The name 'Kaliningrad' dates back only as far as 1946, when the ancient port city of Königsberg was renamed in honor of Stalinist stooge Mikhail Kalinin when the Soviet Union took over the territory. Before then, it was Königsberg in East Prussia for centuries, but also had specific historical names in several other local languages.
As previously reported by LSM, in Latvian it was known by the traditional Baltic name 'Karaļauči' or the German-derived 'Kēnigsberga' – either of which is now recommended usage.
Poland has decided to officially refer to the territory as 'Królewiec', the name used when it was a region of the Kingdom of Poland in the 15th and 16th centuries. Meanwhile Lithuania is pushing for the historical name 'Karaliaučiaus' to be officially re-adopted and it can already be seen on road signs.
Now Estonia is doing likewise, reports ERR News with the Estonian parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee proposing on September 26 that Kaliningrad should be referred to as Königsberg from now on.
"Members also pointed out that the city of Kingisepp in Russia, close to the Estonian border, should be called by its former name Jamburg or Jaama," noted ERR News.
Königsberg is perhaps best known as the former home of German philosopher Immanuel Kant who spent almost his entire life there. However, it was in another famous Baltic port city – Rīga – that his groundbreaking Critique of Pure Reason was first published by Johann Friedrich Hartknoch.
