Pre war it was impossible, but most of the famous bridges are destroyed, and they put the highway through the middle of the old towns, so… yes, you can.

I’ve won… But at what cost?

WELL NO PROBLEM THAT IS MAGIC JOKE.. I'M RUSSIAN LIVE HERE SINCE 1956.. TOO MUCH PEOPLE TRY IT... THAT*S SOPHISTICS..

@@Vitalis94based soviets

@@OtherlingQueenWhy? They live in it now, it’s their problem if they make it a shithole

A combination of ideology, lack of funding and the mentality. The communist ideal had cities rebuilt in the “new model”, with modernist architecture in mind. It wasn’t exclusive to communist states, as brutalist architecture and car dependency was favoured by many architects after the war. The lack of funding and the need to quickly rebuild, get people houses, also resulted in the infamous commie blocks. Lastly, as an imperial, conquering power, they just don’t care about the city’s history, so the government didn’t want to rebuild using the historical style. I don’t know about Vyborg, but many local architects tried to rebuild Kaliningrad in the historical style, so it’s not like no one cared.

always the same with those damn russians no respect no honor.

At least the Library in Vyborg is kept the way Saarinen meant it to be

A very large amount of vyborg/viipuri citizens stick speak Finnish, 94% i believe. However the city itself is just and ugly soviet city

Viborg, Sweden's bastion against the east. Long it held them at bay, truly a tragic tale.

Soviet people has tendency to autodestruction.

russians@@patryk3019

Don't a lot of current day inhabitants of Kaliningrad have roots in Ukraine?

maybe, but complete majority are russians@@flopunkt3665

It’s strange that you are from Russia, but instead of Kharkov you use Kharkiv.

My mom was from HH...but with East Prussian roots in part...from near Goldap.

It is already being demolished

@@iachelovek-ib8rw Thanks didnt know that

If only I had the power to change it back.

@@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714 🙏

they just could have used the Königsberg Castle as the foundation of the House of slavs, making both sides happy

​@@diesesphilI think being a city park is better. both buildings are symbols of power. better not to build

@@diesesphil We baltic people would not be happy.

Modeling a city after Pittsburg? 💀

@@goldenfiberwheat238 There ain't nothing wrong with Pittsburgh. It's the greatest city in the world. Also, you forgot the H.

@@wetwillyis_1881 cope

...where were they supposed to prepare food then?

@@riograndedosulball248 That's the neat part, they didn't. If I remember correctly, in typical soviet fashion, they didn't think about that.

Thank you so much :)

Will do, thanks :)

I think being a city park is better. both buildings are symbols of power. better not to build anything

@@carkawalakhatulistiwa I mean a lot of things are symbols of powers lol. At least the castle looked cool af.

And how many millions of Russians were killed during the controlled famine times … I question why that is never mentioned . Talk about aggression on its own people … let alone Europe. But that is war and it just trickles down …

Also Lithuanian architects sent proposals to save the castle. Even though originally it was constructed to fight lithuanians

​@@hanzeuro28as an architect I can tell you the House of Soviets was built to replace German roots since this was meant to show poder through bulding

As a Pole I regret that Kaliningrad Exclave wasn't given to Poland 😭

@@FekalistaGrzybowory-lz8lh yes, but to be fair Poland was given loads of Land after the war anyway- Bydgoszcz, Gdańsk, and the Western regions were all once German. Not forgetting that Poland got the south of East Prussia. I think it would have been interesting if Kaliningrad created its own state/SSR or ASSR and tried to respect the history of the region in a new lense rather than building over it.

​@antonolo4670 Would've been interesting to see a Prussia SSR with respect of its history (maybe a new home for the Volga Germans as Stalin hated them). Post Cold War would've been interesting if they would've joined Germany, Poland, or become an independent state. Instead it became Kallingrad, a city being an example why soviet communism is absolute shit. A boring city with its heart ripped out and replaced with a depressing concrete center.

Also, I would like to add that in Soviet times a very large number of the German paving stones were removed from Kaliningrad to Riga and Leningrad.

maybe you should czech your sources

@@Yuyo545 we've czech-ed, of course, what was founded by king Ottokar II is rightful Czech clay

​@@quantranminh9203 it was not. It was founded by teutonic knights who named it Königsberg in honor of a bohemian noble who helped them in their campaigns

@@gerbrandt7213 They've founded it on ground of old Prussian settlement "Twangste" and in honor of not some noble but king Ottokar II who helped in their crusades immensely

@@andso2152 yeah of course it's a reasonable argument. I guess it depends how far back in history you want to go. the baltic fortress twangste existed, but I wouldn't say it had a significant influence on the development of the city Königsberg.

