Oleg Smirnov wrote:
Poland Begins Building Wall to Prevent Russia From Pushing Migrants Into Europe
By Karolina Jeznach and Drew Hinshaw, Nov. 2, 2022, WSJ
WARSAW-Polish army engineers began building a razor-wire fence across the country's 130-mile border with Russia, the latest country in Europe's east to construct such a barrier, in what Poland's government described as a bid
to prevent Moscow from encouraging asylum seekers to cross overland into the
European Union.
The exclave's international airport will soon be accepting regular commercial flights from the Middle East, Mr. Blaszczak said.
There is / was nothing in the Russia's policies that might suggest
that Moscow might "encourage asylum seekers to cross into" Poland,
and the adventurous folks in the Middle East know well that Russia
is not a comfortable route for those who would seek to enter Europe
through Russia.
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There's not much there except the Insterburg Castle, Bismarck Towers,
Gusev, and the Konigsburg Cathedral.
INSTERBURG CASTLE RUINS
In 1311, Teutonic mercenaries called Landsknechts set up a camp on the high banks
of the Angrapa River, close to where it flows into the Inster River. Later, in 1337,
the Teutonic Knights built a brick castle in the same location. Most of the construction works had been completed by 1347. The fortress was named Insterburg Castle.
For many centuries to follow, Insterburg Castle was a bastion located in the easternmost parts of the Teutonic State, from which raids against Lithuania were waged.
Originally, Insterburg Castle was meant to serve as a seat for the local commander,
known as komtur. But this plan had to be revoked, as the fortress was constantly
threatened by enemy. As a result, the castle was run by a Teutonic procurator, and
in the 14th - 15th centuries it became an important military base. In the administrative
division, Insterburg belonged to the commandry of Königsburg.
From 1643 to 1647, Maria Eleonora, a sister of the Prussian Prince Elector George
Wilhelm, spent her best days at Insterburg Castle, after her royal husband, King of
Sweden, Gustaw Adolf, had died. Following the death of her husband, Queen Maria
Eleonora had to leave Sweden due to a conflict with her daughter, Queen Christina.
In 1812, the castle was visited by the French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon
stopped here on his way to Russia, where he was going to take personal command over
his armies. In 1814, Elisabeth Alexeievna, the wife of Tzar Alexander I of Russia
(1777-1825) was passing through Insterburg. In 1689, Insterburg became the place of
the death and burial of Anchen von Tarau, a heroine of a well known East Prussian song.
Today the castle, which lies in the centre of the town of Chernyakhovsk is no more
but a picturesque ruin. The north section of the castle outward yard had more luck
as its building have survived and now house a museum. On the square in front of the
museum local enthusiasts and artists such as singers and musicians organise concerts,
contests and other cultural events. And most importantly, hope lingers on in the town
that one day the castle will be reconstructed.
https://www.spottinghistory.com/view/1704/insterburg-castle-ruins/ ----------------
BISMARCK TOWERS
Two Bismarck Towers have been preserved: in the settlement of Gorino of the Nemansky District & settlement of Krasnaya Gorka of the Chernyakhovsky District.
Chernyakhovsky District:
Almost the only surviving tower of this kind in the Kaliningrad region (located in a field not far from village Krasnaya Gorka). In honor of the unification of Germany (at the end of the 19th century), in which Otto von Bismarck played a key role, many wealthy landowners, with the support of
local administrators, put on their territorial so-called “Bismarck Towers”.
They were used as viewing platforms.
The tower in Insterburg was solemnly opened with a large gathering of people on Sept. 7, 1913. Its height is 15 m. A special committee was formed to build the tower in the city. The construction lasted 3 months and cost 8000 marks. The project was developed with the participation of Schlichting, the member
of the city committee for the construction of the tower, the contractor was architect E. Kadereit. Internal dimensions were 6x6 m. Untreated boulders were used. A stone with the inscription "Bismarck" was laid above the entrance. Nemansky District:
The construction of this Bismarck Tower was initiated by Ober-President Georg von Lambsdorff, who was the district administrator of the Ragnit district between 1895 and 1905 and the president of the Gumbinnen administrative district
from 1915 to 1919.
The grand opening of the tower took place on August 17, 1912. At the time of the opening, the observation tower with a square floor plan had a height of 19.70 m and a lighting device at the top - a fire bowl in which firewood burned.
The tower was damaged by Russian bullets in the First World War, but was rebuilt.
