburg-Prussia and in 1701 became a part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701. King Frederick William I granted it town privileges in 1722. Like other cities in East Prussia during the Seven Years' War between 1757 and 1762, it was occupied by the Russian forces. It was administered in the Province of East Prussia beginning in 1773. During the Prussian-led unification of Germany, Stallupönen became a part of the German Empire in 1871. With the construction of railways, the town became well-acquainted to travelers, as it was the last stop on the German-Russian frontier. Here, travelers made the transfer from standard gauge railway carriages of western Europe to the broad gauge carriages of Russia.
In August 1914, the city and the surrounding area were a focal point of Battle of Stallupönen between Russian and Imperial German armies, an opening battle on the Eastern Front of World War I. It was occupied by the Russian army between August 18, 1914 and February 18, 1915.
Because of the Lithuanian minority living there, the Republic of Lithuania tried unsuccessfully to obtain the town from Germany after World War I. Because "Stallupönen" sounded too "un-German", the Nazi regime renamed the town Ebenrode in 1938.
The town was overrun by the Soviet Red Army during World War II on January 13, 1945. The region was transferred from Germany to the Russian SFSR in 1945 and made a part of Kaliningrad Oblast. In 1946, the town, whose German inhabitants had been largely evacuated or expelled, was renamed Nesterov after Sergey Nesterov, a Soviet war hero who was killed in the vicinity.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Nesterov serves as the administrative center of Nesterovsky District. As an administrative division, it is incorporated within Nesterovsky District as the town of district significance of Nesterov. As a municipal division, the town of district significance of Nesterov is incorporated within Nesterovsky Municipal District as Nesterovskoye Urban Settlement.

Culture

Today Nesterov is one of the cultural centers of the Lithuanian minority in Russia.

Notable people