No it doesnt. Kēningsberg doesnt exist anymore only Kaļiņingrad does.

Well, seeing how the Soviets/Russians viewed the other Balts, it isn’t that suprising.

Also, to add, East Prussia had significant Lithuanian heritage, culture, language and contributions to Lithuania and other European countries up to the early 20th century.

Couldn't have put it better myself, whether the Prussian language went extinct is debatable insofar that it fell out of public use completely. A restored version exists today (I happen to learn it) - it had to loan quite a bit of vocabulary as a result from Lithuanian. Of all Baltic and Slavic languages nawaprūsiskan is arguably the most archaic - meaning that it retains old linguistic features that fell out of use in other languages and can be considered to be the language that retains the most Indo-European features.

Генетика подтверждает, что восточные немцы и русские имели общих предков. Конституция Великого княжества Литовского была написана кириллицей на русском языке, эти люди позже стали белорусами.

@@user-sp6lo3wp5u 🤣🤣

That's always been its name in Polish; the English Jewish surname Krulwich comes from it.

Germany should do the same lmao

@@gerbrandt7213 Thats not how its works, you cant just rename a city if you arent controlling it. Poland is just being a smartass and trowing a fit over the name because they hate Russia.

@@quan-uo5ws Um, but exonyms exist? People use different names all the time? Sometimes they even force different nations to use those, like Turkey for example.

Yeah but that isnt "renaming".

It is always the reactionary fanatics who destroy without thinking.

Not to mention the nuclear waste deployed in the Kaliningrad Oblast since 1956.

​@@NoSTs123don't think you're using that word correctly. The soviets were a lot of bad things, but it's usually us monarchists that are labeled reactionary, for a desire to return to older ways.

@@greyfells2829 ok

Karaliaucius - original baltic name. Still has Lithuanian walls in the city

Maybe because the city of Königsberg was a very important city in German and Prussian history. Also the before/after pictures of the city are shocking. In Poland and Lithuania buildings got more preserved

Compare Marienburg castle today to Königsberg castle today to find your answer

@@countdown4725 Funny you mention Marienburg, because just outside the castle, there are commie blocks where the old town used to be. Although they are rebuilding the riverside houses at the moment. So not that different from Kaliningrad itself.

@@Vitalis94 Unlike the Soviets/Russians, the Poles have approached their (partially newly gained) cities with far more respect. Of course there are big reminders of communist rule everywhere in Poland, but most cities also had their historic centres faithfully rebuilt/preserved after the war. That‘s why there is little point to lament the fate of Olsztyn, because it‘s not so bad at all. Königsberg died in 1945 as both a city and a concept. The other cities didn‘t. They merely experienced a nationality change.

@@bahnspotterEU True, you could argue that Kaliningrad is a completely different city. Funnily enough, Kaliningrad and Königsberg have separate wiki entries in German wikipedia. Modern Kaliningrad is much bigger than Königsberg ever was, and while the pre war city was densly populated and centered around historical core, this historical core of modern Kaliningrad is mostly empty, full of parks and highways. Instead, modern Kaliningrad city centre lies where the pre-war outskirts were. And yeah, Poland has seen the surge of rennovations in the last years. I’m just not too happy with it’s direction - it mostly immitates the pre war styles, more akin to Frankfurts rennovations, than those of Warsaw or even Gdansk.

No, the land belongs to Baltija.

@@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714 The Bolivia thing is a joke lol

You mean german, prūši lived in simple log houses with thached roofs.

@@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714 Lol right.

I hope that is true! Part of my family was originally from Königsberg and were sad to see what happened to it

That is interesting. In the UK we have had laws to protect historic buildings ( for aesthetic and social reasons) since 1947. The cost of repair is on average five times greater because of the materials and skilled labour they require. But there is no problem finding commercial owners for such buildings as they add prestige to the business. This is especially the case for banks who like to have the best buildings in town to suggest stability, continuity and wealth

@@jontalbot1 Coventry was a gem of a medieval city, sure the Luftwaffe destroyed alot, but much more was destroyed between 1925 and 1960 by the town planners. I've even seen models from the 1930's which look like today's Precincts. If the Germans can rebuild Dresden and the Frauenkirke you'd really think the British could rebuild Coventry

