“Germany sent troops to Lithuania”, Lithuania occupied and “losing sovereignty remains” apparently “Eastern Europe is again divided in Poland put US troops, Lithuania took control of Germany.” No, this is not the scenario once controversial television series, this news is Russian state television.
“Sovereignty remains”, “occupation”, “sent troops” — the Kaliningrad division of the VGTRK (all-Russia state TV and radio company, TV channels “Russia 1” “Russia 24” and others) in such expressions describes the placement in Lithuania forces of forward-based NATO. For Kaliningrad “News” is the theme for the week. The head of the local VGTRK office Nicholas dolgacev reiterates that it is not just the redeployment of NATO forces, and the occupation, and reminds his audience that “the last time in the end burned the Reichstag.” It looks as if starts or about to start a real war.
Discussion of the year
It’s really a war that has been going at least a year — the fight against “Germanization” of Kaliningrad. In an open letter to Kaliningrad intellectuals, dated November 2016, Germanization is called “the aggressive penetration of German culture in the social life of the Kaliningrad region”.
Summing up in 2016, the local “Komsomolskaya Pravda” was even called the controversy “about creeping Germanization” — discussion. Komsomolskaya Pravda is known for its excessive loyalty to the Kremlin, and one would expect that she, following a specified top anti-Western trend will be to expose attempts to restore German rule in the former East Prussia.
But no. “Komsomolskaya Pravda” mocks opponents of “Germanization” and recalled that the discussion on this topic called far-fetched and the current head of the region Anton Alikhanov and former Kaliningrad Governor (now the envoy of Vladimir Putin in North-West Russia) Nikolai Tsukanov. That is called anti-German campaign in the former Koenigsberg is not sanctioned from above, it is a local initiative. But who and why?
“Geographically swore Germany”
The headliners of the campaign, two local journalists, Nicholas dolgacev and his colleague from the Agency “REGNUM” Andrey vypolzov. He started the first fight with the “Germanization”. “REGNUM” is an impressive collection of publications Vypolzovo, which specializiruetsya on this topic. In his retelling even the initiative of the Kaliningrad regional party Committee to study the heritage of Immanuel Kant in the late eighties — these are the first steps of Germanization of Kaliningrad.
Goes and local authorities. Once Anton Alikhanov spoke on the background of a stylized map of the area, made up of fragments of different flags of European countries, including Germany. In the presentation of “REGNUM” is turned into “provocative poster” recognizing Kaliningrad “German-Polish”, and when the same Alikhanov in Germany played against the card in German, “REGNUM” wrote that the acting Governor “geographically swore Germany” Gdansk on this map called Danzig, and despite the fact that it is the German name of the city is used by poles, “REGNUM” insists that we are talking about a “revanchist shot”.
“Vesti” VGTRK behave in a more restrained manner, but they devote “Germanization” big stories, in which a street sign for tourists in the German language turns into a geopolitical scandal, be sure to comment on the veteran of the Second world war, such as “it was a fascist city fascist street names were — straße”. Repeated day after day, this news really make a “Germanization” in one of the main issues of regional socio-political agenda.
The snowball effect
Why and who needs it — the case when conspiracy is not to look. In Kaliningrad there is a very developed by Russian standards, market, local media, and no VGRTK or “REGNUM” has never been its leaders. In less than a year of struggle with the “Germanization” citation of both the media has increased markedly, and more popular local editions have to enter into polemics with them, adding to their popularity. As a result, the source of neurotic Kaliningradians have actually become the personal ambitions of two journalists seeking the recognition of their colleagues and audience.
Another thing is that in Russia the period of 2016-2017 years, the most obvious theme that can cause mediastinal, it is not a criminal chronicle, and not even sex, and strained geopolitics with the obligatory search for external threats. This season are just that. There is nothing that would indicate the existence of some ideological orientation of top-down. Judging by the behavior Alikhanov, Tsukanov and the loyal press, we are talking about Amateur VGTRK and “REGNUM”. But this initiative of the kind when its members are firmly convinced that nobody is going to call the top and not going to shout that they are for some reason incite international conflict. When the bully says on the fence “Glory to Putin!”, the police will likely quietly pass by — in fact, he writes “Down with!”.
Oh, and then the snowball effect, and the subject begins to live his life. Since the nineties in Kaliningrad there was the German-Russian house cultural center, which was designed to build bridges between Germany and Russia. More than twenty years there were exhibitions, lectures, concerts, one day there was even a Nobel prize winner günter grass, but now the facility, previously recognized as a “foreign agent”, was liquidated and closed. The German-Russian house has survived the time, and building bridges out of fashion.
From a place of concerts and exhibitions is its solid sturdy building. What will happen now? Bureau of “REGNUM”, Council of veterans or the office of Rosneft — is unknown, but it is more honest to leave the house, so he stood with broken Windows, demolished the roof, and everyone could make out the walls of bricks. It’s not even a metaphor. Many ancient buildings in Kaliningrad region is really experiencing such a fate. It looks like in reality, the struggle with the “Germanization” of Kaliningrad.
