Writing Between the Lines: February 2012

Tilsit circa 1920

One City, Two Names

Not far from the Baltic Sea stands the Russian city of Sovetsk. Prior to WWII,
the city was called Tilsit and located in East Prussia. Revenge for earlier
German atrocities against Russian civilians was inflicted upon Tilsit by the Red
Army in the final days of the war. The city was then ceded to Russia along with
much of Eastern Prussia at the conclusion of the war. Remaining German citizens
were deported, the names of German villages and cities were changed to Russian
names, and Russian citizens soon replaced the German deportees.

Rampant industrialization took place in Tilsit/Sovetsk during the Cold War years.
German homes and buildings fell into disrepair, were destroyed or vandalized, and
replaced by cement and glass block structures. For decades the city was closed
to the outside world. Only recently have Germans been allowed back to search for
remnants of Tilsit's rich history. They leave the city empty-hearted, claiming it is the
saddest place on earth.

Long before Hitler's rise to power, Georg, my grandfather, lived on a family farm
outside of Tilsit. In addition to crops, his family raised Traekener horses for the
Prussian calvary.

In 1910, my grandfather left home and followed his brother to America. He never
returned to Tilsit. I doubt he could have foreseen what would become of his homeland.
It is easy for me to imagine his heartbreak as he watched the rise of Hitler and the
demise of his beloved Prussia.

I will always be grateful to my grandfather for leaving Prussia when he did. And I
will always find it hard to accept that he and Hitler were from the same country.