The new study on Kaliningrad oblast history (rev.: Kostyashov Ju. V. The secret history of the Kaliningrad oblast: essays of 1945-1956. Kaliningrad, 2009. - 352 p.)

In the context of modern Russian historical research of postwar USSR, the article analyses the monograph by Yu.V. Kostyashov “The Secret history of the Kaliningrad oblast: Essays of 1945–1956” (Kaliningrad, 2009). It is noted that the monograph is based on documents from former secret funds of the federal and oblast archives. Yu. Kostyashov makes a clear detailed analysis of the most concrete problems in the postwar history of the Kaliningrad (Kenigsberg) oblast (part of Eastern Prussia, former German territory). Topics include the deportation of German population, the settlement of the oblast with the Russians, the creation and activity of the oblast government bodies, the formation of the local CPSU and Soviet officialdom, economic hardship, and the ideological work of local CPSU apparatus.