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Political science
This article considers the origin, development, change in the status, and extinction of enclave and exclave formations in the territory of the modern Kaliningrad region. The author offers information on their socio-economic and political features. The article identifies enclave (exclave) problems peculiar to them, including the land access (passenger and cargo transit) of the metropolis to the isolated territory, as well as the issues relating to the origins of state border, border control, visa regime, and political and economic relations to neighbouring states and the mainland. The author reviews cases of evolutional development of enclavity and peaceful and military methods of eliminating enclave formations. Actions towards the solution of political and socioeconomic problems taken in East Prussia are compared to those taken in the Kaliningrad region. The author emphasizes the need to solve the problems of the only Russian exclave region in view of the experience of its historical "predecessors".
Key words: enclave, exclave, enclav-ity, exclavity, evolution, socioeconomic situation, transit
For many centuries, since the land of Prussians was conquered by crusaders, there have periodically been isolated state or administrative territorial formations in the territory of the modern Kaliningrad region. The first formations were the sovereign state of the Teutonic Order and the dependent duchy of Prussia. As for the geographical classification, those were typical enclaves1 (more precisely, semi-enclaves). The state formations
1 Enclave — a part of a country entirely surrounded by a foreign territory. In case it has an outlet to the sea it is called as a semi-enclave [6, p. 22].
THE HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL EVOLUTION OF THE ENCLAVITY OF THE KALININGRAD REGION
it
Yu.D. Rozhkov-Yuryevsky
* Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University 14, A. Nevski St., Kaliningrad, 236041, Russia
Received on February 6, 2012.
doi: 10.5922/2079-8555-2012-2-8
following them chronologically were exclaves2 or exclave parts of the states (Prussia in the Brandenburg Prussian state and East Prussia in Inter-War Germany). The Kaliningrad (Koenigsberg) region, established in 1946 and made up from the northern part of the former German province East Prussia and separated from the mainland Russia by other states, in terms of geography inherited its enclave position from its "predecessors" (counterparts). The analysis of their emergence, existence and disappearance is of great interest for the understanding of the range of problems of the development of the Russian exclave (the table).
Chronology of the enclave formations in the territory of the modern Kaliningrad region
Years of existence Enclave formation Type of the enclave formation
1. 1466—1525 The state of the Teutonic Order Semi-enclave — an independent state in the territory of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (members of the Union of Kre-wo since 1385)
2. 1525—1618 Duchy of Prussia Semi-enclave — a dependent state in the territory of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but afterwards the federal state Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (after the Union http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union of Lublin of Lublin in 1569)
3. 1618—1701 Duchy of Prussia Exclave of Brandenburg Prussian state in the territory of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
4. 1701—1772 Province of Prussia Exclave of the Kingdom of Prussia excluding the period of being part of the Russian Empire (1758— 1762), in the territory of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
5. 1920—1939 East Prussia Exclave of Germany (Weimar Republic — till 1933, then of the Third Reich) between Lithuania and Poland separated from Germany by the Polish (Danzig) Corridor
6. 1946—1991 Königsberg (Kaliningrad) Region Exclave of the RSFSR (a union republic in the USSR) separated from it by the Lithuanian SSR
7. From 1991 Kaliningrad Region Exclave of the Russian Federation between the Republic of Poland and the Lithuanian Republic separated from the Russian Federation by the Lithuanian Republic and the Republic of Belarus
At the end of the 13th century, the land of pagan Prussians conquered by the crusaders after a number of wars became a possession of the Teutonic (German) Order. At the beginning of the 14th century, some other Baltic sea-
2 Exclave — an isolated part of a country surrounded by the territory of another state or other states. Enclaves and exclaves are called enclave territories (formations) [6, p. 22].
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side territories (in particular, Samogitia and East Seaboard) got beyond the control of the knights' state which cut Lithuania and Poland off the Baltic Sea. From the other side, the Gdansk coast captured by the Order connected it to the nearest German state of Brandenburg, the relations with which were sooner competitive but still provided cooperation of Germans in this part of the south-eastern Baltics. This "navel string" during the wars of the 15th century between the crusaders and the united forces of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was cut. The defeat in the famous battle of Grünwald in 1410 was followed by the defeat in the Thirty Years' War. As a result of the latter, based on the 2nd Torun Peace Treaty of 1466, the Order Prussia got into a feudal dependence on the Polish crown and handed the Gdansk Seaboard over to Poland together with other lands. The Torun Peace Treaty enabled the Polish crown to solve the problem of the outlet to the sea.
