kaliningrad » Stud http://www.kaliningrad.petersblurb.com kaliningrad: the past and present of königsberg Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:42:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 Rural Decay http://www.kaliningrad.petersblurb.com/rural-decay/ http://www.kaliningrad.petersblurb.com/rural-decay/#comments Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:02:28 +0000 admin http://www.kaliningrad.petersblurb.com/?p=971

Goodness knows where Igor Yakimov found this old footage. The voice over says: ‘Ost Preussen ist das Deutsche Pferdeland‘ . . .  For 200 years indeed it was. King Friedrich Wilhelm 1 had a stud here and bred the famous ‘Trakhener‘ horse.  At one time it employed over 3,000 people.

When the Red Army advanced, the [...]]]>

Goodness knows where Igor Yakimov found this old footage. The voice over says: ‘Ost Preussen ist das Deutsche Pferdeland‘ . . .  For 200 years indeed it was. King Friedrich Wilhelm 1 had a stud here and bred the famous ‘Trakhener‘ horse.  At one time it employed over 3,000 people.

When the Red Army advanced, the horses were moved out with Prussians fleeing west, though few survived the winter and the trek.  The stables fell into ruins. They were still ruined when Joost Lemmens photographed them in 2000. Today the local town, Gusev, struggles to employ anyone.

This kind of rural decay characterises much of the Kaliningrad Oblast and explains why people are so unhappy with Moscow. Besides a couple of showpieces in the city, very little has been restored since the war, over sixty years ago.

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