After the Second World War, the building gradually fell into ruins.
https://visit-kaliningrad.ru/en/entertainment/sightseeings4169/bashnya-bismarka -------------------
Gusev (German: Gumbinnen; Lithuanian: Gumbinė; Polish: Gąbin) is a town and the administrative center of Gusevsky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Pissa and Krasnaya Rivers, near the border with Poland and Lithuania, east of Chernyakhovsk. Population: 28,260 (2010 Census)
The settlement of Gumbinnen (from Lithuanian: Gumbinė: pumpkin) in the Duchy of
Prussia, a vassal duchy of the Kingdom of Poland, was first mentioned in a 1580 deed. A Protestant parish was established in Gumbinnen at the behest of the Hohenzollern thanks to Duke Albert of Prussia about 1545 and the first church
was erected in 1582. It became part of Brandenburg-Prussia in 1618, remaining a fief of Poland.
From the 18th century, it was part of the Kingdom of Prussia. Between 1709-1711
the area was devastated by the Great Northern War plague outbreak and had to be
redeveloped under the rule of the "Soldier King" Frederick William I of Prussia,
who granted Gumbinnen town privileges in 1724 and from 1732 resettled the area with Salzburg Protestants, refugees from Salzburg, who had been expelled by Prince-Archbishop Count Leopold Anton von Firmian. The first filial church of the Salzburg Protestants was erected between 1752 and 1752, and was rebuilt in 1840 in a Neoclassical style according to plans designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel.
The church was restored in 1995 by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Central Asia.
From 1815, Gumbinnen was the capital of Regierungsbezirk Gumbinnen, an administrative
district of the Province of East Prussia, and became part of the German Empire upon the unification of Germany in 1871. In 1860 the Prussian State railway line
from Königsberg to Stallupönen (now Nesterov) was built and the route passed through Gumbinnen, causing the town to grow in economic importance in the region.
By the end of the 19th century, Gumbinnen had a foundry, a machine shop, a furniture
factory, a clothing mill, two sawmills, several brickworks, and a dairy.
During World War I the town was the site of the Battle of Gumbinnen, a major battle
on the Eastern Front. The battle took place nearby in the opening days of the war
in August 1914, and Gumbinnen was subsequently occupied by the Russian Imperial Army
for several months. After the war, a power plant, the Ostpreussenwerk, was built in
Gumbinnen and powered much of East Prussia. At the beginning of the Nazi era, Gumbinnen was designated a military sub-region of the Königsberg military area.
Near the end of World War II, in 1944, the first of Gumbinnen's 24,000 residents
began to flee from the advancing Red Army, and a Soviet air attack on Oct. 16, 1944,
caused heavy damage to the inner town area. On Oct. 22, 1944, the town was taken by
Soviet forces, who engaged in numerous vengeful atrocities against the civilian
population before the Wehrmacht retook the town two days later. Although the German
forces retook Gumbinnen and managed in late October to stabilize the battle line east
of the town, it was quickly re-conquered by the Red Army during the great Soviet
East Prussia offensive on 21 January 1945. During the Evacuation of East Prussia,
the surviving German residents fled or were expelled.
Following the end of the war, under border changes promulgated at the Potsdam Conference in 1945, the northern part of the former province of East Prussia became a part of the Soviet Union, including Gumbinnen. The town was renamed Gusev,
in honour of a Red Army captain, Sergei Ivanovich Gusev, who was killed in action
near Gumbinnen in January 1945, and was posthumously given the award of Hero of
the Soviet Union on April 19, 1945.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gusev,_Kaliningrad_Oblast
=============
Königsberg Cathedral is a Brick Gothic-style monument in Kaliningrad, Russia, located on Kneiphof island in the Pregel (Pregolya) river. It is the most significant preserved building of the former City of Königsberg, which was largely destroyed in World War II.
Dedicated to Virgin Mary and St Adalbert, it was built as the see of the Prince-Bishops of Samland in the 14th century. Upon the establishment of the secular Duchy of Prussia, it became the Lutheran Albertina University church in 1544. The spire and roof of the cathedral burnt down after two RAF bombing raids in late August 1944; reconstruction started in 1992, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%B6nigsberg_Cathedral
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Yes it's known that Poland doesn't want "people of color" within the country, and the Polish police treat them badly, which became a known intra-EU issue in the recent years (eg. <https://archive.is/DMDX8>).
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How many "people of color" are living in Russia?
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