@@jcoker423 Yes l know it was a fine medieval city before it was bombed. Personally l agree with the grouping of what was left in Spon Street. I also think the ring road and precincts a good idea so that driving around Cov is a lot easier than most cities while the centre is fine to walk around. The detailing of the individual buildings is poor as it was everywhere in the 50s and 60s. I dislike the modern cathedral but again nothing much built anywhere at that time was much good. The centres of Southampton, Portsmouth and Plymouth are all pretty bad. If you want to good examples, visit Leeds, Liverpool and especially Manchester. It looks like Manhattan from a distance but they have invested in good quality design

I am sure you know there was push back about relocating old buildings to Spon St as opposed to leave them be. But I'm pleased they did. There was also concern about the demolition of Butchers Row in the 1920's. Gibson already had plans in the 1930 for the redevelopment on the center. I'm with you over the new Cathedral, vrs making one of the other 3 spires the Cathedral. It is impressive, but I find it soulless. You like the Ring Road (which follows the old walls)? Well may Dad (born Holbrooks) was the site manager for Gallifords for 5/6 sections. So I am invested in liking it. Dad did say there should have been 2 ring roads (which I think there are now), with one outside the greater city. But at the time it was all about the CBD. Today I think we'd make the central area trams/walking with parking by the inner ring road and with a lovely medieval city like York given over to sights and student accommodation. Shopping malls on the edge of the city. All in hindsight. The English didn't have the foresight or money after WW2. I also have family ties to Guz and Pompey and visited them in the 70's, with my parents. Yup, L'pool, Man seemed to have retained their character. Hopefully I'll get back to Blighty in the next couple of years and some soccer, Pompey, Plym or the Sky Blues. Rgds. J

We've got a little Hitler here

WELL THAT*S SOCIAL DEMOCRATS ORGANIZATION FROM SWEEZATLAND... TOO MUCH PROJECTS HAVE DONE BY THAM THAT IS WHY PRONOUNCE ENGLISH WITH SWEESS ACSENT... I'M RUSSIAN little bit speak English & understand & agree with YOU CONGRATULATION FROM KONIGSBERG /КАЛИНИНГРАД НIS NAME IS BULU /HAL:OCHEN /HISTORY STUDENT FROM CENTRAL DOUICHLAND... SIR MANATEE IS NICKNAME OF CHAN IN KZfaq /ЛАМАНТИН ТАКОЙ МЛЕКОПИТ СЕВЕРНЫХ МОРЕЙ /... I HAVE BEEN IN USA CANADA UK ANGOLA... ECT & KNOW HOW SPEAK ENGLISH HERE THERE & EVERYWHERE...

Sounds Scandinavian to me.

You do realize his german, right? Id bet hes from Hesse.

His channel says central germany

Baltic German are just German Lebensraum Colonists

It's adressed exactly as much as most other forms of ethnic cleansing of the era.

Nor the natives of the region at the hands of the Germans

Nor is the ethnic erasure of the native prussians at the hands of the German teutons

Officialy and in the big media not or very few mentioned. But through millions cases of intermarriages between expelled eastern Germans and other Germans in former West Germany and the German Democratic Republic (DDR) this history is widespreadly known within the German people.

Immanuel Kant was not at all Russian. The reason he was so esteemed in Russia was because he became a member of the Russian academy of sciences late in his life and was popular with the tsar. if you want to dig into the nitty gritty his maternal side were Bavarian colonists from Nuremberg while his paternal side was Prussian-Curonian (the Baltic kind). Ethnically he was not linked to Russia.

@@aniinnrchoque1861 I am relieved that the frustration you feel is revealed and vented. I grew up studying Kant and the seven bridges of Konigsberg and seeing a place ripped apart and then mocked as a cautionary tale was enough. If the Russians return the city to the way it was in 1939 would hardly do justice to the heritage and spirit of the place

@@Luxnutz1 yeah, I went there in 2016 and there is some good some bad - but mostly bad imo. I am learning nawaprūsiskan now and hope to help bring back Baltic Prussian culture from pre-colonial times.

