Gusev

History

1. The Neolithic Age - the Middle Ages

On the territory of the Gusevsky urban district people settled in the Neolithic era

The first settlement arose on the banks of the Nerpa stream, flowing into Pissa on the northwestern outskirts of the city. Its inhabitants were engaged in animal husbandry, agriculture, crafts. The natural wealth of the region contributed to the fact that the main source of food for the population remained fishing, hunting and flight fishing. Numerous archaeological finds indicate that weaving, pottery, smelting of bronze and iron were developed. The main grain crop was rye, also grown oats, barley, peas, linen.

In the 70s of the XIII century, the settlement was destroyed by the Teutonic knights. However, the village was reborn in a new place, on the bank of the river near the road leading to Lithuania. In the first description of the Order state (XIV century) at the confluence of the rivers Bissa (Pissa) and Rominta was the village of Bisserkemen. This was the first written mention of the settlement, which later became Gumbinnen. In 1576 Bisserkemen was drawn on the first map of East Prussia.

2. Gumbinnen.

In the second half of the XVI century Bisserkemen was renamed in Gumbina. The etymology of this name is not entirely clear. Translated from Lithuanian "gumba" - curvature. According to one version, the name of the city comes from the fact that once on the bank of the river grew a huge tree, with winding branches, which was worshiped by pagan Prussians. On the other hand, it is connected with the fact that the old channel of Pissa had multiple curves. According to the third version, more similar to the legend, in the medieval Bisserkemen, there was a tavern in which poor-quality beer was brewed, from which visitors to this institution had a digestive disorder, they wriggled and wriggled in pain, since then the name Gumbine went.

Later, the word "Gumbine" was Germanized and turned into "Gumbinnen".

3.Establishment of the city

Due to constant wars, the population has steadily decreased, the indigenous Prussians have either assimilated or died out.

In 1620-1621, the Crimean Tatars raided East Prussia, Gumbinnen was almost completely destroyed, but the population managed to hide in the Romitian forests.

The plague epidemic that lasted from 1708 to 1711 finally depopulated the region. The Prussian government was faced with the task of reviving the devastated land. Under King Frederick I, the resettlement of people, mainly Protestants from Western Europe (Germany, Switzerland, France) to East Prussia began. In 1712, there were already 320 migrant families living in and around Gumbinnen. The process went much faster under Frederick-Wilhelm I. This was facilitated by many benefits provided to IDPs, and the absence of persecution on religious grounds.

The initiator of the construction of the city was King Frederick-Wilhelm I. He drew up a draft of the city plan himself. Later, the master plan was made by S. Unfried, in 1723. It was approved by the king. 12,000 Tallers were allocated for the construction of the city. In the same 1723, on the right bank of Pissa, Werner von Guerne built the first brick house. In 1724, construction of another 20 brick houses began. Subsequently, the right-bank part of the city became known as the “old city”, and the left-bank – “new city”. Construction on the left bank of the river was not carried out for a long time, since it was very swampy and flooded annually during the spring flood.

In January 1724, a magistrate was established in Gumbinnen. On May 25 of the same year, the city received the coat of arms and all city privileges. In 1727, the first government building was built. In 1730-1735, 6 quarters were built in the area of the central square.

An important event for the further development of the city was the arrival in 1732 of immigrants from Salzburg. More than 70 families of artisans settled in Gumbinnen.

The Seven Years' War, which marked the middle of the eighteenth century, bypassed Gumbinnen. On August 1, 1757, a delegation consisting of a mayor and three authoritative citizens came to a meeting with Russian troops and surrendered the city to the mercy of the victors. On August 5, the Russians entered Gumbinnen. Participant of that campaign A.T. Bolotov wrote about Gumbinnen: “This town is built according to plan. Cleanliness and tidyness prevailed everywhere. The streets are straight, the squares at the intersections are spacious. On the main square in the middle of the city there was a huge beautiful building in which there was a town hall. The whole beautiful town was filled with a multitude of craftsmen, of all kinds of craftsmen, and may be considered the best of all Prussian towns.

