Imeni Alexandra Kosmodemyanskogo is a rural locality (a settlement) under the jurisdiction of Oktyabrsky City District of the city of Kaliningrad

Kaliningrad

Kaliningrad is a seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea...

, Kaliningrad Oblast

Kaliningrad Oblast

Kaliningrad Oblast is a federal subject of Russia situated on the Baltic coast. It has a population of The oblast forms the westernmost part of the Russian Federation, but it has no land connection to the rest of Russia. Since its creation it has been an exclave of the Russian SFSR and then the...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, and, municipally, a part of Kaliningrad Urban Okrug.

Originally, it was known as Metgethen in German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

; in 1946, after northern East Prussia

East Prussia

East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...

 became part of the Soviet Union, all German place names were changed to Russian ones, and Metgethen was renamed to Lesnoye (Лесно́е). In 1956, it was given its current name in honor of Aleksandr Kosmodemyansky

Aleksandr Kosmodemyansky

Aleksandr Anatolyevich Kosmodemyansky was a first lieutenant and a hero of the Soviet Union, who was bestowed this title posthumously after having fallen during World War II in Firbrudenkrug, East Prussia, Germany. He was the brother of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya...

, a war hero who was killed in a battle north-west of Kaliningrad in 1945. Population: 11,000 (2006 est.).

The village of Metgethen was first mentioned in chronicles in 1278. Until 1945, Metgethen was in the German province of East Prussia

East Prussia

East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...

.

In 1945, during the Battle of Königsberg

Battle of Königsberg

The Battle of Königsberg , was one of the last operations of the East Prussian Offensive during World War II. In four days of violent urban warfare, Soviet forces of the 1st Baltic Front and the 3rd Belorussian Front captured the city of Königsberg...

, a German counter-attack recaptured Metgethen from the Red Army

Red Army

The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

. German military personnel reported evidence of a massacre of civilians

Metgethen massacre

Metgethen in East Prussia , located a few kilometers to the west of Königsberg, was a German village which fell to the advancing Red Army in January, 1945.-Timeline:...

carried out by the Red Army during the 3 weeks that village was under Soviet occupation.

External links

• Official website of Kaliningrad Urban Okrug. Information about the settlement of imeni Alexandra Kosmodemyanskogo
• NewKaliningrad.ru. День поселка в Космодемьянском отпраздновали с размахом