Архив рубрики: KÖNIGSBERG

Is the Königsberg Amber Room still in Kaliningrad?

… and if not, where is it?

Published: 15 February 2023 ~ Is the Königsberg Amber Room still in Kaliningrad?

Last seen in Königsberg Castle before the end of the war, ever since the Amber Room went missing ~ missing presumed dead by some, missing presumed purloined by others ~ historians and treasure hunters alike have turned the search for the Amber Room into a latter day Holy Grail that has kept them guessing and occupied for more than three-quarters of a century.

We don’t all love mysteries, but we sure do like to solve them, and so it is with the Amber Room, which disappeared from Königsberg Castle in the final months of World War II. The search for what was once described as the Eighth Wonder of the World has become an historians’ and treasure hunters’ Holy Grail. Numerous theories abound regarding the room’s vanishing act and its whereabouts today.

Recently, my wife Olga attended a lecture delivered by one of these Argonauts, a man who has spent considerable time and energy researching the history of the Amber Room and most of his ambition engaged in a quest to locate it.

Unlike a good many historians, the gentleman in question does not hold with the popular conviction that the Amber Room was destroyed either as a result of the RAF’s bombing raids or by the artillery fire of the advancing Soviet army. Neither does he hold with the myriad theories that would have the room plundered and shipped elsewhere. In his opinion the Amber Room that was, is the Amber Room that very much is. Furthermore, he believes not only is it alive and kicking but kicking about in Kaliningrad.

Is the Königsberg Amber Room still in Kaliningrad?

For those of you unacquainted with the story of the Amber Room, it goes like this:

The Amber Room was a chamber richly decorated with ornate amber panels, elaborately highlighted with gold leaf, complemented by magnificent baroque-framed mirrors and illuminated with flickering candles. Those who had the privilege of beholding it in person were overwhelmed by its singular beauty.

Amber Baltic Coast Kaliningrad from an exhibition in the old Königsberg Stock Exchange

Amber: What it is and why is it so precious?

In order to protect themselves from parasites, harmful insects and to act as a restorative for external damage, trees produce a protective resin. This substance exuded through the bark of the tree, eventually hardens, forming a seal, against which the gnawing activities of harmful insects are rendered inoperable.

Extinct, fossilised tree trunks from primordial forests produce fossilised resin, and this is the substance we now call Amber. The Kaliningrad region on the Baltic Coast contains the world’s largest amber reserves; more than 90 per cent of the world’s amber is located in this region.

Amber has been appreciated for its natural beauty and colour for thousands of years. Its tactile quality and variation in hues from light yellow, dark brown, green, blue and white, the latter referred to as milk amber, make it the perfect gemstone for jewellery and for use in the creation of a wide variety of decorative and functional objects including framed art, vases, paperweights, plaques, pens and elaborate clocks.

Naturally sticky, in its mobile state amber resin would sometimes entrap plant life as well as small insects. Known as inclusions, amber containing organic matter from times of antiquity often command higher prices than pieces that are clean.

The three photographs above are from the 2020 exhibition, Rhythms of Kaliningrad.

The Amber Room was designed and crafted by the German sculptor Andreas Schlüter and the Danish amber artisan Gottfried Wolfram in the early years of the 18^th century and completed from 1707 by Gottfried Turau and Ernst Schacht from Danzig (now Gdańsk).

Originally part of the Berlin City Palace, in 1716 the Amber Room, then considered the Eighth Wonder of the World, was gifted by the Prussian King Frederick William I to Peter the Great of the Russian Empire. It was reassembled, renovated and expanded in the summer residence of the Russian tsars, the Catherine Palace, a grand Rococo edifice approximately 30km south of St Petersburg. By the time the room was completed, it is said to have contained over six tonnes of the precious resin, amber.

Amber Room is it still in Kaliningrad? — **Hand-coloured photograph of the original Amber Room, 1932**

Following the invasion of Soviet Russia in WWII, the Amber Room was swifty removed by the Germans, taken to Prussian Königsberg and reconstructed in Königsberg Castle. In early 1944, as Königsberg braced itself for the inevitable Allied onslaught, it is alleged that the Amber Room was dismantled and its components stashed away in the castle basement.

In August 1944, Königsberg came under heavy bombardment by the Royal Air Force (RAF). A large percentage of the munitions used were incendiary by nature and in the conflagration that followed the city was all but consumed.

Extensive damage was further inflicted by Red Army artillery fire in the days and hours immediately preceding Königsberg’s capitulation on 9^th April 1945.

Photographs and ciné films taken shortly after the Soviet victory document the extent of Königsberg’s destruction. Both city and castle were gutted, and the Amber Room was never found.

Whilst the simplest and most credible explanation for the disappearance of the celebrated room is that like the rest of the castle and most of the city it had gone up in smoke, absence of hard evidence to nail this theory firmly to fact sparked a plethora of alternatives whose versions of the room’s fate live on to this day. So far, however, none of these would-be explanations have come up with the goods, and thus the Eighth Wonder of the World is currently having to bide its time as one of the world’s enduring mysteries.

It is well to remember, however, that mysteries rarely live alone; they tend to cohabitate in tormented sin, in a hotbed of rampant reveries, many of which over time turn radical or romantic. And the Amber Room is no exception.

Of course, there are conspiracy theories. It is far more palatable to indulge the notion of the Amber Room spirited away, living the life of privileged ease in some Oligarch’s chateau or other, than to accept the unthinkable thought that this irreplaceable work of art has been indifferently obliterated. Nevertheless, the official position seems to endorse this postulate.

This is because once Königsberg had fallen, Soviet soldiers were dispatched post-haste to investigate the castle ruins for the presence of the Amber Room. It is a matter of public record that their report concluded ‘Amber Room not found’, from which intelligence it was inferred that the Amber Room had perished.

