The Ordensburg Castle Ragnit is a fortress in the town of Neman, Kaliningrad Oblast. In 1277, a Teutonic military expedition consisting of several dozen Order brothers and a thousand witings (free Prussian peasants who entered the service of the Order) approached Ragnit closely. The first assault was unsuccessful: the Prussians not only repelled the attack but also went on the offensive. They were stopped only by the precise fire of archers. The second storm was more skillful: while part of the warriors climbed the walls using ladders, the witings broke through the gates and rushed inside the fortress. The garrison was slaughtered, women and children were taken captive, goods were plundered, and Ragnit was burned down along with the surrounding villages.

Some time later, with the aim of expanding the influence of Christianity, Landmeister Meinhard von Querfurt arrived here and in 1289 founded a fortress initially called Landeshuht.

Many pages in the history of the castle are literally written in blood. In the spring of 1290, a small Order detachment went up the Memel River to see what the Lithuanians were up to. The leader Surmin spotted the "scouts" and set an ambush. The detachment was lured to the shore and killed to the last warrior. But the Lithuanians also had bad luck. Believing that the garrison was weakened after the detachment’s destruction, they tried to attack the fortress and were wiped out to the last man. In 1295, other Lithuanians attacked the fortress, captured horses and cattle, but did not break inside. In the autumn of the same year, the suburbs were destroyed.

In 1315, the Lithuanians again approached the fortress and tried to storm it. The garrison repelled the attack. The Lithuanians retreated beyond the Memel, poisoning the crops, which caused famine. The Order brothers sat without bread: flour had to be diluted with a large amount of water and cooked into a "white broth."

In 1326, the fortress was renamed back to its old name, Germanized as Ragnit. The fortress was well fortified, which allowed in 1338 to deliver a crushing blow to the Lithuanians.

In 1355, a fire broke out in the fortress. The causes remained unknown. But it was rumored to be the revenge of the Prussian pagan gods: the fire engulfed the castle premises on Christmas Eve. The fortress was rebuilt that same winter, but between Easter and Trinity it burned down again. In 1356, the fortress was rebuilt by Winrich von Kniprode, and this time a moat was dug around it. The construction of the stone Ragnit castle began after a devastating raid by a Lithuanian army led by Prince Kęstutis in 1365, during which the wooden Order fortress Ragnit was burned down. The construction was overseen by Konrad Zoellner von Rothenstein. The castle walls were built from 1399 to 1403 under the direction of Deichgraf Wolprecht of Wernersdorf. On December 1, 1403, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Konrad von Jungingen and Order brother Jørgen Bescheiden finalized the plans for the castle’s internal buildings. The overall construction of Ragnit castle was completed in 1409. There were beautiful and ornate gates, windows, portals, and wings. The fortress had an almost square shape — 59 by 58 meters, and the inner courtyard was 31 by 31 meters. Massive granite slabs were laid in the foundation, located at a depth of 5 meters. The four floors contained 11 large halls and numerous small utility rooms. Over the centuries, the above-ground and basement premises were repeatedly altered and rebuilt. There were secret underground tunnels. A 25-meter-high clock tower became part of the castle.

The stone castle was rebuilt twenty years later, two kilometers downstream from the previous location. Immediately to the west, a mill was built (its remains still survive). The project was overseen by the famous architect Nikolaus Fellenstein (who also built the fortress in Tilsit). The preparation was very extensive: before starting the castle construction, warehouses, workshops, and living quarters for masons, carpenters, and other specialists were set up. Craftsmen were invited from many cities. The Order employed over a thousand people for auxiliary work, and baptized Prussians living in the area engaged in transport for good money.

Bricks were produced on site, boards came from Königsberg, wood from forests east of Ragnit, lime and nails were delivered from Danzig. In addition, the old fortress was dismantled for building materials.

The Order spared no expense on food for the builders: beer was brewed here, and thousands of rounds of cheese were brought from Königsberg. Blood was also shed: there is a legend that several Prussians were killed during the foundation laying, whose bodies, according to the customs of the time, "were to strengthen the castle’s foundation."

The walls of the main building were erected by March 1402. Their thickness reached three meters (so the window niches were spacious enough to place a table and four chairs). In 1403, the Order brothers already moved into the new castle and began its arrangement.

A dam was built along the stream by the castle, and a moat up to 4 meters deep was dug in front of it — thus forming a mill pond (now a lake in the center of Neman, which has become shallow and polluted).

