Vortrag: Abenteuer Fernweh

Adventure and Wanderlust:
Lost East Prussia – The Königsberg Region
with Jörg Hertel

Chroniclers describe the landscape of East Prussia as the “most peculiar” in Europe. If this was already apparent more than a hundred years ago, how much more so today, after 50 years of being hermetically sealed off by the Soviet Union under the name “Kaliningradskaya Oblast.” But even more so: after 700 years of German history, followed by flight and expulsion in 1944. Since opening up to the West, there is now a danger of renewed isolation due to the accession of neighboring countries to the EU. This travel lecture is not necessarily intended to satisfy nostalgia for East Prussia. Rather, it aims to offer a personal perspective on a forgotten region—lost in more ways than one—that, from a global perspective, lies right on our doorstep. Morbid charm meets bold visions of the future; landscapes that have reverted to their primeval state meet churches that, until recently, were gymnasiums or pigsties. Russians who consider East Prussia their homeland are gradually encountering the historical roots of their country, which predate their own births by a long time.