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Klaipėda

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The port of Klaipėda handles some 20 million tons of cargo each year

Klaipėda (approximate English transcription: [ˈklaı.pɛ.dʌ], simplified Lithuanian transcription: [klaǐpēda]; German: Memel or Memelburg) is a Lithuanian town on the Baltic Sea. It has 190,653 inhabitants (2003, down from 207,100 in 1992). Klaipėda is Lithuania's only seaport and has a major ferry terminal with connections to Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. It is situated close to the mouth of the Curonian Lagoon.

For 667 years from 1252 to 1919, Klaipėda was a German city and was officially called Memel. Some of Klaipėda's older buildings have a picturesque framework architecture similar to that found in Germany, England, and Denmark. Popular Lithuanian seaside resorts found close to Klaipėda are Neringa and Palanga.

History

Historical design of Klaipėda

The settlement of Baltic tribes in the territory of present-day Klaipėda is known to have already begun in the first centuries AD.

Like many other cities of the former East Prussia, Klaipėda has two names. Officially in 1252–1923 and in 1939–1945 it was named Memel; in 1923–1939 and since 1945 it has had the name Klaipėda. At the earliest, the former place-name could be found in sources from the 13th century, and the latter (Klaipėda) in sources from the 15th century. The former notion that Memel is a place-name of German etymology is contradicted by the evidence. The lower reaches of today’s Neman were named either Memele or Memela by local inhabitants. Klaipėda is seemingly a Samogitian appellation which perhaps, most plausibly, refers to the boggy terrain of the town.

The Livonian Order and the Bishop of Curonia founded a castle in 1252 and recorded it as castle on Memele (German Memelburg, also Mimmelburg). In 1258 a town, which would become the metropolis of the Diocese of Curonia with a cathedral and at least two parochial churches, was granted Lübeck City Rights. Starting from 1328, when the castle and its surroundings were transferred from Livonia to the Teutonic Order in Prussia, the development of the castle, not the town, eventually became the dominant priority. In the 14th century, during a lengthy war between the Order and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the castle and the borough of the colonists, situated in front of the castle on a small island, were being attacked every 15 to 20 years by Samogitians and Lithuanians, and this greatly thwarted the town's development.

The Peace at Melno-See in 1422 fixed the border between the Teutonic Order and Lithuania. Memel remained part of Prussia and the border remained unchanged until 1919. It was one of the longest-lasting unchanged borders in Europe, and is referred to in the now-unsung first verse of the German national anthem, describing the borders of German-speaking lands: Von der Maas bis an die Memel, referring to the river.

Beginning in 1475 Memel was governed by the Culm Law of the Prussian Land cities. In 1525 Ducal Memel, under Albert of Prussia (Albrecht von Brandenburg-Ansbach-Preußen), adopted Lutheranism. It was the beginning of a long time of prosperity for the city and port, since Ducal Prussia was a Polish fief and later part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This border city served as port for neighbouring Lithuania, benefiting from its location near the mouth of the Neman River. After the coalescence of the Ducal Prussia and the Duchy of Brandenburg in 1618, Prussia actively started to participate in regional policy, which notably rebounded on the development of Memel. The construction of the defence around the entire town, initiated in 1627, noticeably changed both its status and prospects. Memel became a fortress (Memelfestung), whose system of fortification at the beginning of the 18th century was notable as one of the most reliable in Prussia. Notwithstanding, only twice could this fortress demonstrate its potential. The first occasion seems to have been a short martial venture of the Swedish army. In November 1678 they invaded Prussian territory but weren’t in a fit state to seize a well protected fortress. The second time was in the Seven Years' War, when Memel's fortifications succumbed to the envelopment of the Russian army, supported by cannonade. Consequently in 1757–1762 the town, like the whole of East Prussia, was dependent on the Russian Empire. After the latter operation the maintenance of the fortress was neglected, which in essence notably positively influenced the town's growth.

