Elk lowland
The Elchniederung (formerly just lowlands , Russian Лосиная долина Losinaja dolina ) is a crossed by rivers and canals lowlands on the border between Russia ( Kaliningrad ) and Lithuania . The Elchniederung district was named after this area until 1945 .
geography
To the north, the moose valley is bounded by the Memel , to the west by the Curonian Lagoon and to the south by the Great Moosbruch . The lowland is of alluvial origin and therefore geologically very young. The area is sparsely populated, larger localities are Slavsk (formerly Heinrichswalde ), Bolschakowo (formerly Groß Skaisgirren ) and Jasnoje (formerly Kuckerneese or Kaukehmen ).
The landscape of the Memel Delta is divided into four areas:
- Clay area, the high part with the tree forest
- Broken forest area, the low-lying valley
- Curonian Spit with the lagoon
- Moor areas, connection to the Großer Moosbruch.
The deep depression in front of the Curonian Lagoon is known as the elk forest. Until after the Second World War, moose were to be found in the alder forests and moors .
traffic
The Matrossowka ( Gilgestrom ) runs through the moose valley as an inland waterway between Pregel and Memel . All larger towns are connected by country roads, the most important modes of transport are intercity buses . The Kaliningrad – Sovetsk railway runs from Kaliningrad (Koenigsberg) via Polessk (Polessk) and Slavsk (Heinrichswalde) to Sowetsk (Tilsit); From 1902 until the Second World War there was also a narrow-gauge railway with two branches, the Elchniederungsbahn .
history
The settlement only took place in the past millennium. This happened from the higher peripheral areas and from the water - the Curonian Lagoon. The colonization in the 18th and 17th centuries went hand in hand with hydraulic engineering and amelioration measures . After the Second World War, these drainage systems increasingly deteriorated. On the one hand, this was due to the lack of experience and training of the new residents; on the other hand, the heavy agricultural equipment used in the Soviet Union often turned out to be unsuitable for the soils found here - many drainage pipes were damaged and torn out during plowing. Since a large-scale collective farm was sought in the Brezhnev era , entire villages were razed, razed to the ground and completely disappeared. Rural exodus and swamping of the land drained in the last 200 years were the result in today's Slavsk Raion .
literature
- The Elch Lowlands District , Volumes 1 and 2
- The Elk Lowlands , published by the Kreisgemeinschaft Elchniederung eV