Half of the city was a wasteland!
This is Zhenya, a tour guide from Kaliningrad.
Kaliningrad used to be called Konigsberg.
It was a German city.
After WW2, however, it became a part of the Soviet Union.
Wedged between Poland and Lithuania,
Kaliningrad is often called ‘Russian Europe’.
It is not connected to the rest of Russia by land and
remains a mystery for many mainland Russians.
I moved to this region a few years ago, and once on a flight,
I overheard a couple talking about their trip to Kaliningrad
and wondering if people there actually speak Russian.
No kidding, it is one the most searched questions.
These look like the German houses' cellars.
Zhenya’s specialty is abandoned buildings.
He knows lots of haunted places across the region,
but we don’t have to travel far to see one of his favourite spots.
Here it is, in the heart of the city, the infamous House of Soviets.
This is one of the most important symbols of our city.
It is considered one of the top 20 monuments of Soviet brutalist [architecture].
Each object has a pinch of beauty which should be highlighted.
Nowadays the House of Soviets occupies a fairly central place in the city.
Tourists often ask: ‘What's the…
the crumbling building?’
We portrayed it like this.
The House looks like a robot head, which is watching us.
The construction of this 21-storey building began in the 1970s.
The House was supposed to become a symbol of a new era
and the home for the local administration,
but money was short and there were construction issues,
so in 1989, the works were halted.
Then the Soviet Union collapsed.
For the next 30 years, the House of Soviets has stood unfinished…
but not exactly abandoned.
I was still a schoolboy when I started exploring this building.
We overheard the older guys talking about how they broke inside,
and we asked them to bring us with them
and then just tried to break in ourselves.
We ran away from watch dogs, from guards!
It was the tallest abandoned building [in the city] so we had to explore it!
Recently we celebrated New Year’s Eve there.
Until recently, you could bribe [the guards] with 200 roubles
and access the building.
So, I was recommending it to everyone!
First, because of the best view!
I am on the very top of the House of Soviets!
My legs are shaking.
And second, you should feel for yourself,
such a monumental and absolutely empty building.
There used to be many entries, but in 2003 they began to weld up the stairs,
so we searched for other paths and,
believe me, we had no problem finding them.
Zhenya says that breaking into the building is impossible nowadays.
It is under constant guard
ever since the local government announced its demolition.
Once it is gone, there are plans to turn the historical city centre
into something modern.
If they do demolish it, however, the city’s older residents
are bound to feel a bit of déjà vu…
The thing is… another symbolic building stood on the site
of the House of Soviets once.
The Konigsberg Castle.
It was partially destroyed during the war.
And then demolished to make way for the House of Soviets.
Let’s step back and learn a bit more about the history of Kaliningrad.
For a long time, this was the home of Prussian tribes.
They were mostly hunters and cattle breeders.
They were pagans. They had no organised state
and enjoyed their independence until the 13th Century when
the German-speaking Teutonic Knights conquered and Christianised them.
The knights quickly set to work.
They founded the city of Konigsberg and built castles, churches
and fortresses across the land to solidify their rule.
Let's jump forward a few centuries.
Konigsberg grew, prospered
and eventually became one of the main cities of East Prussia,
which was a part of the Prussian region, one of the German states.
During WW2, the city was heavily bombed by the British Royal Air Force.
In 1945, it was seized by the Red Army.
At the Potsdam conference,
the northern part of East Prussia was given to the Soviets.
The following year, Konigsberg’s name was changed to Kaliningrad.
The city’s German residents were deported.
And the Russians came in by the thousands.
The landscape also changed.
Besides old German buildings and ruins,
new Soviet developments popped up all over the city.
The reality was rather harsh.
During the first decade after the war, people were in shock.
They often destroyed everything related to German culture.
They didn’t bother to protect the monuments.
But there are still more than 200 historical buildings
and ruins across the region.
For example, this 700-year-old fortress called Ragnit.
It belonged to the Prussian tribes, then to the Teutonic Order.
Or this church, which was built in the 19th Century.
It survived the war and was used as a school gym,
until it accidentally burned down just a decade ago.
When we were kids, we heard stories about the knights,
about the past of our wonderful land.
So, when we grew up, we started travelling
across the region and everywhere we saw the same picture:
neglected historical monuments, ruins and very depressing villages.
And each time I was wondering why we live in the modern world
and let our heritage, which makes our region different,
remain in such a state?
So Vasiliy started cleaning up the areas around and inside the ruins.
In two years, this idea became very popular.
First, I was alone, but this season, three times, we were joined by 120 volunteers!
Recently we had our 62nd trip.
We have been taking care of about 30 monuments.
Some of the castles were once used as warehouses,
others became film sets for Soviet war dramas.
Among the locals,
there are legends that German buildings are still hiding treasures.
From time to time,
stories about amazing discoveries appear in the local newspapers.
This is Anastasia, she is also on the hunt,
but for a different kind of treasure.
She is looking for old German tiles.
I am not the first one who got interested in it,
but I am definitely the first who decided
to open it up to the world.
It was covered with green paint.
That is why it has survived to this day.
There's a big difference between
a building with walls covered with paint and graffiti
and one layered with beautiful tiles.
It is glazed and shiny!
But Anastasia’s first love was old German doors.
OK, and now what?
My Instagram account was about the doors of East Prussia.
There are just a few of them left, and they need to be preserved.
Because if you can restore them, they will serve for many more years,
for another hundred years or even more, if they are taken care of.
To make this happen, she learned how to restore the doors herself,
like a professional.
Besides my restoration work, I often post photos
of various doors, windows, houses, that have survived.
[And I have noticed],
that what I had published two years ago
might no longer be there.
But at least the memory of these details
will be preserved in the digital world.
We [Russians] have only lived here for 70 years.
And only now we… it might sound surprising… But only now,
only our generation is starting to appreciate the land we were born on.
When I look [at the ruins],
I know that they have not been built by my ancestors, but so what?
They now belong to me. Things like that do happen.
We won’t be able to rebuild them, because we are not Germans.
We have our own culture.
And so much time has passed so some buildings aren't needed anymore.
But we need to preserve what we are left with.
We need to protect the ruins.
I moved here hoping to travel to Europe more often.
Then the pandemic happened.
But I stayed, fascinated by this city where basically each corner reflects
a complicated history, and inspires people to create something new.
The tiles and mementos of old German buildings often crow up
in souvenir shops.
But the most popular items now have the House of Soviets on…
Demand is crazy!
Everything with the House of Soviets is almost gone!
I couldn’t resist either and got myself
a t-shirt with the image of the House of Soviets.
After all, who knows if it will stay or not?