However, drawing a line under the mystery with no hard evidence to back it up was and continues to be a red flag to more bullish minds, which persist in bringing into the field of debate alternative theories, speculation and hope.

For example, eyewitness reports place the missing room’s whereabouts in at least two underwater locations: one, that it went down with the Wilhelm Gustloff, a German ship sunk by a Soviet submarine on 30 January 1945; two, that it lies in part at the bottom of the sea, put there by Soviet aircraft when they attacked and destroyed the SS Karlsruhe, a German evacuation ship that sailed from Königsberg in 1945.

Such theories, which provide the basis for the ongoing search, gained particular impetus from the 1997 discovery of one of a series of four stone mosaics, ‘Feel and Touch’, which, once an integral part of the Amber Room, turned up in the family home of a former German soldier, who claimed that he acquired the mosaic whilst helping to pack the dismantled room in crates for transportation. As far as I am aware, however, he did not recall, or did not name, the final destination for which those crates were bound.

A year later, two unrelated teams, one German and the other Lithuanian, stated publicly that they had found the Amber Room. The German team alleged that it was secreted in a silver mine; the Lithuanian team that it was immersed within a lagoon; neither were correct.

Although a detailed assessment of the evidence such as it was, as undertaken in 2004 by two British journalists, concluded that the Amber Room may not have survived the combined devastation of the 1944 air raids and subsequent shelling by Soviet artillery, which was also the official Soviet line, not everyone is convinced.

Amber Room last seen in Konigsberg — **The Amber Room in the Catherine Palace, 1917**

One of the most enticing theories, by virtue of its ongoing nature, is that the Amber Room never left Kaliningrad. This theory postulates that it is either squirreled away in one of the many tunnels that are alleged to form a labyrinth beneath the Royal Castle or is safe and secure in secret rooms beneath the bunker of Otto Lasch, the general who was tasked with the unenviable responsibility of commanding the defence of Königsberg in 1945.

Otto Lasch’s command bunker survives to this day. Known simply as the Museum Bunker, it is situated at the front of the Kaliningrad State University, a few minutes’ walk from Victory Square and likewise from Königsberg Cathedral.

From what I can gather, the theory that the last resting place of the Amber Room is but a short distance away from the place where it was last displayed, namely Königsberg Castle, is not new. It has been in circulation for years.

Indeed, in a news report published on 5 December 2022*, it was made public that surveys of the bunker of the last commandant of Königsberg, Otto Lasch, had been resumed ~ resumed meaning that the latest investigations were a continuation of those last undertaken in autumn 2009.

The 2022 resumption, which was supervised by the head of the bunker museum, as well as local historian Sergei Trifonov, used echo radar in an attempt to penetrate the voids behind the walls and the ground beneath the bunker.

“Trifonov himself said that the researchers ‘found what they were looking for’, but the press service of the museum noted that the survey report is not yet ready and will be published in the near future.”*

We wait with bated breath.

I hear tell, but don’t quote me on this, that what they found was a considerable depth of concrete, so considerable that anything that might be concealed beneath it fell outside the range and spectrum of the electronic equipment used.

Apart from being a historic treasure, and one of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring interior works of art that the world has ever known, the estimated value of the Amber Room in strictly material terms was quoted as $500 million in 2016. One presumes that in the past eight years its value has appreciated.

The decision to excavate the historic Königsberg bunker presumably rests on the presentation of sufficient credible evidence to justify the disruption and ultimately the cost of the amount of work involved. It is by no means an easy decsion to make. On the one hand, it might unearth a unique historical legacy immense in artistic and material value; on the other, a whole lot of concrete, half a dozen incumbent worms and the odd German helmet or two.

Until that decision is taken of one thing we can be sure, the search for the Amber Room goes on.

Image attributions

Amber Room 1932: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Catherine_Palace_interior_-_Amber_Room_(1).jpg
Amber Room in Catherine Palace: By Андрей Андреевич Зеест – http://igor-bon.narod.ru/index/avtokhrom/0-106, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36742083
Cardboard box empty room:
https://publicdomainvectors.org/en/free-clipart/Cardboard-box-on-a-wooden-floor-vector-illustration/20718.html
Baroque mirror:
https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/picture-frame-sticker-home-decor-vintage-gold-design-vector_20775420.htm#query=vintage%20mirror%20frame&position=5&from_view=keyword&track=ais
Spiral: https://publicdomainvectors.org/en/free-clipart/Spiral-black-and-white-image/52695.html

Reference
*In Kaliningrad, the survey of the voids of the bunker of the last commandant of Königsberg was resumed – Kaliningrad News – New Kaliningrad. Ru

Remembering Victor Ryabinin, Artist, Königsberg

On the third anniversary of Victor Ryabinin’s death

Published: 18 July 2022 ~ Remembering Victor Ryabinin, Artist, Königsberg

Photograph: Victor Ryabinin seated on the right at the far end of the table

On 30th June this year, the thought occurred to me that three years ago to this date in less than four weeks we would be deprived of one of the most significant people in our lives.

On this, the third anniversary of Victor Ryabinin’s death, I have rescued from my photo archives an image for this post that was taken in a Kaliningrad restaurant shortly after I moved to Kaliningrad in the winter of 2018.

This restaurant, situated below ground level not far from the Kaliningrad Hotel, had become a popular haunt of Victor’s and his inner circle, his coterie of friends and fellow artists, not purely for its Soviet theme, although this coalesced perfectly with Victor’s love of history, but also for the very practical and very reasonable reason that the food was affordably priced and, more importantly, it was one of those rapidly fading establishments where customers were permitted to bring their own alcohol with them.

In the intervening period between my last visit to Kaliningrad and my return in 2018, a revolution had occurred, not arguably of the magnitude and life-changing tempestuousness as that experienced in Russia in the early years of the twentieth century but nevertheless in drinking circles on the scale of one to 10 somewhere close to 11: Victor and his clan had largely renounced the drinking of vodka and taken to cognac instead.