On August 13, 1757, the residents of Gumbinnen, swearing allegiance to Empress Elizaset, became citizens of the Russian Empire and remained so until May 5, 1762.

The French invasion of the early XIX century brought a lot of trouble to the locals. From June 18 to July 17, 1807, Marshal Ney's corps was quartered in Gumbinnen, and all this time the French rampaged in the city. Before the war of 1812, the French literally flooded the city. On June 18, Napoleon himself arrived in the city and stayed at the Golden Lira Hotel. For three days here, he specified plans to attack Russia. Before leaving, the emperor arranged the last review of the old guard at the Shopazinplatz. Soon defeated in Russia, the French began to appear in the city in unorganized crowds, on the way of retreat robbing local residents.

On January 24, 1813, the Cossacks of Ataman Platov, dispelling the cavalry barriers of General MacDonald, completely liberated the city.

4. Development of the city in the XIX-early XX centuries.

After the Napoleonic Wars, Gumbinnen developed as an administrative center. A lot of money was spent on building the city.

An important event for the city was the opening in 1860 of the East German Railway, laid from Koenigsberg to the border with Russia. It gave a significant impetus to the development of the city and the district as a whole. New enterprises for processing agricultural products and timber from the eastern regions began to open.

Heavy trials fell to the city during the First World War. At Gumbinnen, the German command decided to defeat the Russian army. On the morning of August 20, 1914, a fierce battle began near Gumbinnen, which went down in history under the name of the Gumbinnen-Goldap breakthrough (scheme). Russian soldiers showed real heroism and high training. The battle ended with the complete defeat of German troops. Taking advantage of this victory, the French inflicted a crushing defeat on the Germans on the Western front, closing the road to Paris. For 3 weeks, Gumbinnen was under the control of the Russian military commander.

After the war, the administrative importance of Gumbinnen decreased slightly. However, there were still district and district authorities, the district court, the financial department, customs, military units, 6 branches of large German banks. In 1917, a factory of agricultural machines was launched. There was a gas plant that fully met the city’s demand for gas, in addition, it produced coke, benzene, carbonic acid. The city also opened an auto assembly branch of the Opel plant. There were many small, handicraft industries.

In 1929, a city power plant was opened.

In Gumbinnen there were several primary schools, 5 secondary schools, including two gymnasiums: female - Cicilienshule, male - Friedrichshule. Higher and secondary vocational education could be obtained at the Higher Engineering School in the branch of the Koenigsberg Administrative Academy.

Sports facilities were also built in the city: stadiums, tennis courts, a swimming pool.

There were several good concert halls for cultural events.

Map of the city, 1924.

5. The city during the Second World War

East Prussia has long been a springboard of German militarism. And in this war, the German hordes went from here to neighboring states. In 1939, to Poland. And already on June 22, 1941, Army Group North moved from here to the USSR in the direction of Leningrad.

Already in the first days of the Great Patriotic War, Soviet pilots bombed Gumbinnen. And although the destruction and casualties were insignificant, the inhabitants of the city remembered it for a long time. However, the front approached Gumbinnen only in 1944.

In August 1944, Soviet troops reached the state border of the USSR with East Prussia. On October 16, 1944, the 3rd Belorussian Front launched an offensive and on October 20 the first Soviet tanks broke into the territory of the present Gusevsky district. The enemy desperately resisted and on October 22 launched a counter-offensive, trying to encircle the forward grouping of our troops. On October 29, front commander I.D. Chernyakhovsky ordered the transition to defense.

On January 1, 1945, at exactly 9:00 a.m., Soviet artillery dropped thousands of tons of metal and fire on the heads of the enemy. At 11:00, tanks and infantry advanced and the Gumbinnen breakthrough began. Gumbinnen was targeted by the 130th Rifle Division. On the morning of January 18, she approached the second line of defense of the enemy in the area of Gross-Baitchen. 2 battalion 664 infantry regiment with the support of 82 heavy tank regiment began its breakthrough.

