Proprio nei prossimi giorni presso la Duma (Parlamento locale) di Kaliningrad sarà ratificata una petizione popolare che potrebbe portare presto ad un cambiamento del nome della città con l'unico porto russo sul Baltico che d'inverno riesce a restare sempre sgombro dai ghiacci. L'iniziativa era stata portata avanti grazie alla Legge Federale Russa N°152-FZ del 1997, che regola l'attribuzione della toponomastica secondo presupposti storici e geografici. Dunque, Kaliningrad tornerà ad essere Königsberg.
Di seguito: abitanti russi di Kaliningrad che sventolano bandiere storiche di Königsberg e della Prussia Orientale, nel corso di alcune manifestazioni nel 2012.
Fonte delle fotografie: http://kaliningrad-eu.blogspot.com
Rimarrò sempre affascinata da tutti questi cambiamenti in Russia. Non sono mai stata a Kaliningrad, anche se una volta volevamo provare a raggiungerla col pedalò dalla penisola di Neringa... illusi! ;)
RispondiEliminaThat would be nice. But why would the Russians choose a German name?
RispondiEliminaThere is not a "historical" Russian name for this town, different from the German one. Before 1946 it had been Кёнигсберг (Kyonigsberg).
EliminaBesides, it wouldn't be the first case of a town in post-Soviet Russia changing the name from a Slavonic to a German one. Look at Sankt-Peterburg (until 1992 "Leningrad") and Ekaterinburg (until 1992 "Sverdlovsk").
Suzana gave an excellent explanation.
EliminaThe Lithuanians used to call the city Kaliningradas during the Soviet time. Now they call it Karaliaučius which is the Lithuanian name for Königsberg. it's interesting that today, one country call it by old name and the other by the new name. The Poles still call it Kaliningrad and not Królewiec. It's also interesting that originally this city was founded for the honor of a Czech king Ottokar II, who brought in this region a large Czech forces with himself as part of crusade. It explains why it's König(king)-sberg, when the German Teutonic order didn't have a king (they had a Grand Master of the order). The Czech name is Královec. Král means king in Czech.
RispondiEliminaAn impressive and clearest comment. Bravo!
EliminaIn Estonian the correct name of this town should be Kuningamägi. But in the current language we always called that with the local form: Königsberg before 1946 and Kaliningrad after.
@ Alice
RispondiEliminaIl solo fatto che tu abbia concepito un'idea come quella di raggiungere la città in pedalò dalla Lituania mi sembra spettacolare e degna di rilievo, al di là dell'ovvia impossibilità dell'impresa (ma pensa se ci fossi riuscita, saresti finita sui telegiornali e giornali di mezzo mondo!) :)
@ all the others
As far as I know (my wife is Lithuanian) the name Karaliaučius isn't used that much. In any case I think the restoration of the old name Königsberg is an important step towards independence (a process which I strongly support). In the end, what can I say: could you ever imagine people like Kant, Goldbach, Hilbert, Kirchhoff, Sommerfeld and many others being associated to the meaninglessness of a name like Kaliningrad? I don't think so. As the old Romans said: errare humanum, perseverare diabolicum (to err is human; to persist is of the devil).
L'ingenuità dei 13 anni :)
RispondiEliminaAll comments seem very appropriate and interesting indeed.
RispondiEliminaIt remains the fact that however the situation of Kaliningrad/Königsberg is particular and unique indeed.
@ Suzana Vodopivec - Sankt-Peterburg and Ekaterinburg are and were Russian towns since always and they received suche names in a period od history (XVIII century) in which Russia welcomed the German culture. Kaliningrad/Königsberg is instead a conquered town, totally destroyed and rebuilt again, with a total new population. Signs of Germanity in this town have the same meaning of the Parthenon in Athens or the Colosseum in Rome, because they belong to a past that is over and somehow very far and ended at all.
@ Prahanoaki - You rightly remembered that the meaning of Königsberg is however not connected with German culture, but with Czech one, namely Slavonic.
@ Rob From Amersfoort - I am totally agreed with you. Russians should give Kaliningrad a Russian name. I propose Короля Гора (=Korolya Gora, meaning "Mount of the King", as well as "Königsberg"), because if they would give Kaliningrad "the previous name", there will be a domino effect in all that area: Sovetsk would be Tilsit, Gusev would be Gumbinnen, Baltijsk would be Pillau etc.
@ Alice - Adesso dalla penisola di Neringa lato lituano (parco) mi pare che non sia "impossibile" entrare nella lingua di terra amministrata dai Russi, sia pure per pochi metri, senza bisogno di formalità. Dovresti riprovare :-)
@ lituopadania - Sono curioso di vedere, quando e se la faccenda arriverà a compimento, la reazione del celebre Woody Allen, al secolo Allen Stewart Königsberg :-)
Grazie a tutti / Thanks to all.
I support the historical names, not translations. Differently, I should be forced to translate my name here ad write Susanna Bevilacqua.
EliminaTerrible :)))
If you bring back the original name you should probably also open the city for German re-settlers. If that would happen in a peaceful way (maybe under the auspices of the EU) I would support that. But I don't see it happen in the nearby future. Bringing back the name Tilsit is actually an even better idea, remember the famous treaty (and Sovetsk sounds outdated). Let me conclude by wishing everybody a happy xmas and a merry good year!
Elimina@ Alice + @ Gio Ve
RispondiEliminaQuest'estate all'ufficio turistico di Palanga erano in distribuzione per la prima volta alcuni depliant su Kaliningrad che invitavano a visistare la città per le sue bellezze storiche e per fare un po' di shopping. Venivano fatti cenni anche sul crescente grado di europeizzazione dell'area, come dire: turisti, venite pure e non spaventatevi.