There is one attraction in Königsberg (now Kaliningrad in the Russian Federation) - the Palmburg bridge. Rather, it was. Supports and now stick out to the sky, like a drawbridge. But this is not so. The local landmark has overgrown with numerous tales and legends. Although the bridge is not so old - the citizen of Koenigsberg, the philosopher Immanuel Kant never saw him. The two banks of the Pregol river were connected only in 1935. For ten years, cars and pedestrians traveled along it, and neither with sleep nor in spirit did they know that the bridge was a surprise. What was he like? This will be discussed in the article. And also about what a new cruel joke the bridge with people played in January 2015.
Building
In 1929, a special program was developed by the Weimar Republic , according to which the territory of Germany was to be covered by a network of autobahns. As a result, each town turned out to be included in the economic infrastructure of the country. On the other hand, thousands of workers could be involved in the construction. If you recall the story, then after the defeat in the First World War, the German economy was in decline. The unemployment rate was terrifying. Therefore, the construction of autobahns solved many problems. The program was continued even after the National Socialist Party came to power. But A. Hitler already brought a militaristic idea to the construction of the autobahns. The Palmsburg bridge was a link on the road connecting Königsberg (in East Prussia) and Elbing (now the Polish city of Elblg). Work on its construction was completed in the spring of 1935. They say that the red ribbon was cut by Adolf Hitler himself, who arrived on such an occasion in Königsberg.
Etymology
The original name of the bridge is Palmburger Brücke. It was given in honor of a nearby property. The owner of a small latifundia was a man who was passionate about growing exotic plants. There were palm trees in his greenhouse. Now there is no estate, no exotic plants. In place of the "Palm Town" stands the unremarkable village of Coastal. But the farm gave the name to the bridge. For a long time it was called Palmburg.
Berlin Bridge - so they began to call the crossing of Pregol after the end of World War II. After all, the track did not end with Elbl g. From this Polish city, the highway went straight to Berlin. And the bridge in Kaliningrad played a huge role in the fact that now we are celebrating the end of World War II in Europe in May, and not, say, in February. But more on that later.
The Secret of Palmsburg Bridge
We already mentioned that Adolf Hitler was building not just roads, but military facilities. Such was the Palmsburg bridge. Contrary to the appearance and urban legends, he was never adjustable. The design was built as a precast monolithic. Most of the pylons were located on land, as the banks of the New and Old Pregolis are very boggy. Separate fragments of the crossing were concreted directly on the bridge. Thus, the crossing can be called split and flyover, but not adjustable. The “surprise” of the bridge was that mine chambers were built into the pillars. If necessary, the explosives fired, the central element fell into the water, making it impossible both to cross the ground forces and the movement of ships along the river. But then, in 1935, the bridge was very functional. The six hundred thirty-three meter long structure had four lanes. Only two of them were restored in Soviet times.
Palmsburg (Berlin) bridge and its role in World War II
In late 1944 and early 1945, Soviet troops advanced rapidly to the west. Cities were taken one after another, and it seemed that the end of the war was near. In January, the 11th and 39th armies, under the command of Colonel General K. Galitsky and Lieutenant General I. Lyudnikov, launched an attack on Koenigsberg. By the end of the month, Soviet troops managed to completely encircle the city. The significance of the Palmsburg bridge was understood by both Russians and Nazis. Behind it stretched an even-minded motorway to Berlin. Therefore, fascist Germany tried to destroy the Palmsburg bridge, while Russia wanted to save it for the further advancement of its troops.
On the night of January 29-30, 1945, the commandant of Königsberg, Otto Lyash, made a decision. At 0 hours 36 minutes, an explosion occurred. As was planned by the engineers during the construction of the bridge, the central fragment collapsed into the water, blocking the channel of the Pregol. The offensive of the Red Army choked, the blitzkrieg did not work. Soviet troops were forced to move from the offensive to the defense, and "trod" at the gates of Konigsberg until the ninth of April 1945.
Palmsburg bridge in Kaliningrad
After the war, crossing the Pregolya sleeves was rather poorly established: logs were laid through wetlands and low plank bridges across rivers. Taking into account that the bridge was included in the bypass road around Kaliningrad, the situation became critical. Congestion always formed at the crossing, although there weren’t as many cars in those years as now.
In 1949, the blown up Palmburg bridge fell into the frames of the famous movie “Meeting on the Elbe”. An old film captures the pillars looking at the sky. In the early seventies, it was decided to restore the bridge. With sin, two of the four lanes were repaired in half. In the 1990s, they started talking about reconstructing the Berlin Bridge again. But the money allocated for this disappeared in an unknown direction, the construction stalled, never starting.
Berlin bridge today
At the beginning of the 2000s, projects for the reconstruction of the sights of Kaliningrad reappeared . But no funds were allocated to them. In 2012, the government decided to build a new bridge, not far from Palmburg. It was launched in December 2013. This structure with 22 supports and a length of 1780 meters became part of the southern ring of Kaliningrad. In 2014, the authorities decided to destroy the Palmsburg bridge. The fact that the Red Army tried to save at that price in 1945 was now subject to demolition. The townspeople were seriously worried about the death of their sights. But the cruel irony of the Palmsburg bridge was that in January 2015 it collapsed itself, crushing two workers and four more wounds to death.