In the last few months of Victor’s life, and our association with him, the new trend was so evidently established that whenever we would meet, I would refer to those occasions as a meeting of The Cognac Club.

Remembering Victor Ryabinin, Artist, Königsberg

Sadly, not only is Victor no longer with us, but the old haunt, the Soviet café, has also vanished from our living timeline.

For as much as it appealed to me, I am not entirely sorry that the cafe has ceased to exist. Knowing me and memories, it would have been all too tempting to return there and try to close the gap between what once was and nevermore can be. Life, as we grow older, is full of half-way houses where we hope one day we might meet again and mausoleums where if we do at least we won’t be alone, even if none of us know it.

The photograph I have used for this post was taken in the Soviet café at a time before we knew what it would eventually come to mean for us. Not every grain can be counted or heard as the sand runs down in the hour glass. Victor Ryabinin passed away a few months after this photograph was taken.

The memories you painted, all are good my friend …

Dedicated to Victor Ryabinin
Victor Ryabinin Königsberg Kaliningard
Дух Кенигсберга Виктор Рябинин
Victor Ryabinin Königsberg Artist Historian
Художник Виктор Рябинин Кёнигсберг

How to make a film based in Königsberg

The Wisdom of Filming at Nizovie Museum

Published: 29 May 2022 ~ How to make a film based in Königsberg

THE LAST DAY OF FILMING as far as we were concerned for Yury Grozmani’s Last Tango in Königsberg (a film made with the support of the Presidential Foundation for Cultural Initiatives) took place today on 26 May at Ivan Zverev’s atmospheric museum in Nizovie.

I was fighting a private battle with a decaying wisdom tooth. “You’re such a hero,” my good lady wife never said, “for ignoring your pain and going ahead with the film.”

How to make a film based in Königsberg

Arthur Eagle, the film’s production enforcer, promised that the filming wouldn’t take long. If I remember rightly, I believe he said ten minutes. Of course, he was rather economical with the truth, and we were there all day, sometimes in the sun, sometimes in the rain but mostly in the wind and cold. It was one of those days that managed to fit all four seasons into one afternoon.

Mick Hart in a Russian Film — **Mick Hart playing a role in Yury Grozmani’s film at Nizovie Museum, Kaliningrad, Russia**

My scene came first. It was done in a couple of takes; that’s professional for you! But thereafter came lots of hanging about. My wife, Olga, had agreed to take a part in the production, and unbeknown to us the scene in which she had been cast would not take place until a good while later.

Olga Hart & Inara Eagle in Russian Film 2022 — **Aleksandr Kostenko, commandant**, **with Olga Hart and Inara Eagle in Yury Grozmani’s** ***Last Tango in Königsberg***

As stated in my previous post, famous and even not so famous actors performing for the large or not so large screen are no strangers to hanging around. After a short induction it quickly becomes something of a skill, kicking your heels whilst each scene is repeated umpteen times; first filmed this way, then filmed that way, a camera angle from here, a camera angle from there, a close up followed by a closer close up; and all this without including numerous takes and retakes and the repetition of parts of scenes for homing in on and improving sound quality.

I was not too perturbed about playing the waiting game as Nizovie museum is my kind of place: an old building, imaginatively restored and with the additional bonus of being extremely full of antique and obsolete items ~ including my wisdom tooth (“And the rest!” ~ who said that?).

Mick Hart with Hanomag & actor Michail Gvozdenko — **Mick Hart with actor & Hanomag owner Michail Gvozdenko**

Olga Hart with Hanomag vintage German car — Olga Hart with Hanomag on the film set of Yury Grozmanl’s *Last Tango in Königsberg*

Another plus of waiting was that later in the day the last scene to be shot outside would feature the 1927 Cadillac, a Soviet Gaz-67 and also the Hanomag, the car that had a starring role in the film noir, Agnes, recently shown at Waldau Castle.

Soviet & German vehicles Nizovie — **Gaz-67 and Hanomag**

As the weather travelled through its yearly cycle in under six hours, Olga and I took refuge in the Hanomag, where we were able to furnish ourselves with some rather nice photographs of a vintage car so thoroughly German that I could almost feel the Gestapo breathing down my neck. In fact, it was Yury Grozmani, the writer and producer of the film, urging me to take part in a scene for which I had not been scheduled. And so it came to pass.

Coaching for this scene took place behind Mr Zverev’s car. It occurred to me that there was every possibility that this was the first time that I had stood behind a 1927 Cadillac wearing a 1940s’ trilby with a Russian gent waiting to cue me for a film sequence. Before going on he said to me, “Try to look tragic.” What else, I thought.

Mick Hart with 1927 Cadillac Kaliningrad — **Mick Hart with Ivan Zverev’s 1927 Cadillac**

The last scene of the day was filmed outside on the forecourt and upon the steps leading to the museum. A gale force wind had blown in from somewhere with a rather nasty edge to it, but it was worth getting your wisdom tooth cold for just to see the combination of all three vehicles in close proximity and in the conjoining presence of uniformed Soviet actors.

There are still quite a few scenes left to be shot before the film is in the can, but my bit is complete. My next act, which will take considerably more skill to master, is trying to look brave at the dentists!

*The film is made with the support of the Presidential Foundation for Cultural Initiatives

A Film Set in Königsberg During World War Two

Filming Last Tango in Königsberg

Published: 9 April 2022 ~ A Film Set in Königsberg During World War Two

In two earlier posts ~ ‘Königsberg in WWII Nazi Spies and a 1927 Cadillac’ and ‘1927 Bootleggers’ Cadillac is the Star in Kaliningrad Film’ ~ I wrote about Last Tango in Königsberg, a film conceived by author, journalist and historian Yury Grozmani, who also wrote the script and screenplay.

