German Blood, Slavic Soil

How Nazi Konigsberg became Soviet Kaliningrad

by Nicole Eaton

In “German Blood, Slavic Soil”, Eaton seeks to explore the transformation of the city of Konigsberg, a Prussian outpost of the edges of Nazi Germany to Kaliningrad*, the westernmost city of the Soviet Union, during a period of massive upheaval at the

end of the Second World War. To do this, she looks back 700 years to the founding of the city and examines how the ebb and flow of the regional powers impacted on its development. This builds to a detailed examination of how Nazism was implemented in

the build up to and during World War 2, before the collapse of the Third Reich and the capture of Konigsberg. Eaton then delves into the rebuilding of the city and the implementation of Soviet Socialism and the eventual ethnic cleansing of the German

population.

The initial part of the book skims the surface of the story of the region, however, once the author comes to the rise of the Nazis there is a significant increase in the level of detail. Her

use of sources from both sides gives the work a depth and range of perspective that is not often found for this period of history. The one down side to this is there are times where it

is not clear what actually happened due to the sources having competing narratives; the extent to which the Soviets sought to “re-educate” the German population, rather than removing them from the city being an example that sticks out.

The book is a fantastic comparative study of how the two major totalitarian ideologies of the 20th century sought to impose themselves on their populations. What was particularly

interesting was how the isolation of Konigsberg allowed the local rulers to put their own stamp on the ideology and implementation of policy. One example of this is the way that

local Soviet authorities did not abide by Moscow’s direction for the distribution of resources, possibly to create pressure on the German population to leave the city.

The book is very much a scholarly text, however, it combines this high level analysis with some very touching anecdotes, ranging from stories of the horrors committed by both the Nazis and the Soviets, to details of the mundanity of life, such as securing food or clothing. It is a timely reminder that war is something done by humans to other humans and this work really hammers home the humanity of both sides of the war, it is hard not to feel compassion for the people in the book.

Overall, this is a highly recommended read. It uses a rich blend of academic analysis and personal stories that inform and grip the reader simultaneously. For anyone interested in the war in the east, and particularly the human side of it, this is definitely worth a spot on your bookshelf.

*For the sake of ease, the German Konigsberg will be used throughout this article.

Capt Mark Whitfield

Published by: Cornell University Press, 15 April 2023. 330

pages. ISBN-13: 978-1529933659