Gur’yevsk, Russia

History

In 1255 the Sambians tribe's stronghold of Vurgvala was taken by Teutonic Knights and renamed as Neuhausen in 1262. Around 1292, the Castle of the Sambian Chapter was built. In 1454, King Casimir IV Jagiellon incorporated the region to the Kingdom of Poland upon the request of the Prussian Confederation, which rebelled against the Teutonic Order. After the subsequent Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466), it became a fief of Poland held by the Teutonic Knights until 1525, and by secular Ducal Prussia afterwards. From 1701, the settlement was part of the Kingdom of Prussia, and in 1871 it became part of the German Empire upon the unification of Germany, within which it was administered as part of the Province of East Prussia. In 1877, the village had a population of 559, mostly employed in agriculture and cattle breeding. It was captured by Red Army on 28 January 1945.

After the end of World War II in 1945, the town was annexed by the Soviet Union. The remaining German population which had not been evacuated was subsequently expelled in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement and replaced with Russians. The following year it was renamed Guryevsk in honor of Stepan Guryev, a Soviet marshal who died during the capture of Kaliningrad.

From the History section of Guryevsk, Kaliningrad Oblast on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.