It was at that time that the state of the Teutonic Order isolated from the rest of Europe by the territories of Lithuania and Poland (members of the Union of Krewo since 1385) acquired its enclavity and became a semi-enclave. As for the chronology, it was the first enclave formation in the region where nowadays the Kaliningrad Region of Russia is situated.
Grave consequences of the continuing Prussian-Polish military confrontation with an inevitable complete collapse of the Order forced its last Grand Master Albrecht of Brandenburg from the dynasty of the Hohenzollerns to make serious concessions to the Polish side. In April 1525 in Krakow he signed a deed of the demolition of the German Order in Prussia and of the foundation of the Dukedom of Prussia instead.
So, a former sovereign enclave formation amicably evolved into a different one. In the historical context, the Prussian Dutchy became a second enclave state (a semi-enclave) in the territory of the today's Russian region. Having received a secular status instead of the former military religious, a new state became a vassal of King of Poland. During this period, among other problems a conflict of enclavity connected with Prussia's loss of contacts with northern German countries related ethnically, religiously and culturally revealed itself in full. As far back as secularization of the Teutonic Order, its ethnic structure essentially changed. The policy of German colonization, notably extrusion and extermination of autochthons, their assimilation led to the fact that by the beginning of the 15th century among 480,000 inhabitants of Prussia there were about 200,000 Germans and 140,000 Prussians and 140,000 Poles [3, p. 93]. In the 16th and 17th centuries the percentage of the German population grew even more.
A major contribution to an increase in the level of the socio-economic life was made by Duke Albrecht von Brandenburg himself. He invited a large group of foreign merchants and tradesmen, Dutch in the first place, as well as Scots, Siliseans and Bohemians to Prussia. This promoted overcoming of the economic recession. The Duke's collection of books initiated the first public library in Königsberg, the Duke contributed to the development of typography. Albrecht's greatest merit is the foundation of the university (Königsberg Academy) in 1544. In 1603 the power in the country went to the Brandenburg Prince Electors who became regents over the feeble minded
son, Albert Frederick. In 1618, on his death the male line of succession was interrupted and according to the Krakow Deed of 1525 the Duchy was supposed to be switched over to the Polish Crown. Nevertheless, Poland granted the right of succession to the Brandenburg Prince Electors who merged two geographically separated states (the Duchy of Prussia and the Brandenburg Electorate of Cologne (German: Kurfürstentum) into a single Brandenburg Prussian state.
As a result, the Duchy of Prussia did not disappear from the map of Europe, but from the enclave formation turned into an exclave of Brandenburg-Prussia. A certain uncommonness of the format of the newly-formed state from two parts should be mentioned. On the one hand, in a single state its both territories were approximately equal concerning their size and population, and in this sense Brandenburg could also be called an exclave of Brandenburg-Prussia On the other hand, this state was composed of Brandenburg, an authoritative sovereign state of the Holy Roman Empire, and the Duchy of Prussia which was a vassal of King of Poland. It should be emphasized that the Polish crown delegated governing of the Brandenburg Duchy to the Prince Electors on conditions that their title was not 'Duke of Prussia' but 'Duke in Prussia'. That meant that a Prince Elector could administer only at the moment of being in the territory of the Duchy.
At that moment, a traditional problem (conflict) of the enclave, an access to it, was nagging enough. Prince Elector could reach his feudal possession only with the consent of the Polish King! During the Thirty Years' War Prince Elector Georg Wilhelm had to stay in Königsberg for years. Quite fairly he was concerned that if he went to Berlin, King would not allow him back, and Brandenburg might lose the right to possess Prussia for ever [7, p.109]. Finally, Prince Elector Friedrich Wilhelm named Great in 1640 being at the head of the Brandenburg-Prussia state managed to sign Prussia's sovereignty treaties with Sweden and Poland (with abolition of feudal dependence) in 1656 and 1657, respectively.
Duchy of Prussia as a part of the Brandenburg-Prussia state became the third isolated enclave formation in the territory of the modern Kaliningrad region which existed till 1701.
Frederick III who in 1688 inherited the title of Elector and Duke in 1701 was crowned in Königsberg and became Frederick I. This way Kingdom of Prussia was formed with Berlin as its capital but the former Duchy of Prussia joined it having acquired the status of a province (it became the fourth historical 'predecessor' of the Kaliningrad region, separated from the metropolis). But since at that time the western part of Prussia still belonged to Poland and Sweden, the title of Frederick I remained the same — 'King in Prussia'. The Hohenzollerns were announced to be kings only in 1772 when, as a result of the First Partition of Poland, Frederick II appended the so-called Royal (or Polish) Prussia to his possessions of land. However, before that significant step an important event had taken place, in connection with which the province stepped out of the Kingdom for four years - its conquest by the Russian troops during the Seven Years' War and an incorporation into the Russian Empire from 1758 to 1762.