Furthermore, in the second half of the 18th century Klaipėda's lax customs enticed English traders here, who established the first industrial enterprises of wood manufacturing in Memel – the sawmills. The specialisation in wood manufacturing guaranteed Klaipėda's merchants a permanent income and stability for more than a hundred years. It likewise normalised trade with Königsberg, ongoing competition with which had brought about various unfulfilling or, worse, acrimonious situations since the 16th century.

A nearly unique, ponderous political event in Klaipėda's history was its status as temporary capital of the Kingdom of Prussia in Napoleonic times. In 1807–1808 Memel was a residence of King Frederick William III of Prussia, his consort Louise, the court and the government. Indeed, here on October 9, 1807 the king signed what was later called the October edict, today noted as the act of abolishment of serfdom in Prussia. It originated the notable reforms of Heinrich Friedrich Karl, baron von und zum Stein and Karl August von Hardenberg.

The development of the town in the 19th century was conditioned by the industrial revolution in Prussia and its attendant process of urbanisation. Even though the population of Memel increased fourfold during the 19th century and there were 21,470 people living there in 1910, in comparison the pace of development was slack indeed. The reasons for this were mostly political. Firstly, Memel was on the periphery of the state and this meant that modern communications were late coming to the town, and that the state was not interested in its development, in case the political situation in the region changed in the borderlands. Furthermore, most national financial infusions in the province East Prussia were addressed to the centre of region – Königsberg (nowadays Kaliningrad). Owing to the absence of heavy industry in the 1870s and 1880s the population of the town started to decline, while wood manufacturing persisted as the main industry.

With the creation of the united German state in 1871, Memel became the most northeasterly city of Germany. Still, according to the 1905 census, almost half of the inhabitants of the region declared Lithuanian as their mother tongue.

File:Klaipeda Annchen.jpg
Ännchen von Tharau figure reconstruction in front of the theatre

Since Lithuania did not exist as an independent country immediately after the end of World War I, with the Treaty of Versailles the town of Memel and the surrounding territory was placed under the protectorate of the Entente States. The territory was called Memelland and was separated from Germany and an autonomous government under temporary French jurisdiction was installed. However the French left after the Lithuanian occupation in 1923 under the command of Colonel Budrys. The acquisition had enormous consequences for the Lithuanian economy, as the region accounted for as much as 30% of the country's whole production. In 1925 over 51% of the population of the region was of Lithuanian descent. Shortly before World War II, facing Nazi militarism, and not being able to effectively defend itself against Germany, Lithuania was forced to transfer the town together with surrounding territories of the Klaipėda Region to the German Reich on March 22, 1939, after its annexations of Austria, the Sudetenland, and Bohemia and Moravia. Hitler personally arrived the next day and made a speech from a theatre balcony.

During World War II, from the end of 1944 into 1945, the German inhabitants fled during active fighting, or were later expelled or murdered. The city was captured by the Red Army on January 28, 1945. Unlike the rest of East Prussia, the Memel Territory wasn't considered as part of the Soviet occupation zone, and was therefore incorporated into the Lithuanian SSR again, marking the start of a new epoch in the history of Klaipėda.

The Soviets transformed Klaipėda, as the foremost ice-free port in the Eastern Baltic, into the largest piscatorial-marine base in the European USSR. A gigantic shipyard, a few dockyards and the fishing port were constructed. Subsequently, by the end of the 1950s the population of the city had surpassed twice its pre-war population, and by 1989 there were 203,000 people in Klaipėda. In the aftermath of World War II almost all new settlers came to Klaipėda from Russia, Belarus, the Ukraine and Lithuania. Initially the Russian-speaking contingent dominated the national government in the city but Lithuanization, beginning soon after Stalin's death, had by the 1970s reversed this domination to 2 Lithuanians for every Russian.

Up to the 1970s Klaipėda was only important to the USSR for its economy. Cultural and religious activity was miserable and restricted.

People born in Klaipėda

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Klaipeda.


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