kaliiningrad

Many German grandmas and grandpas are coming from a region called „Königsberg“. In facto ne can have the feeling, that they are all coming from Königsberg;) But his ist he past, because after WW II this is russian territory and the now called Kalininigrad was for a long time a closed area, which only was accessable for armed forces. Now it´s open again. Of course, my granny is from Königsberg, too;) But after her leave in Spring 1944 she hasn´t been there and honestly, she won´t go there, because it´s history. So for her 80iest birthday last Summer me and my brothers decided to got to her little town, which was called „Trakehnen“, which was a famous stud for horses for many centuries. For us it was the first time we encountered pieces of that past and to capture some glances of the incredible landscapes in that region.
I made a film about our „journey“, which had the mission to find the house of my grandma. I speak russian, which really helps you cutting down the waiting time at the border for about one of the 3 hours.
Now Trakehnen is called Jacnaja Poljana. And many building realy look the same way as 60 years ago. Hence there are many German tourists these days, Kids sell little handycraft items with the old signet of the town. But eventually it´s really complicated to find your way around. The maps we had were from before 1945 and it was obvious that several streets just disapeared in the chaos of the war and might even have been bombed away. We managed to find our way.
The house of my grandma? We found it. Well, Piles of stones at the place were it
Probably used to stand. But¬ this is history.

Photographer:
wil6ka
Uploaded:
2006-06-23
Albums:
Teutonia Pano
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