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The above mentioned territory of Royal Prussia separated Prussia from the rest of the Kingdom. In 1772 its enclavity was practically eliminated in a peaceful way, which was preceded by agreements among monarchs of Austria, Prussia and Russia.
The fifth enclave 'predecessor' of the Kaliningrad region appeared in the 20th century. It was the Province of East Prussia which was an exclave of Germany from 1920 to 1939. At the same time it should be mentioned that East Prussia was simultaneously an exclave of the German land of Prussia, a part of which it was together with 10 other provinces.
The Treaty of Versailles signed on 28 June 1919 and which came into effect on 10 January 1920 separated East Prussia from the mainland country by the Polish (Danzig) Corridor. Giving Poland an access to the sea, the Corridor at the same time created certain difficulties in land communication (by railway and on the motorway) between Germany and its province. This referred both to carrying people and to carrying freight. Extra expenses on transit complicated even more a bad socio-economic situation in East Prussia in the after-war period. As is known, during World War I the province (the only German territory where war operations took place) suffered great damage. Besides, according to the Treaty of Versailles its territory was diminished due to transferring the Memel district under the control of the League of Nations, the region of Soldau was assigned to Poland, as well as a plebiscite regarding the issue of the state belonging in the southern areas of the province where many Poles were living. As 84.3 % of those voting on July 11, 1920 lived in East Prussia, these territories were not assigned to Poland [3, p. 379—380]. However, the territorial dispute with this country, the primary irregularity and transparentness of the borders, the impossibility to respond to the ambitions of the neighbours with the help of military means in conditions of the Weimar Republic - remained for a long time a subject of concern both in Berlin and Königsberg.
East Prussia cut off from the rest of Germany got its close economic ties with the German lands broken, as well as with Lithuania and Poland resulted from the escalation of social and political contradictions. Great indemnity imposed on the defeated country at first did not allow the German government to give the province efficient financial help. Another negative factor worsened the situation. The matter concerns the fact that before the First World War, one of the most serious sources of East Prussia was the trade with the neighbouring Russian Empire. So, before the First World War approximately a half, sometimes two thirds, of the foreign trade turnover of Königsberg consisted of the goods brought from Russia or meant for its export [7, p. 388]. After the War, the neighbours of East Prussia were economically weaker Poland and Lithuania but the young Soviet Russia did not think about the recovery of its trade operations through the Königsberg port.
For the compensation of the exclave problems of its province, adjustment of the living standards of its population with the general German indicators of well-being, East Prussian service was created in Berlin, but in 1922 a special programme of aid to East Prussia was adopted. In addition, in 1935 the law 'On Small Eastern Aid' came into force according to which the prov-
ince was allocated more than 50 mln Deutschnarks assigned inter alia for recovering losses because of the transit through the Polish corridor. As a result, practical measures regarding the renewal of the industrial and transport system of the region followed and the development of the agricultural sector was subsidized. A decrease in freight and mail tariffs led to weakening of the negative influence of the isolation of the province. Some steps to strengthening the economic cooperation with the adjacent countries and raising the exchange of goods on the line East-West were made. In the capital of the region, an international German Eastern fair was organised, one of the biggest airports in the country connecting Königsberg with many largest cities of Europe including Moscow and Leningrad started its development. The port of Königsberg was modernised; the regime of the 'free city' was launched there which allowed to store goods duty-free and to build any industrial facilities.
By 1939, it became possible to essentially increase manufacturing of industrial goods, although it was to a great extent connected to military needs. At the same time, fishery and fish processing industry, as well as manufacturing of building materials were being developed. Among new enterprises built in1934—1939 there were some pulp-and-paper factories, their production being the basis of the export streams from East Prussia. So, in 1936 in value terms it reached 71.9% of the province export [2, p. 178].
Due to the organisation of public works and government orders, the province was quite successful at combating a high level of unemployment. For example, for building the Königsberg — Elbing highway ('berlinka') 5,000 new work places were created. At the same time, it was impossible to overcome the backwardness of the agricultural sector. Plans of turning the German enclave into a 'tourist Mecca' failed, as well as moving around one and a half million people from other regions of Germany for strengthening the German presence [1, p. 149- 152].
