Mamonovo

Mamonovo is named after a Soviet Commander, {{ill|Nikolay Vasilyevich Mamonov|ru|Мамонов, Николай Васильевич}}, killed in action near Pułtusk on October 26, 1944, who was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on March 24, 1945.

File:Heiligenbeil-mamonowo.jpg

Under the Teutonic Knights Heiligenstadt was built near an Old Prussian settlement. It was granted town rights in 1301.{{cite book|author=|title=Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom XI|year=1890|language=pl|location=Warszawa|pages=691–692}} It was later renamed Heiligenbeil after a holy axe used by Augustinian monks, established in the area by Grand Master Winrich von Kniprode after the Battle of Rudau, to cut down an oak tree worshiped by pagan Prussians.{{cite book|title=Samogitian Crusade|first=William|last=Urban|publisher=Lithuanian Research and Studies Center|location=Chicago|year=2006|isbn=0-929700-56-2|pages=158–159}} It came under the bishopric of Warmia, then to the territory of Natangia. Since 1440, the town was a founding member of the anti-Teutonic Prussian Confederation,{{cite book|last=Kętrzyński|first=Wojciech|author-link=Wojciech Kętrzyński|year=1882|title=O ludności polskiej w Prusiech niegdyś krzyżackich|language=pl|location=Lwów|publisher=Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich|page=608}} upon the request of which, Polish King Casimir IV Jagiellon incorporated the region and town to the Kingdom of Poland in 1454.{{Cite book|last=Górski|first=Karol|title=Związek Pruski i poddanie się Prus Polsce: zbiór tekstów źródłowych|year=1949|publisher=Instytut Zachodni|location=Poznań|language=pl|pages=XXXVII, 54}} Then the Thirteen Years' War, the longest of all Polish–Teutonic wars, broke out, after which the region and town became part of Poland as a fief held by the Teutonic Knights,Górski, pp. 96–97, 214–215 and after 1525 held by secular Ducal Prussia. The area was home to a mixed population with several villages founded by the Poles in the 15th century.

From 1701, the town was part of the Kingdom of Prussia. From 1758 to 1762 it was occupied by Russia during the Seven Years' War, then restored to Prussia, and from 1871 it was also part of Germany, within which it was located in the province of East Prussia. In the late 19th century, the inhabitants were mostly employed in farming and cattle and horse breeding. The town sold sizable amounts of barley, rye and oats to Silesia, Saxony and Berlin, and flour to Gdańsk, Brunswick, Berlin and surrounding towns.

During World War II, in 1944–1945, it was the location of the Heiligenbeil concentration camp, a subcamp of the Stutthof concentration camp, in which the Germans imprisoned around 1,100 Jewish women and 100 Jewish men as forced labour.{{cite journal|last=Gliński|first=Mirosław|title=Podobozy i większe komanda zewnętrzne obozu Stutthof (1939–1945)|journal=Stutthof. Zeszyty Muzeum|language=pl|volume=3|page=178|issn=0137-5377}} There were also forced labour camps for French POWs and Russians.{{cite book|last=Megargee|first=Geoffrey P.|year=2009|title=The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume I|publisher=Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum|page=1459|isbn=978-0-253-35328-3}} Towards the end of the war in fierce fighting between January and March 1945 the Heiligenbeil pocket fell to the Red Army on March 26, 1945. The town initially passed to Poland under its historic Polish name Święta Siekierka, however, it was soon unilaterally annexed by the Soviet Union in violation of the Polish-Soviet border agreement,{{cite journal|title=Armia Czerwona na Pomorzu Gdańskim 1945–1947|last=Baziur|first=Grzegorz|journal=Biuletyn Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej|year=2002|volume=7|publisher=IPN|language=pl|page=37}} and integrated into the Kaliningrad Oblast. It took its present name in 1946. The defending 4th Army's archives were buried in a forest near the town and found in 2004, in an area still littered with debris from the final battles.Koenigsberger Express [http://www.koenigsberger-express.com/index.php?b=1&id=19&a=5&id_article=284 Das Niemandsland gibt ein Geheimnis preis. Koenigsberger Express, ed. 2004/7]

Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with four rural localities, incorporated as the town of oblast significance of Mamonovo — an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.Resolution #639 As a municipal division, the town of oblast significance of Mamonovo is incorporated as Mamonovsky Urban Okrug.Law #395

• Rudolf von Auerswald (1795–1866) in 1824 he acquired an estate in the Heiligenbeil District and became Landrat (district administrator)

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{{Kaliningrad Oblast}}

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Category:Cities and towns in Kaliningrad Oblast

Category:Poland–Russia border crossings