Here is the description of one of these typical cases: «T. A. before her resettlement to Kaliningrad worked as a seamstress at „kolkhoz“ „Zarya“ in Turov district of Gomel region; in the emigrant ticket for resettlement she attributed herself with imaginary distant relatives. At the expense of cash benefits she bought a sewing machine to work at home instead of work at „kolkhoz“, when she was not allowed to do it and was asked to proceed to the collective-farm work, she voluntarily left the kolkhoz»144.
Of course, a strong incentive was needed, especially material, for a decision on the voluntary resettlement to Kaliningrad. The settlers were granted with free travel and luggage transportation to the destination, tax exemptions for three years, a lump sum benefit equal to a thousand roubles for the head of the family, and 300 roubles for each family member. Especially for the residents of rural area the important reason was a house and plot of land in a half of hectare, and preferential loans for the purchase of agricultural implements and livestock. A family should consist of two able-bodied members to get the full amount of benefits. As a result, nearly two-thirds of the immigrants were under thirty years old145. People of working age have presented significantly higher proportion of the population in the Kaliningrad region in compare to the national average.
Settling in the Kaliningrad region occurred in two ways – voluntary and by force. Incentive measures and compulsion were applied to the same group of immigrants at the same time. For example, soldiers who fought in East Prussia were offered to stay here after the war and bring their families. Significant hopes were pinned on the institute of political officers («politryki») of military units to solve this task. Here is one of the typical memories of participants of storming out of Königsberg, who were recruited to stay in Oblast: «Political department of our regiment invited demobilized communists, and explained to them: «Dear friends, you fought here, now it is necessary to reconstruct this new land». I told them: «We Communists are people too! I have not been at home for a long time. I am from Saratov region. Why do I need this East Prussia?» In addition, they said, «Communists must be the first»146.
It is important to note the fact that among the first settlers were the majority of those who lost their property and shelter during the war. This is because migration came from areas that were vastly devastated during the war. These people were fully familiar with the hardships of war; they easier agreed to immigrate, as they often nothing to have at the previous place of residence. Many of them have fled of hunger with hope on a better life at new place147.
Here, one of memories of inhabitant from Smolensk region, who has been forced to move to Germany as «Ostarbeiter’ in 1942: «After being released we passed through East Prussia to home. In the distribution camp, a man approached us and said, «Girls, stay here. Returning home to Smolensk means living among ruins». So I decided to stay in Kaliningrad»148.
Immigrants of different social groups of the Soviet Union arrived to towns of Kaliningrad Oblast, but farmers who settled on a principle of affinity groups mostly populated the countryside. To some extent, the population of each district – there were 13 in Kaliningrad Oblast – was formed by people from a particular area of the Soviet Union.
The second category of migrants is a working staff of different qualification. They immigrated centralized by directions of ministries or by the invitation of some large enterprises. Among them were graduates of technical schools and institutes, who arrived by distribution. Therefore, in the Kaliningrad region was originally a high proportion of the urban population.
Another important category is employees of various government, party and komsomol organizations. They arrived by so-called «permit of the Central Committee».
There was another category of persons, who in the documents and records of agencies were mentioned under «accepted on the spot». These people arrived on their own, outside relocation and control procedures, so their numbers are difficult to estimate.
As a result, in the second half of the 1940s the population of Oblast was formed by immigrants from Russia, Belarus, to a lesser extent from Ukraine and the Baltic states. The share of the other Soviet republics was negligible.
Expectations of many immigrants did not materialize. This explains the considerable outflow of people. Nearly all immigrants agreed that Königsberg impressed them as ’burnt, destroyed to the ground, and left by inhabitants place’. One of the first detailed textbooks on the history of the region for students of the Faculty of History explained the reasons for returning of migrants: «Not everyone had the courage to participate in the reconstruction of the territory under unusual climatic and geographical conditions»149.
However, the expectations of other nature were met: Many immigrants understood that they are going to other «world». The consequences of the war could not eliminate feelings of great curiosity among immigrants. «When we approached the city by train, the houses with a slate roof amazed us. It was very unusual and immediately clear – here lived other people. Gabled roofs of the houses looked beautiful», describes Alevtina Tselovalnikova from Ryazan – «Everything around us seemed strange, unusual, and a bit frightening: a neat village houses, roofed with red tiles and tree-lined roads and asphalt everywhere». «Even through the ruins, which I watched from the window of the car, it was clear that here is not Russia, but Western Europe… all around us was interesting, strange, curious», says Anna Kopylova, giving her first impressions150.
However, the frequent lack of basic amenities made about a third of the first immigrants to leave Kaliningrad. Especially significant was the proportion of returnees among the inhabitants of the Baltic states. Among other reasons, this can be explained in the following terms – the geographical proximity of their home, a lesser degree of post-war devastation in the Baltic states, and a slightly better level of living conditions.
The most significant flow of population took place during 1946—49. This was due to the deportation of the German population, the active recruitment of Soviet citizens, and the flow of the first «returnees». In the mid-1950s, the social structure of population began to take stability, and the population started to grow mainly due to high birth rates.
However, in contrast to other regions of Russia, boundaries of social groups in Kaliningrad were more diffuse and continued to emerge for a long time. One of the reasons was the professional background of population. Many immigrants had to learn new profession, or content of their work was different from what they did at the previous job. The above-mentioned fact caused the marginal nature of professional specialization and its instability. Formation of the local educational system has solved this problem, but it was only towards the end of the 1950s. Until then, the situation was extremely complex: «Twenty per cent of downtime was due to the inexperience of mechanics. Accountants had no experience with calculations; they demanded to be under control around the clock. Among investigators, there was nobody in entire region who could meet the most elementary requirements of their job, and the other half of them never worked as prosecutors before»151.
2.2.3. Migration and society in 1950—1980: Creation of a Soviet city in Kaliningrad
In the late 1950s, the value of net migration was negative