Obviously attuned to my star quality and having absolutely nothing to do with the 1940s’ period pieces that make perfect props for a film of this era, which we brought with us when we moved from England, Yury offered me an interesting part within his historical drama. I outlined the role in my previous posts along with the film itself.

A film set in Königsberg during World War Two

On Thursday 24 February 2022, the film crew assembled at our home to assess the potential sets where three scenes would be filmed and to undertake various technical tests with regard to the lighting and laying of cables.

I must say that the arrival of the production team was exciting, rolling up as they did in three or four vehicles and a large TV van …“

As today was the precursor to actual filming, our involvement was minimal. We arranged furniture, fetched props and assisted when required, but our main contribution was keeping out of the way.

Filming was due to take place on the 27 February, which gave me three days to polish up my lines.

I would like to gild the lily by saying that come the day not only was I word perfect but also as cool as an agorochek, but let’s not be BBC about this. The truth is that I had been rehearsing my two scenes, five minutes of script, for weeks but was still tripping myself up and was nowhere near not as nervous as I pretended to be.

Before my debut on the silver screen, consisting of two scenes both of which would be filmed in the attic, another scene had first to be filmed downstairs.

They say that film and TV work involves lots of waiting and hanging around. Doesn’t it just! It also requires the ability to keep quiet whilst filming is in progress (or during ‘takes’, as we creative types like to say). Hyped up and killing time, this was no mean feat, especially when Arthur Eagle, the show’s enabler, came barging into the dining room looking all hot and flustered. Apparently, moments before, the female star of the show had changed her costume in front of him. Said Arthur, bashfully: “I didn’t know where to look!” Which was a pity, because if I had been there, I could have advised him.

A film set in Königsberg during World War Two

Numerous cups of tea and mental line-rehearsing later and at last we were ready to do it. But it didn’t just happen. Five minutes of filming required so many different ‘takes’ ~ camera angles, close ups, minor scene alterations and object cutaways ~ that by the time we had finished any illusions of glamour that I may have entertained about work in the film and TV industry had vanished, leaving in their place an honest sense of relief that I had not embarked on an acting career.

Whilst relatively pleased with my performance, I think my most convincing role came later when the completed scenes were ‘in the can’, whereupon I played the part of a person who opens a bottle of vodka to toast a job well done!

A Film Set in Königsberg During World War Two

Musing later on the day’s events and my role in the forthcoming film, it struck me that Yury Grozmani was not only to be congratulated on his multiple creativities but also admired for his plain-speaking honesty. Asked in Baltic Plus radio’s studio last week why he had chosen me for a part in his film, Yury replied that he wanted someone who was distinguished-looking, noble, intelligent, resourceful and who bore more than a passing resemblance to Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas.

The obvious answer to this is, apart from the old Specsavers’ joke, that when he couldn’t find that person, he turned to me instead. But I remain undaunted. As I said on Baltic Plus radio, I consider this film to be the first step on the ladder to stardom. No sooner will Moscow film producers get a load of my performance than my phone will never stop ringing: “Our advice to you is don’t give up your day job, unless you’d like to audition for sweeping the studio floors …”

Ahh, fame, it’s difficult to live with, but I suppose that I’ll get used to it.

1927 Bootleggers’ Cadillac is the Star in Kaliningrad Film

1927 Bootleggers’ Cadillac stars in Last Tango in Kaliningrad

Published: 22 February 2022 ~ 1927 Bootleggers’ Cadillac is the Star in Kaliningrad Film

A couple of days ago I wrote a post in which I recounted a recent interview about a forthcoming film in which I play the part of a wartime MI6 officer. Within that post I practised humility by confessing that the only reason I was interviewed and not the star of the film was because cars can’t talk, and even if it could we would have never got it up the steps and into the studio of Baltic Plus radio.

The star of the film Last Tango in Konigsberg, conceived and written by journalist, author, historian and screenplay writer Yury Grozmani, is a 1927 Cadillac.

Apparently, this particular model was designed for use as an ambulance, but the elongated, tall and rectangular shape of the body made it highly suitable for servicing hotels, representational functions in embassies and consulates and the final ride to the graveyard.

The current owner of the vehicle, a Mr Ivan Zverev, is a well-known collector. In addition to the Cadillac, he owns an excellent collection of household items from the German era and the Soviet period and is the founder and creator of the historical museum in the village of Nizovie, Guryevsky district, Kaliningrad Oblast.

According to Mr Zverev, bootleggers used the Cadillac to transport illegal alcoholic beverages during the prohibition era in the United States, which possibly explains the presence of several bullet holes in the cabin and the body of the vehicle.

I have it on good authority that the bootleggers had just such a car in Billy Wilder’s famous film, Some Like it Hot.

Technical spec
Make: Cadillac
Series: 314 (One of the ‘Superlux’ models)
Manufacture: Cadillac Motor Car Co, Michigan, USA
Date of manufacture: 31 December 1927
Engine configuration: V8
Engine size: 5173cc
Engine power: 80hp

1927 Bootleggers’ Cadillac — **Ivan Zverev at the wheel of his 1927 Cadillac**

Photographs reproduced by kind permission of Yury Grozmani

Königsberg in WWII Nazi Spies and a 1927 Cadillac

Last Tango in Königsberg, a film by Yury Grozmani

Published: 19 February 2022 ~ Königsberg in WWII Nazi Spies and a 1927 Cadillac

On the evening of 15^th February 2022, my good lady wife posted this droll comment on her Facebook page: “Michael Hart, who stars as Mick Donovan, а senior MI6 officer in a thrilling new film based in war-torn Königsberg, was given his first exclusive radio interview this morning at the Kaliningrad radio station Baltic Plus. Book early for autographs … “

And why not, indeed?

