By eurotopics | 13.01.2010 | 18:09 ET in Europe

"Prussialand" as a new home for Baltic Russians

Paavo Kangur | Photo: Erakogu

Paavo Kangur on “Prussialand” as a new home for Baltic Russians

The Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, part of former East Prussia, could become the model state of “Prussialand”, Paavo Kangur suggests with a touch of irony in the Estonian daily Postimees.

There would be enough room for the ever-discontented Russian minority in Estonia and Latvia there, he notes:

“In Prussialand all the pretty ideas and solutions for bilingualism and cultural autonomy could be put into practice, and this would free the Baltic Russian of their sense of oppression and even lead to a new economic boom.

There need be no restrictions regarding citizenship: He who is born in Prussialand or has forebears from there would automatically be given a passport and the old-established Germans and Russian new arrivals could coexist in brotherly bliss.

… Admittedly the problem of Belarus would remain, because as absurd as this may sound the relations between the territory of Kaliningrad and Minsk are above all tense. The reason for this is the dispute over energy supplies, but now that we in Estonia are experts in this area we certainly wouldn’t refuse to lend a brotherly helping hand for the creation of Prussialand.”

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4 Responses to "Prussialand" as a new home for Baltic Russians

Steven Myers Reply

January 14, 2010 at 01:07

Whose dinner napkin do we use this evening in the redrawing of European borders? Were nnot the ‘Prusy’ proto-slavs in the region until recently called “Prussia” residents in the first place?

But what did they leave behind as landmarks of culture? Whatever those memorabilia were, they were erased thoroughly – by whom?

The Teutons and their great brick bastions? The Kaiser and his French-oriented palais? A different Kaiser, with his unifying urge?

The Red Army? Polish need for territory stolen by the commissars and a champagne salesman?

Ah, how simple victory makes things – for a short moment!
MarkG Reply

January 14, 2010 at 19:01

Return Russian-occupied East Prussia to Germany to whom it rightfully belongs. The Germans are the only ones with the money and technology to clean up the environmental nightmare created by the Russians of once beautiful Koenigsberg.
Steven Myers Reply

January 14, 2010 at 20:09

I agree with Mark, but believe such an action would necessitate other territorial changes, such as restoring at least a part (if not all) of Poland’s WW2 ceded land to it. Thornier still, what about the southern part of former Ostpreussen? “The table,” Abraham Lincoln said during the US Civil War “is piled high with diffculties;” such iss the same with trying to deal with (former East) Prussia.
An idea: A little like the ‘special status’ permitted former UK Crown Colony Hong Kong:allow the EITIRETY of (former) East Prussia to join the EU, say, for a 10-year ‘observer’ status, effectively renting the northern enclave from Russia, allowing it to regain a “new window on the West with generous EU support. Since Poland is in the EU, no change would b needed there. With open frontiers, investment in the enclave might increase greatly.
In short – economic growth could followw market processes, no one gets displaced (indeed, land purchases could occur, and all parties have a say in regional development.)

…And no napkin-sketching, over cognac and cigars, in private….
Rustam Vasiliev Reply

January 14, 2010 at 20:44

Independence for Kaliningrad! Freedom for Koenigsberg!