Postcard of Juditten Church, ca. 1908 Mendeleyevo () is part of the Tsentralny District in

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 ...

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 ...

. Until 1947, it was 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 Juditten (; ) as first a suburb of and then a quarter of

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 ...

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 ...

. Juditten Church was a site of pilgrimage since the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. The philosopher

Johann Christoph Gottsched Johann Christoph Gottsched (2 February 1700 – 12 December 1766) was a German philosopher, author, critic and grammarian of the Enlightenment. Biography Early life He was born at Juditten (renamed Mendeleyevo in 1947) near Königsberg (K ...

was born in Juditten in 1700.

Etymology

The estate was first documented ca. 1287 as ''duas villas sic nominatas Gaudityn'' near

. The name was derived from the

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 ...

words ''gaudis'' (melancholy) and ''juodas'' (dark), describing the landscape. Separately, Eugen Reichel, a historian of Gottsched, attributed the name to a converted Sudovian chieftain known as ''Gedete'' who had relocated to

Sambia Sambia () or Samland () or Kaliningrad Peninsula (official name, , ''Kaliningradsky poluostrov'') is a peninsula in the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, on the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea. The peninsula is bounded by the Curonian Lagoon t ...

. The site was documented in 1349 as ''super villam Gauditin, Gauditen'' and in 1402Albinus, p. 143 as ''Judynkirchen''. In 1670 it was mentioned by its modern German name, ''Juditten'', in ducal documents. In 1947 Juditten was renamed ''Mendeleyevo'' in Russian.

History

Founded in 1288, the fortified Juditten Church was one of the oldest churches of Samland and included within 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 ...

. The estate of Juditten developed nearby. The church was a popular Catholic pilgrimage site, especially during the 14th century rule of Grand Master

Konrad von Jungingen Konrad von Jungingen (c. 1355 – 30 March 1407) was a Grand Master of the Teutonic Order from 1393 to 1407. Under his administration, the Teutonic Order would reach its greatest extent. Konrad von Jungingen came from the Swabian League and jo ...

; pilgrimages were allowed to continue after Juditten converted to

Lutheranism Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

during the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

. It was included within 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 ...

in 1525 and 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 ...

in 1701. Juditten was made part 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 ...

in 1773. In 1760 the estate was purchased by the wine merchant Balthasar Schindelmeißer, a member of

Königsberg Castle Königsberg Castle (, ) was the seat of the grand masters of the Teutonic Order and of the dukes and kings of Prussia in the city of Königsberg (since 1946 Kaliningrad, Russia). The original fortress on the site was built by the Teutonic Knights ...

Blutgericht High, middle and low justices are notions dating from Western feudalism to indicate descending degrees of judicial power to administer justice by the maximal punishment the holders could inflict upon their subjects and other dependents. The scale ...

tavern after 1805. In 1808 his successor Johann Richter hosted King

Frederick William III Frederick William III (; 3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840) was King of Prussia from 16 November 1797 until his death in 1840. He was concurrently Elector of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire until 6 August 1806, when the empire was dissolved. ...

and Queen Louise several times. In 1814 Richter named the estate ''Luisenthal'' to honor Louise, while a fort constructed in 1855 received the name ''Königin Luise'' (Queen Louise). Juditten developed into a garden town suburb; the conservation of the parish copse was due to the efforts of the Königsberg city councillor Theodor Krohne (1846–1925). The copse was later known as the ''Theodor-Krohne-Wäldchen''. As a result of the Prussian administrative reorganization following 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 ...

, Juditten was included within the rural district of Königsberg ( Landkreis Königsberg i. Pr.), part of

Regierungsbezirk Königsberg A ' (, 'governmental district') is a type of administrative division in Germany. Currently, four of sixteen ' (states of Germany) are split into '. Beneath these are rural and urban districts ' (plural, ) serve as regional mid-level local gov ...

in East Prussia, on 1 February 1818. The Amtsbezirk Juditten, administered from

Ratshof Ratshof and the Pregel River from the south. View of the Pregel from the west. Ratshof is in the lower left, Contienen in the lower right, and the 1920s-era docks are the upper right Ratshof or Rathshof was a suburban quarter of western König ...

, was created north and west of Königsberg in 1874. It included Juditten proper, Lawsken, Moditten, Spittelhof, Waldthal; the estates

Charlottenburg Charlottenburg () is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a German town law, town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Kingdom ...

Friedrichswalde Friedrichswalde is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the district of Barnim (district), Barnim in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated in the Schorfheide nature reserve. History From 1815 to 1947, Friedrichswalde was part of the Prussi ...

, Groß Rathshof, Klein Rathshof, Moditten; and the Juditten mill (''Mühle''). The fort VI Königin Luise, named in 1894, was built near Juditten as part of the new

Königsberg fortifications The fortifications of the former East Prussian capital Königsberg (now Kaliningrad) consist of numerous defensive walls, forts, bastions and other structures. They make up the First and the Second Defensive Belt, built in 1626—1634 and 1843 ...

constructed from 1872 to 1894. At the beginning of the 20th century the village was developed into a villa suburb by the private company Villenkolonie Juditten. On 16 June 1927 Juditten was

merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

into the urban district of Königsberg (

Stadtkreis 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 ...

Königsberg i. Pr). The Juditten roads ''Derfflingerstraße'', ''Lehwaldtstraße'', and ''Frischbierweg'' were named after the field marshal

Georg von Derfflinger Georg von Derfflinger (20 March 1606 – 14 February 1695) was a field marshal in the army of Brandenburg-Prussia during and after the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). Early years Born 1606 at Neuhofen an der Krems in Austria, into a family o ...

, the general Hans von Lehwaldt, and the folklorist Hermann Karl Frischbier, respectively. ''Gottschedstraße'' and the town square ''Gottschedplatz'' honored native son Johann Christoph Gottsched. Peterweg honored Peter, the painter who created the frescoes in the church. Lovis-Corinth-Straße was named after the painter

Lovis Corinth Lovis Corinth (21 July 1858 – 17 July 1925) was a German artist and writer whose mature work as a painter and printmaker realized a synthesis of impressionism and expressionism. Corinth studied in Paris and Munich, joined the Berlin Secessio ...

.Mühlpfordt, p. 92 Juditten was largely unscathed 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 ...

. Its inhabitants either

fled ''Fled'' is a 1996 American Buddy film, buddy action comedy film directed by Kevin Hooks. It stars Laurence Fishburne and Stephen Baldwin as two prisoners chained together who flee during an escape attempt gone bad. Plot An interrogator prepa ...

or were subsequently expelled westward. The village was included within the

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 ...

of the

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic 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 ...

and renamed Mendeleyevo on 25 July 1947.

Notes

References

* * * * * * {{coord, 54.7333, N, 20.4833, E, source:wikidata, display=title 1287 establishments in Europe 13th-century establishments in Russia Geography of Kaliningrad Populated places established in the 13th century