Actualisation of the Past in Kaliningrad after 1990: The Outlines of Prime Trends

The article reveals the principal trends of changes in the relationship with the past in the city of Kaliningradat the turn of the 21st c. It examines how different social groups and institutions – amateur andprofessional historians, veterans of World War II, museums, and interest groups abroad – were solvingthe dilemma that emerged in Kaliningrad during the Perestroika period and were trying to choose whatwas native and what was foreign in the past of the city. The author argues that the active formation of therelationship with the past of the city, especially during the last decade, by those groups intertwines withthe efforts to strengthen ties between Russia and its exclave and makes an impact on the Russianizationof the city areas and East Prussian cultural heritage.KEY WORDS: Kaliningrad, East Prussian cultural heritage, collective memory, cultures of remembrance,Russian politics of history. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/ahuk.v24i0.29