The accession to power of national socialists 1933 (by the way, the overwhelming majority of the residents of East Prussia voted for them) led to the sharpening of all German-Polish antagonisms and the problem of the transit communication between two parts of Germany was rendered absolute. Poland's refusal to agree to demands of the Nazi government to build extraterritorial highways through the Polish Corridor just became one of the reasons for creating an anti-Polish public opinion in the Third Reich.
The exclavity of East Prussia was eliminated in a military way in 1939 when German troops occupied Poland in the circumstances of the policy of non-interference of Polish allies. So, the communication by land was restored between Germany and its isolated province. However, coersive methods of solving the exclave problem cost Germany a lot, and it lost its province as a result of the defeat in the Second World War.
The last period of the historical evolution of enclave formations in the territory of the Sambia peninsula and in the river basin between the Neman and the Great Mazur Lakes started with the creation of the Kaliningrad (Königsberg) region in 1946. It occupied one-third of the territory of the former East Prussia. A new Soviet (Russian) region became the third exclave
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of the RSFSR separated from its republic by other SSRs (first of all, by Lithuanian and Byelorussian republics). The Crimea (former ASSR) and the Murmansk regions were other similar exclaves of the RSFSR separated from it by the Ukrainian SSR in 1921—1954 and Karelia Finnish SSR in 1940—1956 respectively.
Until 1991, the Kaliningrad region was an exclave of the second order as it was a part of one of the republics of the former USSR; therefore none of the typical enclave problems actually affected it. During the Soviet period, the issue of the unobstructed access from Kaliningrad to Russia was not even considered. The industrial structure of the national economy mostly inherited from the pre-war 'predecessor' did not fully meet new requirements. The market mechanism of the East Prussia's economy was changed to the planned administrative command type. As a result, there was no single economic system in the region, the inner cooperation in the region was not developing, and many branches completely depended on the import of raw materials. The main part of the electricity consumed here was generated in Lithuania. The fishing industry, the most developed branch of the national economy, was managed from Riga where the West all-Union fishing industry institution (VRPO Zapriba) was located. In the Kaliningrad region, the modernisation of technologically advanced production facilities was actually not encouraged by the government unlike the former Baltic republics.
The 'garrison' specific character of this isolated subject of the RSFSR did not contribute to its openness. The region was closed for foreigners, and even for citizens of the USSR there were limitations as regards visiting its certain territories. Minimal funds were invested into the tourist infrastructure or protection of the environment. At the Russian-Polish frontier, not a single vehicle border crossing point was equipped with the necessary facilities. Foreign vessels were not allowed to call at the Kaliningrad ports. While deciding on building a moorage for shipping ferry communication between the USSR and GDR, the priority was given to Klaipeda. In the times of affiliation of the region in the Lithuanian economic council (1963—1965), the decisions were made to the prejudice of the economic development of the Russian region. Particularly, former German factories producing red brick from the local raw materials were dismantled and removed to Lithuania. Later the region had to bring this brick from the neighbouring republic. Many of drawbacks and contradictions mentioned above which did not seem to be serious enough in the network of the single Soviet territory influenced negatively the very western region of the RSFSR after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Geopolitical, economic and social situation of the Kaliningrad region worsened dramatically in 1990—1991 when the former Soviet Baltic republics were leaving the Soviet Union to become independent, as well as Belarus and Ukraine. In 1991, the region became an enclave subject of the Russian Federation having turned into a unique in the world practice region separated from the mainland by other countries. This isolation from the 'metropolis' constricted people and cargo transit by land and air; customs, visa and other barriers caused serious difficulties in ensuring stable activities in the region.
The greatest problems for the Russian side are caused by the passengers' transit by railway and the procedure of freight transportation in motor vehicles via Lithuania (every driver has to pay a deposit in foreign currency) and Belarus which negatively influenced the efficiency of a number of enterprises of the Kaliningrad region. Certain difficulties appeared regarding the legalization of the borders with the Lithuanian Republic since they changed from administrative into state borders. During the Russian-Lithuanian negotiations on their delimitation the sides, in particular, agreed to exchange some frontier posts, as well as a new frontier on Vishtinets Lake (which took the interests of the local Lithuanian population into consideration in contrast to the pre-war border with East Prussia). As for the demarcation of the Russian-Lithuanian border, it began only in 2005 and is still going on.