@@aniinnrchoque1861 Revival of both parts of what was the Order of the Teutonc knights taken by Russia and Poland be restored to a degree. The Brick Castles and structures made by craftsmen who could neither read or write that were beautiful sight to see gone out of spite

@@Luxnutz1 yeah Poland has done a half decent job. Unfortunately (or perhaps unsurprisingly given history) Poland is ultra nationalistic, trying to consolidate all the territory it controls as homogeneous as possible. As such numbers of other minorities such as semi native Kashubians and Silesians have gone down and their cultural-linguistic heritage is not encouraged, much less in western Pomerania and Dolnyslaske where both of these were present until German assimilation pushed everything eastwards. Most people won't care enough to care, that's how it is with societal complacency until war is brought to one's own doorstep.

What happened there?

@@bernd_das_brot6911 It was like the WEF following through with their plans but with Klaus Schwab wearing a powdered wig

Your family comes from a place which no longer exists, what you will see there is what modern Russija looks like.

welp dude, if i were the soviets who have lost 27 million citizens in 4 years to those "Krauts"...of course i would take their proud *"Holy German Land"* ,renaming the city after one of the soviet Communist leaders and guarantee that 90% of the city will no longer have Germans as the *last middle finger* for future descendants of Germans....why? because fuck them, that's why

The regime maybe, not the inhabitants.@danielhalachev4714

@danielhalachev4714 Considering communists and nazis are pretty much the same thing, not surprising

@@kasugaryuichi9767 hur dur horseshoe theory. Shut up.

@@kasugaryuichi9767 I don’t really see how communists and nazis are the same tbh

I suppose it is part of the perfect punishment for Prussian militarism... Isn't it such sweet revenge for the Poles and Slavs to have the German legacy and history of these lands nearly completely forgotten?

@@kaiserredgamer8943 No it really isn't. Also the Poles kept German Infrastructure and restored German Castles and buildings too.

@@kaiserredgamer8943 Completely forgotten? Have you visited this territory?

Land der dunklen valder?

@@kaiserredgamer8943 Prussia was no more militaristic than other states. All major states have waged wars of conquest without being accused of militarism. The Roman Empire grew through wars of conquest and not through persuasion of the subjugated peoples. All great colonial empires came about through aggressive wars. In its heyday, Poland also waged wars against other peoples and annexed their territories. So stop telling the tale of Prussian militarism. The Prussian Army was more effective than many other armies, but not more aggressive. The Prussian army was characterized above all by the discipline and sacrifice of its soldiers. In addition, the order principle was preferred in the Prussian army. In contrast to the command, only the destination is specified for the order, but not the route. This made warfare more flexible and effective. The German Wehrmacht has won many battles despite being outnumbered and outgunned. As in France in 1940. Quotes that say something about the Prussian army: "I made you a staff officer so you would know when not to obey." Frederick II, the Great, Prussian King "Unforeseen opportunities are to be used immediately, and unforeseen difficulties are to be reacted to immediately." Carl Philipp Gottlieb von Clausewitz (1780 - 1831) Prussian major general and military scientist Prussian traditions kzfaq.info/get/bejne/n699d7uc376vmoU.html

Kaliningrad would have been so beautiful but the soviet ego and the love for concrete detroyed those hopes a long time ago

There is no German-Russian synthesis without a German population. The Russians drove out the Germans and wiped out German culture. They have turned a cultural landscape into a wasteland similar to many areas in the Russian heartland. I don't blame the Russian people who were resettled in northern East Prussia after the war. In many cases they were also victims of war and pawns of the powerful. But the Russians living there have no connection to the German culture that existed there until 1945. With the expulsion of the Germans, the German soul of this area died out. In 1945, a new era began for northern East Prussia - as well as for the German eastern provinces annexed by Poland. The undestroyed German monuments are only attractive backdrops for a foreign population. For us Germans, the loss of our eastern provinces is a painful memory. With their loss, part of German culture, part of German identity has been lost forever. Funeral march from the oratorio “Saul” by George Frideric Handel kzfaq.info/get/bejne/aJhyl8R3zq_Sopc.html A personal note: Part of my family comes from the northern part of East Prussia. They had to flee from the invading and marauding Red Army in minus 20 degrees and a snowstorm. One of my male relatives was a young pilot in the German Air Force. His last mission was in Northeast Prussia. His mission was to stop the invading Red Army in order to enable the German civilian population to escape west. It was a kamikaze mission. He knew it wouldn't come back alive. His body lies somewhere in northern East Prussia. His grave is in my heart. Friedhelm's death kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rc9mksaYrs65g6M.html I had a comrade kzfaq.info/get/bejne/g8x9hNdkldXckYk.html

Ū a person from Kaļiņingrad, I have a question. So to figure out what Im really like I ran a thought experiment of what Id do with godlike powers, if logic allows of it I can do it phisics be damned. But I god bored of that and decided to do a second with with more limitations. In my hypothetical I only have stuff like being buletproof, running at the speed of a car and an undulling sword that can cut metal, think Adam Taurus for aestetic. My plan for my second year with these powers is to invade Kaļiņingrand and give the ultimatum that everyone in it must submit, die or leave. Then the question is - What precentage do you think would leave, submit or die failing to realize that Im not bluffing and wont be stopped?

