Pravdinsk (, prior to 1946 known by its

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

name, ', , ), is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and the

administrative center An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...

Pravdinsky District Pravdinsky District () is an administrative district (raion), one of the administrative divisions of Kaliningrad Oblast, fifteen in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. It is located in the south of the oblast. The area of the district is . Its administrati ...

Kaliningrad Oblast Kaliningrad Oblast () is the westernmost federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of the Russian Federation. It is a Enclave and exclave, semi-exclave on the Baltic Sea within the Baltic region of Prussia (region), Prussia, surrounded by Pola ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. It is on the Lava River and is east of

Bagrationovsk Bagrationovsk (; , ; or '; or ') is a town and the administrative center of Bagrationovsky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located close to the border with Poland, south of Kaliningrad, the administrative center of the oblast. It has a ...

and southeast of

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad,. known as Königsberg; ; . until 1946, is the largest city and administrative centre of Kaliningrad Oblast, an Enclave and exclave, exclave of Russia between Lithuania and Poland ( west of the bulk of Russia), located on the Prego ...

. Population figures:

History

Pravdinsk was founded in 1312 at a

ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

across the Lava River after the local

Natangian Natangian () was a Low Prussian dialect, Low Prussian dialect, spoken in Natangen, East Prussia. Geography It was spoken in Natangen around Zinten, Bartoszyce, Bartenstein, Pravdinsk, Friedland, Srokowo, Drengfurt and Kętrzyn, Rastenburg. Nat ...

tribe in

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

was subdued by the

Teutonic Knights The Teutonic Order is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem was formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to t ...

, and received

town privileges Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...

in 1335 under Grand Master

Luther von Braunschweig Luther von Braunschweig (also known as Lothar of Brunswick; 18 April 1335) was a German nobleman who served as the 18th Grand Master of the Teutonic Order from 1331 to 1335. Life Luther was a younger son of the House of Welf, Welf duke Albert I ...

. It was known by its

German language German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western Europe, Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and Official language, official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switze ...

name ''Friedland'' ("peaceful land"). In 1440 the town joined the anti-Teutonic

Prussian Confederation The Prussian Confederation (, ) was an organization formed on 21 February 1440 at Marienwerder (present-day Kwidzyn) by a group of 53 nobles and clergy and 19 cities in Prussia, to oppose the arbitrariness of the Teutonic Knights. It was based o ...

, at the request of which Polish King

Casimir IV Jagiellon Casimir IV (Casimir Andrew Jagiellon; ; Lithuanian: ; 30 November 1427 – 7 June 1492) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447 until his death in 1492. He was one of the most active Polish-Lithuanian rulers; under ...

signed the act of incorporation of the region to the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland (; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a monarchy in Central Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval period from 1025 until 1385. Background The West Slavs, West Slavic tribe of Polans (western), Polans who lived in what i ...

in 1454. The town was devastated during the subsequent Thirteen Years' War, the longest of all Polish–Teutonic wars. After the war, per the

peace treaty A peace treaty is an treaty, agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually country, countries or governments, which formally ends a declaration of war, state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice, which is an ag ...

signed in

Toruń Toruń is a city on the Vistula River in north-central Poland and a World Heritage Sites of Poland, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its population was 196,935 as of December 2021. Previously, it was the capital of the Toruń Voivodeship (1975–199 ...

in 1466, it became a part of Poland as a

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

held by the Teutonic Knights.Górski, pp. 96-97, 214-215 In 1525, the town became a part of the

Duchy of Prussia The Duchy of Prussia (, , ) or Ducal Prussia (; ) was a duchy in the region of Prussia established as a result of secularization of the Monastic Prussia, the territory that remained under the control of the State of the Teutonic Order until t ...

, a vassal duchy of Poland, after the

secularization In sociology, secularization () is a multilayered concept that generally denotes "a transition from a religious to a more worldly level." There are many types of secularization and most do not lead to atheism or irreligion, nor are they automatica ...

of the

State of the Teutonic Order The State of the Teutonic Order () was a theocratic state located along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea in northern Europe. It was formed by the knights of the Teutonic Order during the early 13th century Northern Crusades in the region ...

. From 1618, it was ruled by Dukes of Brandenburg from the

Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern (, ; , ; ) is a formerly royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) German dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania. ...

dynasty, remaining under Polish suzerainty until 1657, when Prussia gained independence. It was again damaged by

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

troops in the course of the

Second Northern War The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of ...

1655–1660. Friedland belonged to the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

from 1701, and during the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

on June 14, 1807,

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

army aided by Poles and Saxons won the nearby

Battle of Friedland The Battle of Friedland (14 June 1807) was a major engagement of the Napoleonic Wars between the armies of the French Empire commanded by Napoleon I and the armies of the Russian Empire led by General Levin August von Bennigsen. Napoleon and t ...

against a combined

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

Prussian Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, the House of Hohenzoll ...

army. The town became part of the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

in 1871, during the Prussian-led

unification of Germany The unification of Germany (, ) was a process of building the first nation-state for Germans with federalism, federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without Habsburgs' multi-ethnic Austria or its German-speaking part). I ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Friedland was conquered by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

on January 31, 1945 as part of the Soviet invasion of Germany. At the time Friedland belonged to

Landkreis In 13 German states, the primary administrative subdivision higher than a '' Gemeinde'' (municipality) is the () or (). Most major cities in Germany are not part of any ''Kreis'', but instead combine the functions of a municipality and a ''K ...