Possibly because I am not the main protagonist. The real star of this short film, which is being produced in Kaliningrad with the support of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives, is a 1927 V-8 Cadillac.

Königsberg in WWII Nazi Spies and a 1927 Cadillac

The film chronicles the extraordinary history of this vehicle, which is captured along with Königsberg and the East Prussian region a few hours after Königsberg falls to the Soviet army on 9 April 1945.

The Cadillac, which is discovered by an officer and two soldiers of the Soviet Army, has survived the Battle of Königsberg miraculously intact inside the garage of the bombed-out Consulate of the Argentine Republic.

The Soviet officer offers the car to the first Soviet Commandant of Königsberg, Mikhail Vasilyevich Smirnov, believing that he would be proud to use it as his personal limousine. It turns out, however, that the commandant is less than impressed. He takes one look at the war trophy and exclaims, “A car with wooden spokes! It belongs in a museum!”

The narrative then winds back to the 25 May 1943 to the offices of Britain’s S.I.S. (Secret Intelligence Service), better known as MI6, and the story proceeds from here to depict the part that the Cadillac played in a covert operation to create a rift between Nazi Germany and the Argentine government.

At the end of the film, it is disclosed that in April 1945, the Cadillac, together with any other possessions from the former Argentine Consulate General in Königsberg that survived the storming of Königsberg, was taken to Moscow.

In the autumn of 1946, as a friendly gesture by the Soviet Union to Argentina, some of the property of the former Argentine Consulate, including the Cadillac, was transferred to the Argentine Embassy in Amsterdam.

The Argentine Embassy sold the vehicle to a hotelier, who used it to transport customers, along with their baggage, back and forth from his hotel.

Later, the Cadillac became a museum piece, before passing into the hands of a private collector, where it remained for a quarter of a century.

In 2011, the Cadillac was sold to Mr Ivan Afanasyevich Zverev, a private collector from Kaliningrad, who brought the car back to the city where 70 years ago it had added a dash of style and class to events of intrigue and danger.

Mick hart at Baltic Radio Kaliningrad to discuss Königsberg in WWII Nazi Spies and a 1927 Cadillac

Our appointment at the radio station, Baltic Plus, today to discuss the film in which this car stars, The Last Tango in Königsberg, was an early-morning affair. We had to be dressed, motivated and on parade by 8am sharp. I have never had a problem with early mornings, except for falling to sleep at night before they happen, so when we arrived at the radio station by taxi, which is located quite a way from us across the other side of town, I was shell-shocked, bleary eyed and very nearly awake.

To be interviewed live on radio was a first for me, so whilst I was not yet among the living, the adrenaline had started to kick in. It was a double-edged sword, however, for I felt tired and inspired, excited and nervous.

Königsberg in WWII Nazi Spies and a 1927 Cadillac

We made it to the radio station in good time where we rendezvoused with Arthur Eagle (I have used the English translation of his name, because I like it!) and Yury Grozmani.

Arthur is now officially the President of the Kaliningrad Retro Car Club. He is an indispensable fellow. He wears a lot of hats, such as organiser, arranger, enforcer and promoter, sometimes all at once! He also does a great deal of the necessary ‘leg work’, upon which any club or organisation depends.

Yury, who is past President of the Kaliningrad Retro Car Club, continues, nevertheless, to play a large part in the club’s activities. He is a journalist, author and local historian, who can now add script and screenplay writer to his many professional accomplishments, since the film in which the Cadillac stars, Last Tango in Königsberg, was conceived, planned and written by him.

In addition to my two colleagues, my wife, Olga, was also present, dragooned into the fray to act as my translator. As with all radio interviews, we were working to a strict schedule, so my level of spoken Russian, although I am a good student who studies every day, would not, on this occasion, fit the bill.

Königsberg in WWII Nazi Spies and a 1927 Cadillac. Mick Hart, Olga Hart & Yury Grozmani

After some preliminary paperwork and pacing up and down, we were on! We filed into the studio, a small room, and took our respective seats around the table. The situation brought back best-buried memories of university seminars. The old, but not forgotten, intimidation spectre that had stalked me down the years, now, as I took my place in front of what resembled a hedgehog on a pole, which I presumed must be a microphone, jumped back into my apprehension and made itself at home.

As I sat there, trying to repackage myself as someone calm and collected, it occurred to me that there were actually people who loved this sort of thing. In fact, they thrive on it. Whilst I could never be one of them, I suspected that Yury might be. He is such a good wordsmith, a natural speaker, so much so in fact that it is virtually impossible to imagine him doing anything, such as having a shave or riding his vintage bike, without if not actually making a speech at least privately rehearsing one.

It did not surprise me, therefore, that no sooner had the radio presenter counted down the final seconds and stuck his thumb in the air, meaning that we were ‘on the air’, than Yury was away like a greyhound out of the traps.

He spoke at length, which is not unusual, and this gave me time to compose myself. If speech-making or addressing an audience is not your bag, it is never the easiest thing to do; but it is even more difficult when a translator is involved, because of the unnatural pauses that occur in the periodic hand-over from one speaker to another. True, these small intervals can enable you to collect your thoughts, but they can also help you to lose your drift. This, thankfully, never happened today, and by the time Yury had finished expatiating on the concept of the film and the source of his motivation, I was ready to do my bit.

I was not altogether sure whether I should be looking at the interviewer when he asked a question or straight into the mini camera glaring at me from above and behind the large hairy microphone. So, I hedged my bets and did a bit of both. The radio broadcast was live, with, presumably, the videoed version transmitted via the station’s website.

The questions put to me were not at all difficult to answer. I was asked what it was that attracted me to the project and was able to contextualise my answer within my obsession for history in general and specifically my interest in the 1940s’ period, as illustrated by the UK vintage emporium which my wife and I once owned and ran, where we specialised in 1930s’~40s’ clothing, both civilian and military, along with furniture from that era, military accessories, deactivated weapons and other vintage commodities. I explained that our involvement in this field also took us into the living history world of large and small 1940s’ events staged each year throughout the UK. Result: fascination with the 1940s’ era.