I believe the old Prussians were a Baltic people akin to Lithuanians, it's also curious how the current Russian population has become more sympathetic to the heritage and culture of the previous inhabitants and see themselves as more progressive than Russia itself. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for the region especially with the current conflict

There is a strong likelihood that many Palestinians are ethnically closer to the tribes of Biblical Israel than most modern Israelis......

I highly doubt you have 0% Lithuanian DNA considering how heavily intermixed Baltic tribes were with one another even before the crusades. In fact, the Old Prussians later became known as Lithuanian Prussians in the 1500s according the scholars like Simon Grunau

You realize though that if the old Prussians were ethnically cleansed as you say, ie exterminated, you wouldn't be 70% old Prussians.

Okay so how was that "Old Prussians" classified in your test? What is the name of the testing company? None of the major genetic tests have "Old Prussians" classification. If you done ancestry DNA, it should be either Baltic or Northwest Poland/Southern Lithuania (Yotvingian and Old Prussian). I had ancestors from a close by Lithuanian region. I got 87% Baltic/Lithuanian) and 13% Northwest Poland/Southern Lithuanian

Ancient Emperor Konigu from the Shizue clan founded the city, its real name is actually "Kounigusuberugu". Ancient japanese fishing city

No its baltic!

sadly..

Why?

@@airsmellnice4133 neo na7ism

@@StalinWasntThatBadTbh since 1945 was no victory for Latvia, why should they have a victory monument.

@@ekesandras1481 To honor the Soviet Liberators of the glorious Red Army. That's why.

Impossible, there isnt enough of it recorded to be able to speak it.

Das erste kann man auch schnell wieder ändern

@Allahcunny modern Germany isnt german anymore and you still want more land? Калининград is and will be Russian forever.

The fact that you still express desire to conquer Kaliningrad, despite Germany lacking any military or nuclear capabilities to do that is baffling. You dont even have the people to populate the region, since the whole German nation is on track to become extinct. Besides, Kaliningrad oblast is rightfully Russian as a retribution for all the sins Germany committed in Ussr. Have some decency to accept your defeat and live on

​@Allahcunny Ah, the infamous "will of the German people". 1) Only 18% of the Germans are willing to fight in a war for their country. 2) Germany has 1.58 fertility rate which means it cant even re-populate itself - there is no way for you to populate new land. And most importantly - German army will not help you against nuclear armageddon. So I hope you understand why you cant get this land back and why you dont even need it. If you think otherwise you can tell me your plan of proving me wrong. The thing is, I dont even understand why would you be so petty about an already lost clay. Do you plan to also attack Poland and France for taking your land, or do you want Kaliningrad specifically? Also, my name is irrelevant to this conversation

Königsberg 🇩🇪

An occupier.

Kaliningrader

@@goldenfiberwheat238 is that supposed to rhyme with cheese grater or ladder?

@@lucacoccioli9244 depends on your accent I guess

A smear on the earth

So?

Based poles

Nationalism is not bad when it comes from oppressed people breaking empires apart.

They were and still are against other countries nationalism expect their own, because they know there's so many smaller ethnicities they have conquered and oppresed and they fear them breaking free

​@@pierren___napolion

Nationalism is not a right or left thing, it exists in both sides of the political spectrum, its only the modern left in places like Europe and North America that think otherwise.

​@pierren___ so germany under the Versailles treaty?

За чей счёт

There are similarities in the Sovjet treatment of the Balts and Germans. Big difference is, that the newly arrived Slavic people in the Baltic were additional settlers while the complete German population of historic east Germany suffered genocide or deportation.

