The Emergence of a Regional Identity in the Kaliningrad Oblast

Contributing empirical evidence in a rather neglected research field, this article examines the emergence of a regional identity in the Russian Kaliningrad oblast since Soviet times by analysing the composition and the views of the population, official symbols, place names, architecture, history-writing as well as economic and political strivings. It is concluded that the region has developed from a militarized, closed anonymous part of the Soviet Russian empire into an exclave separated from Russia, still Russian by nationality but more open and Western than the country at large. The inhabitants are coming to terms with the region's German past and realize that they have specific political and economic interests. This emerging regional identity has so far been compatible with a wider Russian identity. But if the economic situation in the region continues to worsen in comparison with the surrounding states, and the federal centre in Moscow cannot support the region, calls for more autonomy and even separatism may grow.