I was also asked whether or not I had any acting experience, and answered truthfully, not a lot, but that my wife was constantly telling me that my whole life was a drama.

There was enough time to delineate my role in the film and to mention how Yury Grozmani and I had met, which came about when he interviewed me in autumn 2019 for an article in his magazine. He was curious to know ‘why an Englishman had come to live in Kaliningrad?’

For a first-time radio interview, I think we did quite well. Mind you, there was a collective sigh of relief when it was all over!

With that out of the way, all that we have to worry about now is making the actual film!😊

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A Flm Set in Königsberg During WWII
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Posts relating to Königsberg

The Terrible Doubt of Weeping Flowers ~ Victor Ryabinin
A Trip to Fort Dönhoff
New Book Vintage Cars of Königsberg

The Terrible Doubt of Weeping Flowers Victor Ryabinin

“Whenever sad, draw a flower” ~ Victor Ryabinin

Published: 6 January 2022 ~ The Terrible Doubt of Weeping Flowers Victor Ryabinin

The Terrible Doubt of Appearances or the Terrible Doubt of Weeping Flowers? ‘Whenever sad, draw a flower’, Victor Ryabinin wrote. If only he was here to show us how

***

Recently, a friend of Victor Ryabinin’s visited the flat where he used to live, she wrote:

“Yesterday we were at V. Ryabinin’s house. I looked at his diaries — amazing documents of the life of not one person, but of a country. Today I read poetry on one of the pages [of his diary] , and my heart sinks.”

It would appear that Victor had found the words he needed to express his own thoughts and feelings in a poem by the American poet Walt Whitman, Of the Terrible Doubt of Appearances.

The following extract, translated into Russian by Victor, appeared in his diary:

Of the terrible doubt of appearances,
Of the uncertainty after all, that we may be deluded,
That may-be reliance and hope are but speculations after all,
That may-be identity beyond the grave is a beautiful fable only,
May-be the things I perceive, the animals, plants, men, hills,
shining and flowing waters,
The skies of day and night, colors, densities, forms, may-be these
are (as doubtless they are) only apparitions, and the real
something has yet to be known,
(How often they dart out of themselves as if to confound me and
mock me!
How often I think neither I know, nor any man knows, aught of
them,)

My wife, Olga, wrote on her Facebook page on the same day as she read the above:

“Whether we have it all or we have nothing, we are all faced with the same obstacles: sadness, loss, illness, dying and death. It has always been the same. My friend Victor Ryabinin, who was not only a great artist but a great philosopher, invented a simple cure for depression. His motto was: “Whenever sad, draw a flower”.

The Terrible Doubt of Weeping Flowers ~ Victor Ryabinin

The photographs below are of the building where Victor lived and some of his stored artwork. They are reproduced here with the kind permission of Valentina Pokladova, who wrote:

“The shrubbery along the fence seems to remember the owner and sheds pearly tears …”

Click here for details of an exhibition of Victor Ryabinin’s work.

Building where Victor Ryabinin lived under repair 2021

Building where Victor Ryabinin lived under scaffolding 2021

The Terrible Doubt of Weeping Flowers Victor Ryabinin

“The shrubbery along the fence seems to remember the owner and sheds pearly tears …”

Victor Ryabinin Art Exhibition Kaliningrad opens December 2021

An Artist who Can Hear Angels Speak

Published: 21 December 2021 ~ Victor Ryabinin Art Exhibition Kaliningrad opens December 2021

An art exhibition devoted to the works of our late friend Victor Ryabinin opens at The Kaliningrad Regional Museum of History and Arts on 23 December 2021. The exhibition will run until 31 December 2022.

He [Victor Ryabinin] was a breath of fresh air in my understanding of art. He was so alive in comparison with many of the other teachers. He ignited our imagination. He was not backward in pointing out our mistakes, but he inspired! And he took a sincere interest in our artistic development, which extended beyond the classroom.
Stanislav Konovalov, friend & art student of Victor Ryabinin

Details of Victor, the man and artist, can be found by accessing the links below:

Victor Ryabinin Königsberg Artist-Historian
Художник Виктор Рябинин Кёнигсберг
Victor Ryabinin Königsberg Kaliningrad
Дух Кенигсберга Виктор Рябинин
Victor Ryabinin the Artist Born in Königsberg
Stanislav Konovalov ~ student and friend of Victor Ryabinin

“When I wrote the draft to {Victor Ryabinin’s biographical essay}, I wrote that I believe there is no equal to him in Kaliningrad — I still believe he has no equal.”
Boris Nisnevich, author

Victor Ryabinin Art Exhibition Kaliningrad

The Kaliningrad Regional Museum of History and Arts is located close to the bank of Kaliningrad’s Lower Pond.

Originally Königsberg’s city hall (Stadthalle) and also a performing arts centre, the impressive, multi-roomed building was constructed in 1912 by the Berlin architect Richard Zeil.

In its pre-war glory days, the Stadhalle boasted three concert halls, a restaurant and a well-appointed garden cafe that looked out over the castle pond, Schlossteich.

As with most of Königsberg, the building suffered extensive damage during the Allied bombing raid that took place on 26 August 1944. It took five years to restore the building, from 1981 to 1986.

The museum has five halls, each one devoted to a different theme: Nature, Archaeology, Regional History, War Room & the Post-war History of the Region.