"Genetic studies showed, that Slavs did not migrate into Poland around 4-5th century, they were already there for millenia." Don't say such nonsense. At the time of Christ's birth there was not a single Pole west of the Memel and Vistula rivers. The Poles originally come from the vastness of Russia. They moved west and took possession of areas already populated by Germanic tribes. The Poles are writing their own history. They may also claim that the DNA of the Neanderthals matches the DNA of the Poles. I'm still waiting for the Poles to claim that Adam and Eve were the first Poles and therefore the whole world belongs to the Poles. If we Germans argued like the Poles, then half of Europe belonged to us. The Germanic Franks under Charlemagne ruled over what are now the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Austria, Switzerland and northern Italy. So we could claim these areas today. The Angles and Saxons come from northern Germany and have our DNA, so we would also have claims to England. Frederick II from the German Hohenstaufen family was not only emperor of the empire, but also king of Sicily. The German Hanover dynasty had ruled Great Britain since 1714. From 1840 it was replaced by the German dynasty of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, which changed its name to Windsor after the First World War. Since the 15th century, Denmark has been ruled by the German dukes from Schleswig and Holstein. The German Habsburgs ruled not only over the empire, but also over Spain and Portugal and their colonies. Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands were part of the empire for centuries. The Dutch city of Amsterdam received city rights from Emperor Maximilian. The Dutch royal family comes from Nassau in Hesse. The ancestors of the Belgian royal family come from Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Many areas in Eastern Europe were developed for agriculture by German settlers. Many cities in Eastern Europe - such as Riga and Kulm - were founded by German settlers. Given all these facts, we could follow the Polish example and assert territorial claims. Or?

Laba diena :)

You know what was scandslous? Starting a war in the first place. I don’t support the population exchange, but the Nazis did start the war with the goal of cleansing the conquered lands of its inhabitants.

Germanophile cry? This land are rightfully slavic from 1000 years

@@polonianova The 1000 years before these 1000 years, this land was germanic, even most of poland and czechia were germanic at some point. I therefore determine your reply to be nationalistic cope.

@@polonianova Funniest thing about slavs is that they always focus on a specific 10 year span in history that is the most optimal for their ethnicity. Poles always look at 10th century slavic principalities in eastern germany, but for some reason they never look 100-200 years before that when their people hadn't even migrated into the region and was 100% eastern germanic up to the vistula. I'm latin, by the way, before you ask, and they do the same shit with us. You have slavs arguing that italians are actually slavs because 100 bulgars migrated into the italian peninsula in the 7th century. Pathetic, really.

@@polonianova No, Baltics lived there no slavs. Gaslightning is an outcry of inability to cope with life.

To make a moral dismissal for the cleaning of a group of people because of your general opinion on that people is the easiest opinion to have that is the furthest possible from reality. You can’t understand the pain and injustice of an entire population being wiped from the territory in which they lived or killed/abused on mass. People are swept up in or subjected to grand historical trends that they have little persistant influence over or ability to predict. Often they don’t really even choose what they believe, especially under fascism and communism. You can hold the many leader figures to ideas of just deserves and retribution for their actions, but to extend the same concept to the great mess of guilt and innocence that is a civilian population for the sake of moral satisfaction is completely unacceptable. Every retaliation is just another crime in the interest of either a few men or an abstract idea. In this case, Russian revanchism and Stalin, previously German facism and the Nazi party.

But the totalitarian regime chose what to do, not all the bright diverse minded people. By western media you are thinking of especially us and british outlets? You maybe right. But otherwise for certain not.

@@juliane__ There was never a totatitarian regime, the word "totalitarian" is meaningless. There was a system of grassroots participation in political participation based on the soviets (workers' councils) which was the basis of all political activity. Even party membership was regularly vetted by the soviets, at least before the Great Patriotic War. We may not want to call it a democracy because of the censorship and persecution of reactionaries but it wasn't a top down system.

​@@justanormalyoutubeuser3868 Just because local politics weren't directly managed from Moscow doesn't make the Soviet system not 'top down'. All major decisions and power over every institution of the state was held by a small council of Party cadres with a single leader. It doesn't get more top-down than that. And the notion that the CCCP wasn't totalitarian is ridiculous. Sure, there was controlled opposition, much like elsewhere, for example in the GDR, but nothing was allowed without the state's approval. Actual opposition was persecuted severely, and activism not along party lines would yield you at least a lengthy prison sentence. That is the very definition of totalitarian, the fact that all actions and ideas must adhere to the ideals of the state, and any divergence is severely punished. I don't know what you're trying to achieve by whitewashing the authoritarian history of such regiemes, but it won't change history.

