Pravdinsk

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Pravdinsk (Russian: Правдинск​ (help·info); German: Friedland in Ostpreußen (help·info); Lithuanian: Romuva; Polish: Frydląd) is a town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. It is the administrative center of Pravdinsky District. Pravdinsk lies on the Lava River, approximately 30 km from Bagrationovsk. Population: 4,480 (2002 Census); 4,143 (1989 Census).

The town was founded in 1312 by the Teutonic Knights in Prussia as a ford across the river. Known then by its German name Friedland ("peaceful land"), the town became part of the Duchy of Prussia after the secularization of the Teutonic Knights in 1525. Under the ruling Hohenzollern dynasty, Friedland became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701.

On June 14, 1807, Napoleon Bonaparte won the nearby Battle of Friedland against a combined Russian-Prussian army. The town became part of the German Empire in 1871 during the Prussian-led unification of Germany.

Conquered by the Red Army during World War II, the town was transferred from Germany to the Soviet Union according to the 1945 Potsdam Conference and had its German population expelled. The town was renamed from Friedland to Pravdinsk (Pravda meaning "truth" in Russian). The Church of St. George in the town centre is now a Russian Orthodox church.

It is identified in some historical accounts^{[citation needed]} with Romuva, said to be the center of Baltic paganism. The Lithuanian name for Pravdinsk is 'Romuva', and this was most likely its name in Old Prussian as well. Whether Romuva was in fact associated with Baltic paganism is disputed, however. Some^{[citation needed]} have suggested that this belief started when early Christian chroniclers were confused by the similarity between 'Romuva' and 'Rome', and by their own unwarranted assumption that Baltic paganism should resemble Roman paganism in being focused around a particular geographical center.

Famous residents

• Moritz Heling,1522 Friedland evangelical theologian
• Hartmut Lubomierski *1943 Friedland, Datenschutzexperte

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v • d • e Cities and towns in Kaliningrad Oblast Administrative center: Kaliningrad Bagrationovsk · Baltiysk · Chernyakhovsk · Guryevsk · Gusev · Gvardeysk · Krasnoznamensk · Ladushkin · Mamonovo · Neman · Nesterov · Ozyorsk · Pionersky · Polessk · Pravdinsk · Slavsk · Sovetsk · Svetlogorsk · Svetly · Zelenogradsk

Coordinates: 54°27′N 21°01′E / 54.45°N 21.017°E / 54.45; 21.017

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