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a.
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Note: Immigrated to the United States from East Prussia with his parents & siblings in 1868.
Occupation: Farmer
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CHRONICLE OF EVENTS:
History
Prior to the advance of the Teutonic Knights, a Baltic tribe called the "Prussians" lived on this territory. They spoke a Baltic language, now lost, similar to Lithuanian.
XIII (13th) Century
1253/57 - Bohemian King Ottokar II leads the Teutonic Order in a second crusade against the Prussians, conquering a settlement by the Pregel. A castle is built and the area is called K�nigsberg in the king's honour. 1283 - Teutonic knights finally suppress Prussian tribes and the German colonisation of these lands begins. Gradually the indigenous Prussians mix with the new settlers and their language disappears. The land however continues to bear the name Prussia.
XIV (14TH) Century
1333 - The building of K�nigsberg's cathedral begins. 1339 - The three towns around the castle join the Hanseatic League. 1384 - Teutonic knights conquer part of Lithuania. 1385/87 - Lithuania and Poland are united by royal marriage and become a formidable superpower.
XV (15TH) Century
1409/10 - War against Poland. Teutonic knights are crushed by overwhelming Polish led forces at the battle of Tannenberg. 1440 - The Order in crisis. Towns and nobles form a breakaway alliance which then pledges loyalty to the Polish crown. 1454/66 - 13 years war between this alliance and the Order. The financially exhausted Grand Masters of the Teutonic Order lose their capital in Marienburg and so take up residence in K�nigsberg. 1466 - The Order loses territory to Poland and the Grandmaster is forced to pledge loyalty to Poland.
XVI - XVII (16TH - 17TH) Century
1511 - 21-year-old Albrecht, Markgraf von Brandenburg, becomes head of the Order. He aims to free Prussia from Poland. 1519/25 - The Order is dissolved by Albrecht and his uncle King Sigismund I of Poland crowns him Duke of a secular Prussian state under Polish suzerainty. 1544 - Foundation of Albertina, K�nigsberg University. 1618 - Albrecht dies and the Prussian Duchy is united by marriage to the German State of Brandenburg. 1626 - Prussia is attacked and plundered by Swedish forces. For the next 100 years the Baltic countries battle for supremacy on the waves.
XVIII (17TH) Century
1701 - Friedrich III of Brandenburg is crowned Friedrich I of Prussia in K�nigsberg castle. 1709/11 - In K�nigsberg the plague claims 250,000. 1724 - The three towns around the castle unite and become K�nigsberg. Immanuel Kant is born in K�nigsberg. 1756/63 - Seven Years' War between Prussia, Austria and Russia. The Prussian army is defeated and Prussia is occupied by Russia.
XIX (19TH) Century
1807 - Napoleon's armies march into East Prussia. King Friedrich Wilhelm III asks Russian Tsar Alexander I for military assistance. Joint forces are however defeated, and Prussian territory is again occupied, this time by France. Friedrich and Queen Louise flee to Memel (now Klaipeda). 1812 - Prussia and Russia make a pact against Napoleon. 1871 - East Prussia becomes part of the German Reich.
XX (20TH) Century
1919
The Treaty of Versailles turns East Prussia into an enclave, separated from the rest of Germany by the 'Polish corridor'.
1944 - 48
August 1944 - In just four days the old town and northern parts of K�nigsberg are destroyed by British bombers. Jan/Feb 1945 - East Prussia is now surrounded by Russian forces. Evacuation of German civilians begins but comes too late. Thousands are killed trying to flee either by boat or on foot across the frozen waters of the Fisches Haff. April 1945 - K�nigsberg is captured by the Red Army. About 90 percent of the old town lies in ruins. July 1945 - Northern East Prussia becomes part of the USSR. Arrival in autumn of the first Soviet settlers. July 1946 - The city is renamed Kaliningrad. 1946/48 - Rebuilding of the city and deportation of its remaining German inhabitants.
1960 - 1993
1960s/70s - Plain utilitarian structures gradually replace the historic buildings in K�nigsberg's centre. 1967/69 - The 800-year-old castle is dynamited to make way for the House of Soviets. Late 1980s - Arrival of ethnic Germans from other parts of the USSR. By 1991 Kaliningrad is inhabited by about 5,000 ethnic Germans and the region by 13,000. August 1991 - The Kaliningrad Region is opened to foreigners. Lithuania becomes independent, cutting the region off from the rest of Russia. The first direct train since 1945 runs from Kaliningrad to Berlin. 1992 - The Kaliningrad Region is declared a 'free economic zone' (FEZ) in an attempt to revive the economy and turn the enclave into a Baltic Hong Kong. The sweet dream is quickly realised to be nothing more than a lot of hot air. 1993 - Former sailor and economist Yuri Matutchkin is appointed governor of the Kaliningrad Region by Russian president, Boris Yeltsin. The governor rules over the local assembly but is still answerable to Moscow.
1995
March - A Presidential Decree signed in Moscow 'accidentally' abolishes all the economic privileges set up under the 1992 free economic zone. Compensation pay-outs are made to foreign companies who 'lost out'. December - Communists win the local elections. Zhirinovski's so-called Liberals lie in second place.
1996
22 January - Russian President Boris Yeltsin signs a Federal Statue declaring the Kaliningrad Region a 'special economic zone', exempting various companies from customs duties and thereby achieving what the 1992 FEZ agreement failed to do. 16 June - Russian presidential elections. Yeltsin is re-elected president for a further four years. October - For the first time, Kaliningrad Region residents go to the polls to vote for their new governor. Yuri Matutchkin loses to the director of Kaliningrad's fishing port, Leonid Gorbienko.
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