Essential details:

The Kaliningrad Regional Museum of History and Arts
236016, Kaliningrad, St. Clinical, 21

Tel: 8 (4012) 994-900; 8 (911) 868-31-76

Email: koihm@westrussia.org (director’s reception)

Website: https://westrussia.org/

Opening times
10am to 6pm Monday ~ Sunday
(Note cash desk open until 5pm)

Victor Ryabinin at one with Königsberg

Victor Ryabinin, artist, Königsberg
17 December 1946 ~ 18 July 2019

Why Victor Ryabinin will never leave Königsberg

Victor Ryabinin, a word with him after his death:
Thoughts on the second anniversary of Victor’s death
It is two years now, by our understanding of time, since Victor stepped out of time, but hardly a day goes by when we do not mention him. Since his death, Victor has become the benchmark by which we judge both the architectural and cultural developments in Kaliningrad and its region.

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To coincide with what would have been Victor Ryabinin’s 75^th birthday, a book has been published which celebrates and commemorates his life and work. Conceived, supervised and edited by Kaliningrad artist Marina Simkina, daughter of the famous Russian poet Sam Simkin, and Boris Nisnevich, author and journalist, this fascinating book contains personal memories of Victor Ryabinin and critical acclaim of his work and career from 28 of his friends and colleagues.

More information about the book can be found by following this link [Victor Ryabinin the Artist Born in Königsberg], which will take you to the permanent pages on this blog under the category Victor Ryabinin Königsberg.

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The following articles relating to Victor, his life and his art, also appear in this category:

Victor Ryabinin the Spirit of Königsberg
Oдин из самых замечательных людей, которых я когда-либо встречал
I first met Victor Ryabinin in the spring of 2001. A friend of my wife’s, knowing how much my wife liked art and how fascinated I was with anything to do with the past, suggested that we meet this ‘very interesting’ man, who was an artist and a historian.

An artist who can hear angels speak
Художник, у которого ангелы говорят
Kaliningrad author and journalist, Boris Nisnevich’s essay on the haunting influence that Königsberg’s ruins had on Victor Ryabinin’s philosophy and art: “When I wrote the draft to this article, I wrote that I believe there is no equal to him in Kaliningrad — I still believe he has no equal.” ~ Boris Nisnevich

In Memory of Victor Ryabinin
This article was published in memoriam on the first anniversary of Victor’s death. Victor died on 18 July 2019.

Personal Tour Guide Kaliningrad
Stanislav Konovalov (Stas) was a student and close friend of Victor Ryabinin. In the months following Victor’s death Stas supervised and worked on the emotionally and physically difficult task of dismantling, packing, transporting and storing the many and various Königsberg artefacts, artworks and assorted relics that once adorned and constituted The Studio ~ Victor’s atmospheric art studio and celebrated reception room. Stas took detailed photographs and measurements of the room in the hope one day that it could be reconstructed as part of a permanent exhibition to Victor and his work. Sadly, Stas himself passed away in November 2020. We live in hope that someone will continue the work that his untimely demise left unfinished. This is Stas’ story.

Victor Ryabinin’s Headstone Königsberg Kaliningrad

Victor Ryabinin’s Headstone Königsberg
After quite a hiatus Victor’s grave was finally bestowed with a headstone befitting the man and the artist. It shows Victor sitting on a stool in his art studio. He is leaning nonchalantly in his chair, relaxed, unassuming, in tune with himself, his life and the world around him. His right arm is resting on one of his art-historian creations, his left arm cradling the base. The artwork is an assemblage, a composition of assorted Königsberg relics assembled icon-like within a frame …

Victor Ryabinin a word with him after his Death

Published: 18 July 2021 ~ Victor Ryabinin a word with him after his Death

On the second anniversary of Victor Ryabinin’s death, I recall Victor saying of himself, “I suppose you could call me a cheerful pessimist.” His ironic self-assessment led me to the conclusion that if he could call himself a cheerful pessimist, I could call myself (amongst other things!) a pragmatic Romanticist.

My wife, Olga, however, is an explorer of and believer in esoteric, spiritual and metaphysical doctrines. Thus, it was no contraindication of our normality that just before falling asleep one night Olga should embark upon an epilogue that adumbrated her philosophic convictions that human kind, the world as we perceive it and the universe of which we are a part operate as an omnipotent mechanism, a machine of Art Nouveau amalgamation melding and interconnecting all of nature’s components, giving them purpose and place within a grand and mysterious scheme that starts before life and does not end with death.

I prefer to count sheep myself, or beer bottles, but that’s pragmatic Romanticism for you.

Olga believes that if you want something and that you visualise that something with devout conviction you can shape your own reality. It is simply another way of saying, “Life is what you make it”, or in Hollywood speak, “Dreams really can come true”.

On this particular occasion, however, she was not talking about her extreme good fortune of having met and married me, but about her increasing interest in and love for Königsberg-Kaliningrad, which has received inspirational impetus from her recent discovery of the architectural splendours of Komsomolskaya street, the street on which the Home for Veterans is situated, a street which has more than its fair share of late 19^th century early 20^th century buildings, built, embellished, thankfully preserved and carefully restored, in the grand style. She was so entranced by her May-time visit to this street that she wrote about it on her Facebook page:

Olga Korosteleva-Hart [Facebook]

Shared with Public

Do not underestimate the importance of the human factor! These beautiful bas-reliefs would have been destroyed if it were not for the woman in this series of pictures, whose name I sadly did not ask. She told me that building site workers tried to hammer the bas-reliefs from the walls of this 19th century house just before they began to paint the building, arguing that the symbols were Germanic and therefore were not relevant to Russians. It was only when the lady reasoned with them and wrote complaints to the city’s administration that the reliefs were restored and repainted in their original colour.

The history of the suburb of Hufen (the location of the buildings) is mentioned in the 13th century, but only in the 19th century did it begin to assume the shape that Kaliningrad’s residents see today. Queen Louise of Prussia spent her summer months in Luisenval, as this area was known in her time [early 19th century] , and this was the reason for its rapid development.

