Abwangen massacre

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Abswangen (today: Tischino , in the Bagrationovsk Rajon ) was a small village near Preussisch Eylau in East Prussia about 30 km south of Koenigsberg ( Kaliningrad Oblast , Russia ). A massacre of German civilians was carried out there in August 1914 .

prehistory

After Russian troops launched their first offensive in East Prussia in August 1914, they reached the small village of Abschwangen on August 27, 1914 without resistance . On August 29, 1914, a German cavalry reconnaissance unit with four soldiers also reached the unoccupied village, parked a Russian vehicle in the passage and opened fire on the vehicle. A Russian officer, a man from the Trubetskoi family , was killed and the vehicle returned to Almenhausen (Kasshtanovo).

The massacre

The Russian armed forces directly executed nine civilians in Almenhausen (Mayors Prang, Bauer Stadie, Hermann Marienberg and six unknown refugees) who happened to be nearby. Then they burned down 70 of the 81 houses. At the same time, troops marched to Abschwangen. These killed the male population and burned down houses and farm buildings. 78 out of 101 existing buildings were destroyed. 65 people were killed in the massacre (28 locals, 37 refugees):

  • from Abswangen: Brüderlein, Fritz; Dombrowski, Fritz; Dark, Franz; Eggert, Johanna; Freimuth, Karl; Friedel, Walter; Frisch, Hermann; Gendatis, Franz; Großmann, August; Heinrich, Richard; Hochwald, Albert; Judel, Lina; Kemmer, Julius; Kösling, Friedrich; Krause, Ernst; Küßner, Karl; Lange, Christoph; Naujoks, Friedrich; Oppermann, Albert; Packheiser, Gustav; Regotzki, Karl; Riemann, August; Riemann, Franz; Riemann, Karl; Rosenbaum, Franz; Schröder, Friedrich; Waschkau, Gottfried; Witt, Elisabeth;
  • from Allenau: Burblies, Gustav; Hinz, Friedrich; Hinz, Karl; Reimer, Albert
  • from Bönkeim: Barteleit, Johanna
  • from Böttchersdorf: Gawlick, Richard; Gawlick, Rudolf; Hensel, Franz
  • Budweitschen: Schippel, Wilhelm; Willuhn, Karl
  • from Darkehmen: Forstreuter, Karl
  • from Dettmitten: Arndt, Franz; Arndt, Wilhelm; Arnswald, Otto; Ewert, Friedrich; Pit, Richard; Mischke, Friedrich; Naujok, Gustav; Petschkuhn, Karl; Petschkuhn, Otto
  • from Dommelkeim: Nelson, Emil
  • from Korschen: Diester, Ewald
  • from Kortmedien: Görke, Ernst; Wood, seriousness; Motzkau, Gustav; Saul, Gustav; Schirrmacher, Johann; Nice, Gustav
  • from Langendorf: Czibold, Fritz; Dudda, Michael; Marwinski, Paul; Rogowski, Christian; Wicesanski, Michael
  • from Löwenhagen: Hollstein, Leopold
  • from snakes: Marquardt, Bernhard
  • a stranger

aftermath

After the German success in the Battle of Tannenberg , the Russian troops withdrew from the region and the village was taken again by the German army on September 3, 1914 without a fight. A memorial to the 74 civilians was erected in 1924, but the village was completely destroyed during World War II in 1945.

literature

  • Horst Schulz: Preußisch Eylau - a district town in East Prussia , Lübeck 1998.
  • Horst Schulz: The Preußisch Eylau district , Verden 1983.