Bartenstein in the province of

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

, which was transferred from

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

according to the 1945

Potsdam Agreement The Potsdam Agreement () was the agreement among three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union after the war ended in Europe that was signed on 1 August 1945 and published the following day. A ...

. The German population fled or was expelled, and East Prussia was divided between the Soviet Union and the

People's Republic of Poland The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...

, with Friedland belonging to the portion organized into

of the

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

. The town was made the

of Fridlyandsky District under the name Fridlyand, but were renamed Pravdinsk and Pravdinsky District in 1946.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Pravdinsk serves as the

.Resolution #640 As an administrative division, it is, together with thirty-two rural localities, incorporated within Pravdinsky District as the

town of district significance Town of district significance is an administrative division of a district in a federal subject of Russia. It is equal in status to a selsoviet or an urban-type settlement of district significance, but is organized around a town (as opposed to a ...

of Pravdinsk. Within the framework of municipal divisions, since May 5, 2015, the territories of the town of district significance of Pravdinsk, the

urban-type settlement of district significance Urban-type settlement, abbreviated: ; , abbreviated: ; ; ; ; . is an official designation for lesser urbanized settlements, used in several Central and Eastern European countries. The term was primarily used in the Soviet Union and later also f ...

of Zheleznodorozhny, and of two rural okrugs of Pravdinsky District are incorporated as Pravdinsky Urban Okrug.Law #418 Before that, the town of district significance was incorporated within Pravdinsky Municipal District as Pravdinskoye Urban Settlement.

Religion

The Late Gothic church of St. George in the town center is well preserved and today used by the

Moscow Patriarchate The Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus (), also known as the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, is the title of the Primate (bishop), primate of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). It is often preceded by the honorific "His Holiness". As the Ordinar ...

. Pravdinsk is identified in some historical accounts with Romuva, said to be the center of

Baltic paganism Baltic mythology is the body of mythology of the Baltic peoples stemming from Baltic paganism and continuing after Christianization and into Baltic folklore. History Baltic mythology ultimately stems from Proto-Indo-European mythology. The Balt ...

. The Lithuanian name for Pravdinsk is Romuva, and this was most likely its name in

Old Prussian Old Prussian is an extinct West Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European languages, which was once spoken by the Old Prussians, the Baltic peoples of the Prussian region. The language is called Old Prussian to av ...

as well. Whether Romuva was in fact associated with Baltic paganism is disputed, however, as it has been suggested that this belief started when early Christian chroniclers were confused by the similarity between "Romuva" and "

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

", and by their own unwarranted assumption that Baltic paganism should resemble

Roman paganism Religion in ancient Rome consisted of varying imperial and provincial religious practices, which were followed both by the people of Rome as well as those who were brought under its rule. The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, ...

in being focused around a particular geographical center.

Notable people

* Otto Saro (1818–1888) a Prussian lawyer and chief state prosecutor in

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

* Florian Essenfelder (1855–1929) made pianos in Germany and Brazil *

Artyom Danilenko Artyom Leonidovich Danilenko (; born 22 March 1990) is a Russian former professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), ...

(born 1990) a Russian professional football player

International relations

Pravdinsk is part of the ''Friedliches Land'' (Peaceful Land) municipal association with: *

Frýdlant Frýdlant (, also known as Frýdlant v Čechách; ) is a town in Liberec District in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 7,400 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Cz ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

Frýdlant nad Ostravicí Frýdlant (, also known as Frýdlant v Čechách; ) is a town in Liberec District in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 7,400 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Cz ...

, Czech Republic *

Friedland, Brandenburg Friedland (Lower Sorbian: ''Bryland'') is a town in the Oder-Spree district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated in the historic Lower Lusatia region, about south of Beeskow, and north of Cottbus. History The town was first mentioned as '' ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Friedland, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Friedland is a town in the district Mecklenburgische Seenplatte (district), Mecklenburgische Seenplatte, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is only 22 km from the district seat and bigger town Neubrandenburg, but still Friedland remains a ...

, Germany *

Friedland, Lower Saxony Friedland is a municipality in the district of Göttingen, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Leine, approx. 13 km south of Göttingen. Its seat is in the village of Groß Schneen, one of fourteen communities in the municip ...

, Germany *

Korfantów Korfantów (, ), formerly known in Polish as Fryląd, is a town in the Opole Voivodeship of southwestern Poland, with 1,808 inhabitants (2019). In 1946 the town was renamed in honour of politician and activist Wojciech Korfanty, however, the previ ...

(''Friedland in Oberschlesien''),

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Mieroszów Mieroszów (formerly: ''Fyrląd''; ) is a town in Wałbrzych County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland, near the border with the Czech Republic. It is the seat of the administrative district (gmina) called Gmina Mieroszów. It ...

(''Friedland in Niederschlesien''), Poland

References

Notes

Sources

* * * {{Authority control Cities and towns in Kaliningrad Oblast Pravdinsky District