In the 19th century Hufen was divided into three parts: Forder Hufen – Far Hufen, Mittelhufen – Middle Hufen and Hinter Hufen ~ Further Hufen and was later renamed Amalienau. By this time, the urban layout of the streets had already been formed, and the wealthy owners of the villas laid a cobblestone road. In 1896, an architectural competition for the development of the Luisenallee, organised by the Eastern Bank of Konigsberg, established planning rules. The first and most important rule was to restrict the height of the buildings, the second was to adhere to half-timbered construction and the third to incorporate abundant decorative elements. The rules also spelt out several mandatory cosmetic conditions, one of which involved the addition of elegant ornamentation iconic to Gothic architecture or associated with national romantic symbols.

I would like to thank the lovely lady who managed to save these evocative ancient pagan symbols from modern barbarism. If we all cared about our environment and our shared history regardless of nationality as she does, life would be so much more beautiful!

And, note this:

“I love my city! Vibrant, busy and green!”

Victor Ryabinin, a word with him after his death

She told me that whilst she was walking along this street, she realised just how much she loved Kaliningrad. She said that she sees its imperfections less and less and that, like Victor, she is always discovering and learning something new.

She thought how pleased Victor would have been to have known how much Kaliningrad and its Königsberg heritage meant to her, and, as she was thinking this, Victor appeared to her.

She said, I spoke to him. I asked what he was doing now, and he replied that I am still learning; I am just in another realm.

She connected these mutual feelings about Kaliningrad to her ‘life is what you want it to be’ philosophy. Some people, she infers, can see the good in Kaliningrad, others cannot or will not. But, she believes, that if you see and feel Kaliningrad-Königsberg in a positive light, the city will reward you.

She proceeded to remind me of a day we spent with Victor. We were walking past an old, partly burnt-out Königsberg building. When we brought this building to Victor’s attention, he chuckled. He told us that years ago it used to be a police station. He must have been rather drunk one night, because having been arrested on the streets of Kaliningrad he had the pleasure of spending the night in the cells of this building. When they released him, he cursed the place and wished it would burn down. Shortly afterwards, it did.

From which we had to conclude that our kind, inoffensive and easy-going friend was something of a subliminal pyromaniac. Still, I never had a problem when we visited him in his studio in getting a light for my cigar.

But it was not the mysterious elements of these two stories that had prompted Olga to recall this day. It was Victor’s enthusiasm for a number of old buildings along the street where the burnt-out police station stood.

“I could not understand how Victor could be so excited by these buildings and by the spaces occupied by new buildings where old buildings used to be. I just did not get it,” said Olga. “But now I understand.”

The Mystical Nature of Victor Ryabinin

She alluded to the mystical qualities inherent in this city, referring to the symbolism expressed in the many bas-reliefs and in the other forms of ancient decoration, concluding that in days gone by, and not so long ago, people were more attuned to the other dimension, the world beyond our material existence. It was this intuitiveness that endowed people with a sense of belonging, belonging to the world and the universe. It imparted knowledge of the ‘otherness’ and the place that mortals occupy within its schema. It gave people a deeper insight into and understanding of the mystical, all of which is now threatened by an overt and misappropriated emphasis instilled and prosecuted by the globalists for the sake of their ‘Me, Myself, I’ culture, at the centre of which is alienating technology and the drive to reduce us all to nothing more than consumer clones. And I am sure that within this context coronavirus and its divisive objective also got a mention.

I thought for a moment, and then said, “There was certainly something mystical about Victor.”

“We were perceptive to this,” she emphasised. “This is why we enjoyed Victor’s company, because we were on the same wavelength. Victor was unique in many ways. He was non-judgemental; he accepted people for what they were, and he accepted situations; I do not remember him being really negative about anything or anyone.”

It is two years now, by our understanding of time, since Victor stepped out of time, but hardly a day goes by when we do not mention him. Since his death, Victor has become the benchmark by which we judge both the architectural and cultural developments in this region. Whenever we observe something new, such as the restoration of an old building or the construction of a new one, one or other of us will ask, “I wonder if Victor would have approved of this?” or will categorically state, “Victor would have loved this!” or “Victor would not have liked this!” whatever the case may be.

On 20 May 2021, Olga learnt that the green light had been given for Kaliningrad to invest in and organise the Kant celebration, which is scheduled to take place on the anniversary of the birth of Immanuel Kant, the German philosopher, in 2024.

As a boy who grew up in the ruins of Konigsberg and for whom this city and its history was his first love and his life’s work, the prospect of the Kant celebration was something that was very dear to Victor’s heart and something he had been looking forward to experiencing. Said Olga, on hearing the news that the Kant celebration was to go head: “Victor would have been so proud!”

We, too, are proud, to have been blessed with the friendship of Victor Ryabinin.

Postscript:

On the first anniversary of Victor Ryabinin’s death, our friend Stas (Stanislav Konovalov), student and friend of Victor Ryabinin, drove us to Victor’s graveside to pay our respects. Afterwards, we stopped in Kaliningrad and went for a short walk along the top of the ramparts and defensive banks next to the King’s Gate. Stas died in November 2020.

In memory of a good friendship too short-lived.

Links to posts relating to Victor Ryabinin in chronological order:

1. Victor Ryabinin Königsberg Kaliningrad
2. Дух Кенигсберга Виктор Рябинин
3. Victor Ryabinin Königsberg Artist-Historian
4. Художник Виктор Рябинин Кёнигсберг
5. In Memory of Victor Ryabinin (first anniversary of Victor’s death)
6. Personal Tour Guide Kaliningrad (in memory of Victor’s student & friend, Stanislav Konovalov)
7. Victor Ryabinin’s Headstone Königsberg
8. Victor Ryabinin the Artist Born in Königsberg (Commemorative book by Marina Simkina & Boris Nisnevich: an anthology by friends and colleagues)