In conditions of exclavity, with the disruption of the previous economic ties, the transition to the market economic management, the industrial structure of the regional national economy changed dramatically. At present, the fishing industry and pulp-and-paper industry are not its leading sectors any more. In the last twenty years, only several dozens out of hundreds fishing vessels have been left at the Kaliningrad fishing enterprises, their staff has decreased almost tenfold. Cellulose is not produced in the region any more, but paper and carton are produced exclusively from imported raw materials. At the same time, a furniture cluster has appeared here as well as companies with foreign capital, among which enterprises assembling cars and electronic goods hold leading positions.
On the way of overcoming numerous problems of exclavity of the region, the federal centre and the regional government have taken many correct steps (although sometimes too delayed), whereas many mistakes have been made. One of the reasons of the latter is the unreadiness of domestic politicians to foresee the consequences of the collapse of the Soviet state for the Kaliningrad region, and very often also the unwillingness of Moscow to make decisions coordinated with the regional government, let alone considering the world experience. It sometimes happened that one-sided or not coordinated actions of the Centre affected the social and economic development of the region [8, p. 267], which was quite dramatically manifested when adopting legislative acts regarding the Special Economic Zone "Yantar" and a Special Economic Zone in the Kaliningrad region [4, p. 12—18]. On the other hand, the issues of the world enclave territories became a subject of serious consideration only in the 1990s.
The modern Russian enclave and its predecessors in the territory of the region, especially the last one, the German, have very many common problems of the development. The experience of East Prussia in 1920—1939 demonstrates convincingly the necessity of special facilities (institutional, budget, transit, economic, transport, power, international and others) guaranteeing a stable development of the enclave region by the source state.
From the point of view of the adjacent countries, the Kaliningrad region is a Russian enclave for them (more precisely, a semi-enclave). Since Poland and Lithuania's joining the European Union, the region has become a Russian enclave in the EU as well. The activity of this political and economic
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union of European countries, that had no similar entity in the period of East Prussia, creates favourable opportunities for Russia for solving enclave problems of the region. First of all, the matter concerns mutually profitable social and economic border cooperation, visas, transit of people and cargoes. In particular, it is the participation of the European Union that facilitated resolving the complicated issues of visa free travelling by railway from Russia to Russia via Lithuania and small-scale border crossing at the Russian Polish border. The problems of the region's security are being solved constructively in close cooperation of Russia and NATO. Finally, creating Common Free Market Zone for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia on January 1, 2012 (by the way, for which the very western Russian region is also an exclave) to a large extent simplified formalities connected with the transit of goods via the Be-lorussian territory.
The above gives evidence to the fact that modern international relations have undergone radical changes; international conflicts are rarely settled with the help of weapons. It is very likely that in the conditions of globalisation the today's isolation of this territory will not cause war constraint as a means of solving specific enclave problems and the problems will not be solved in the interests of only one side.
References
1. Vinogradova, M. V. 2007, Osobennosti social'no-jekonomicheskogo razvitija Vostochnoj Prussii v 1933—1939 [Features of the socio-economic development of East Prussia in 1933—1939], Kaliningradskie arhivy [Kaliningrad archives], Vol. 7, Kaliningrad, p. 149—160.
2. Vinokurov, E. Ju. 2007, Teorija anklavov [The theory of enclaves], Kaliningrad, Terra Baltika.
3. Vostochnaja Prussija. S drevnejshih vremen do konca Vtoroj mirovoj vojny [East Prussia. From ancient times to the end of World War II], 1996, Kaliningrad.
4. Klemeshev, A.P., Kozlov, S. D., Fedorov, G.M. 2003, Osobaja territorija Rossii [A particular area of Russia], Kaliningrad, Izdatelstvo Kaliningrad State University.
5. Klemeshev, A. P. 2005, Rossijskij jeksklav. Preodolenie konfliktogennosti [The Russian exclave. Overcoming of conflicts], Saint Petersburg, Izdatelstvo Saint Petersburg State University.
6. Klemeshev, A. P. 2007, Jeksklavnost' v uslovijah globalizacii [Exclave in the context of globalization], Kaliningrad, Izdatelstvo Kaliningrad State University.
7. Kretinin, G. V., Bryushinkin, V.N., Gal'tsov, V.I. 2002, Ocherki istorii Vostochnoj Prussii [Studies in the History of East Prussia], Kaliningrad, «Jantarnyj skaz».
8. Fedorov, G.M. Zverev, Ju. M., Korneevets, V. S. 1997, Rossijskij jeksklav na Baltike [The Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea], Kaliningrad, Izdatelstvo Kaliningrad State University.
About the author
Yuri D. Rozhkov-Yuryevsky, leading expert, International Office, Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University.
E-mail: YRozhkov-YUr@kantiana.ru