@@mikeblatzheim2797 Every state that has ever existed has had a hierarchy with a small group at the top. In the Soviet Union was the Supreme Soviet, a large, elected body. If that makes the Soviet Union authoritarian than every state that has ever existed would be equally authoritarian, which is why marxists reject the term. The political system was not organized along government and opposition in order to prevent functionalism, every delegate was an equal member of the Soviet. This does not mean there was no political freedom, all matters where thoroughly discussed at all levels of government. Political work was never restricted to party members only, as every worker had right to political work through the trade unions and other social groups. Many delegates at Soviet elections were independent. What you confuse with political repression is the fight against terrorism and sabotage, of which the soviet union was a major victim. If the FBI found you to be affiliated with ISIS you would be arrested just like a Trotskyist would be arrested in the USSR. In addition the USSR persecuted racism and fascism, hardly a questionable policy. There is no political freedom in the US, both parties serve the same capitalist system and are in agreement about everything except mere aesthetics, public opinion has no impact on policy, unlike in the Soviet Union. No state allows or ever allowed real, systemic opposition to gain strength and survived, if the USSR was totalitarian than so was every state ever. The state is instrument of political power, its character depends only on the class it serves.

US also destroyed black housing for the freeway during this time😂

while in Africa and Asia European buildings symbols of colonialism were also destroyed

many old buildings were demolished to make way for parking lots

Ja, sannerligen en mycket tråkig del i vår historia. Kriget kom aldrig till vårt länd så våra politiker bestämde att vi själva skulle spränga vår historia för "modernt" nybygge. Ännu idag pågår det.

If a lot of wealth in the past was concentrated to build a few beautiful buildings the last thing you should do is destroy them, youre toching everything your ancestors worked twords!

Corny

Cringy.

Maybe the british should not have demolished the city with aerial bombs, and then the historical buildings would have been preserved? Watch your own contry, mr. "Mad of their Decision".

You wish)

@@Nordbon1523 after this Ukraine war it is all to clear unfortunately

Russia isn’t Soviet anymore

With the annexation of the German eastern areas by Russians and Poles and the expulsion of the German population, the German soul of these areas has expired. Only the stones speak German and the trees whisper German in the evening. German history ended there with the Russian and Polish occupiers. The new population has no roots there. Land of Dark Forests (East Prussian Anthem) kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qNmRhdZz0NjKqWQ.html The East Prussian Riding Song (Your Sons, Land in the East) kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fKmEgZCKndrTgaM.html Well done, comrades on the horse kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qr18fs2S19u9cn0.html On Baltic watch kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fdh6rLZ2nq7HpH0.html

It was totally Germany's fault, as well as millions of dead, thousands of stolen and lost art pieces, countless destroyed old buildings by nazis

Buddy the Germans carpet bombed cities as well, in fact they did it first. If it wasn’t for Germany starting the war they wouldn’t have had their cities carpet bombed, so it was entirely on them.

More like who rebuilt. If Germans didn't start said conflict (and lost it) this city would still be theirs.

@@archer8849 more like if only the west didnt spout out empty promises of a free poland (and free europe) just to carpet bomb everything to the ground and leave half of europe to litteral bugmen from moscow.

yes, historically the city will be always German.

Some Kaliningraders suggest to return the old city name Königsberg as a part of decommunisation. Königsberg doesn't really sound out of place in Russian. Many great Russian cities have German names. St. Petersburg, Ekaterinburg, Kronstadt, Peterhof, Adler etc.

Not allowed Doing this would break the 2+4 Vertrag

@@Nakla It should be broken, or formally disbanded to the same end result. Whatever positive you may think of that treaty, it could be negotiated in a new treaty anyhow.

@@Naklawho cares about what some gay soviet whores think. Think freedom🇺🇸

For example austrian German lose südtirol to Italian

Close to everything, yes.

Kherson was also "forever russian" lmao

It’s funny how they try to support everything they did and put in the shine of glory. The architecture of the new kaliningrad is beyond ugly, concrete boxes over concrete boxes with not even a slightly reminder of the past. It’s an erased city with no personality anymore, just concrete. I’m just talking about the architecture but it’s just sad what was destroyed to push the soviet ego.

Remember how the soviet union fell apart?

Give it a while. The Germans would have said the same at the beginning of the 20th century. Plus the Baltic Republican Party enjoys great popularity, so let’s see how long it stays in the federation

@@user-pz6ls4uk8k Königsberg will wieder nach Hause!