With massive fire, the fascists forced the tankers to retreat, infantry went into battle, it was then that Captain S.I. Gusev performed his feat, taking command of the battalion, he called fire on himself. Artillery salvos stopped the counterattack of the enemy, taking advantage of the moment the captain raised the remains of the battalion in the attack. The enemy's stronghold was taken. However, at the very end of the battle, S.I. Gusev was noticeably wounded. Posthumously he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

On the morning of January 20, the assault on the city began. Destroying the enemy’s firing points, overcoming his desperate resistance, slowly house by house, block by block, the Soviet soldiers began to clear the northeastern part of the city from the enemy. The first to break into the city on a self-propelled gun junior lieutenant Sergei Verkhushin. Assault groups were successfully operating. Especially fierce battles unfolded in the morning of January 21. Infantry, supported by tanks and artillery, sought to cross to the left bank of the river (bridges were blown up by retreating Germans). At 14.30, advanced groups of stormers crossed to the southern bank of the Pissa River and began to go to the south-western outskirts of the city. By 18:00 Gumbinnen was taken. On the evening of January 21, order No. 238 of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief was read on the radio, Moscow saluted the heroes of the assault.

6. Post-war period

By the decision of the Potsdam Conference, 1/3 of East Prussia was transferred to the USSR, subsequently the Königsberg and then the Kaliningrad region appeared in its place.

The first settlers began to stay in the region in 1946. Before their eyes stood the artina of terrible destruction. There was a lot of work to do, in fact, everything had to be recreated. The first economic and cultural transformations in the city began the military commandant's office on July 5, 1945, the apartment and maintenance unit (CECH) began to work, which was engaged in the resettlement of demobilized soldiers, families and settlers who came to them.

On September 1, 1945, 40 pupils sat at the desks of the Gumbinnen Primary School. It was taught by two teachers and director E.N. Kuznetsov. After the creation of the Kaliningrad region, a decision was made on its administrative structure. In our city, the formation of civil administration was handled by N.S. Panichev, who arrived in the city on May 22, 1945. On June 2, 1945, 5 departments of management began to work.

August 23, 1946 in Gumbinnen arrived a fresh eshlon with immigrants from the Bryansk region, began the settlement of the district and the city.

On September 7, 1946, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, the city of Gumbinnen was renamed the city of Gusev in honor of the Hero of the Soviet Union Sergey Ivanovich Gusev.

On December 21, 1947, the first elections to the city and district councils were held.

Gradually, industry emerged. In 1946, the mill No. 14 (feed mill), the timber industry, the oil plant began its work.

On June 21, 1947, postal-telegraph communication was fully restored.

In August 1948, inter-sovkhoz repair and mechanical workshops were launched, in 1955 a repair and mechanical plant was founded in their place, on the basis of which the Microdrive Plant was created in 1961. In March 1955 GRES-5 (now TPP) was launched on April 10, 1956. It's the CTA factory.

May 1, 1964 came into operation knitted factory "Chaika". In addition, since 1949, a bakery (now Gusevsky Bread JSC) and a Gusevsky Automobile Enterprise (AK-1802) have been operating in Gusev. Agricultural production of the district began with state farms No. 140 (now JSC "Gusevsky") and No. 141 (now JSC "Kubanskoye").

In 1946, a hospital with 50 beds was opened, it employed 2 doctors, 4 paramedics and 7 nurses.

On September 1, 1946, school No. 1 (later No. 2) was opened, in 1947 - school No. 2 (later No. 1). On September 1, 1963, classes began at school No. 3. In 1948, an agricultural college was opened, later SPTU-6 and SPTU-17 appeared.

Due attention was paid to the development of culture. The first city library was opened on October 10, 1946, the same year the Spartak cinema opened for 350 seats. The Mir Cinema was later built (opened on March 15, 1962).

On September 18, 1947, the first issue of the newspaper “For Valiant Labor” was published. On September 8, 1952, a monument to S.I. Gusev was opened (the author is the Kaliningrad sculptor O. Avramenko), and in the spring of 1953 a ceremony of reburying the remains of S.M. Gusev at the monument took place.

On October 2, 1963, a monument to V.I. Lenin was erected on Victory Square. October 1970 on the station square opened a monument to the soldiers who took Gumbinnen.