Chernyakhovsk

Chernyakhovsk (Russian: Черняхо́вск; German: Insterburg (pronunciation (help·info)); Lithuanian: Įsrūtis; Polish: Wystruć) is a town located at 54°23′N, 21°31′E in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. Population: 44,323 (2002 Census); 43,800 (2001 est.). It is home to the Chernyakhovsk naval air facility.

[edit] History

The Teutonic Knights founded a castle known as Insterburg in 1336. A settlement grew up to serve the castle, and this settlement, also called Insterburg, was granted town privileges on 10 October 1583. Insterburg became part of the Duchy of Prussia and later the province of East Prussia within the Kingdom of Prussia. Insterburg became part of the German Empire in 1871.

During World War II, Insterburg was heavily bombed by the British Royal Air Force on 27 July 1944. The town was stormed by Red Army troops on January 21–22, 1945. Insterburg was transferred from Germany to the Soviet Union after the war. Its German population either evacuated or was expelled and replaced with Russians. In 1946 Insterburg was renamed Chernyakhovsk in honor of the Soviet World War II general (later marshal) Ivan Chernyakhovsky.

After the fall of the Iron Curtain a group of people introduced the Akhal-Teke horse breed to the area and opened an Akhal-Teke breeding stable.

Martin Grünberg 1655 born in Insterburg - 1706/7 Berlin architect
Eduard Heinrich Flottwell (1786-1865), Prussian statesman
Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Jordan, * 8 February 1819 in Insterburg, German writer and politician
Otto Koehler, * 20 December 1889 in Insterburg, German behaviorist
Hans Orlowski, * 1 March 1894 in Insterburg, German painter and woodcutter
Alfred Gille, * 15 August 1901 in Insterburg, German politician (GB/BHE)
Fritz Vilmar, * 28 July 1929 in Insterburg, politologist and sociologist
Ingo Insterburg, * 6 April 1934 in Insterburg, German comic
Axel Marquardt, * 1943 in Insterburg, German writer
Jürgen Schmude, * 9 June 1936 in Insterburg, German politician (SPD)
Traugott Buhre, * 21 June 1929 in Insterburg, German actor
Harry Boldt, * 23 February 1930 in Insterburg, German Olympic champion in dressage
Horst Ludwig Riemer, * 3 April 1933 in Insterburg, German politician (FDP)

	Cities and towns in Kaliningrad Oblast
	Administrative center: Kaliningrad Bagrationovsk \| Baltiysk \| Chernyakhovsk \| Guryevsk \| Gusev \| Gvardeysk \| Krasnoznamyonsk \| Ladushkin \| Mamonovo \| Neman \| Nesterov \| Ozyorsk \| Pionersky \| Polessk \| Pravdinsk \| Slavsk \| Sovetsk \| Svetlogorsk \| Svetly \| Zelenogradsk