A temporary danzker (toilet) was built in the castle. The walls in one of the rooms of the western wing were painted with coats of arms. A foreburg was built, a defensive passage was laid along the walls, and a tower was erected... The castle was well equipped: by September 1407, it had 11 large and small artillery pieces, 18 canister guns, hundreds of crossbows, thousands of arrows... There was also an innovation: for the canister guns, which previously fired crushed stone, lead bullets were introduced.

In 1409, the castle was solemnly consecrated. But amusingly, our folk wisdom that "there is nothing more permanent than temporary" sometimes applies to the German mentality as well. The danzker in Ragnit castle remained temporary and wooden, a birdhouse attached to the northern wall facing the Memel.

In 1410, after the Order’s defeat at the Battle of Grunwald, a financial crisis occurred, and the knights had no time to improve the latrines. Ten years later, the state of the privy was so bad that the Order marshal who arrived for inspection was horrified. But no money was given to build a new danzker.

Later, the castle changed hands several times: from the Order to the Prussian Confederation and back. During the ducal period, Ragnit became the residence of the district head.

In the mid-17th century, major construction works were carried out in the castle: dilapidated structures were demolished and replaced with new ones. In particular, the defensive wall around the castle was dismantled, and the dam was abolished. In 1722, the settlement near Ragnit castle received town rights.

In 1825, the fortress was rebuilt and housed the East Prussian prison, which remained there until 1945. However, in 1829, a fire broke out, severely damaging the fortress. It was fully repaired only by 1840. From 1839, the city and district courts were located in the fortress, from 1849 — a military tribunal, and from 1879 the court returned to the fortress.

With the rise of the Hitler regime in 1933, this fortress-prison became especially in demand. Many anti-fascist prisoners spent their last years here. According to one legend, the German communist Ernst Thälmann was executed in a corner cell of the castle prison.

After World War II, the fortress suffered significant damage and was partially abandoned. The extent of the fortress’s destruction as of 1957 is documented in the photo archives of the "Institute of Architecture and Construction of Kaunas University of Technology" and the "State Archive of Kaliningrad Oblast."

On the ruins of Ragnit fortress, specialists from "Lenfilm" under the direction of director Aleksei German, during the filming of the movie "Twenty Days Without War" in 1976, blew up one of the internal walls 30 meters long, 10 meters high, and up to 2 meters thick. The episode of this barbaric, unjustified explosion in the city center, which led to further catastrophic destruction of the castle, lasted 9 seconds in the film. At the moment of the explosion, the area was cordoned off by local garrison soldiers.

The following year, the film "The Soldier and the Elephant" (USSR, Armenfilm, 1977, directed by Dmitry Kesayants, starring Frunzik Mkrtchyan) was shot on the ruins of the fortress in Neman.

In 1992, the Friendship Society "Neman-Plön" carried out repairs of the fortress’s clock tower. A staircase was made, the roof was restored, and window grilles were installed.

In 1995, the film "I am a Russian Soldier" by A. Malyukov was shot on the fortress territory. Repeating the sad tradition, explosions were carried out in the inner courtyard of the castle (which in this case represented the Brest Fortress).

In November 2010, deputies of the Kaliningrad Duma transferred the ruins of Ragnit castle (together with the land plot) to the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.

In 2019, the castle was leased by a businessman from Kaliningrad named Artyukh. Since then, with the efforts of the businessman, supported by volunteers and the administration of the Neman urban district, comprehensive work has been carried out in the castle aimed at its preservation and increasing its tourist appeal.

Governor of Kaliningrad Oblast Anton Alikhanov visited the fortress ruins in Neman in early 2022, stating: "We have now cleared Ragnit castle of years of debris, repaired the clock tower and even the tower clock. In the future, the red brick fortress shell is planned to be covered with a glass dome. It should look stylish."[6]

Ragnit Castle Knight Armor

German scientist Dr. Gerhard Scherraik kept the knight armor found before the war from Ragnit castle for many years. On June 3, 2001, in the German town of Fallingbostel, during the all-German congress of the "Tilsit-Ragnit" society, Gerhard Scherraik solemnly handed over this knight armor to Sergey Ledenev, head of the Neman district. In speeches and the deed of gift, it was stated that the armor was donated to the local history museum of the Neman district (located in the village of Ulyanovo).

But Ledenev’s turbulent political life has so far not allowed him to find time to transfer the German gift to the museum.

Archaeologist Gerhard Scherraik optimistically hopes that someday the residents of Neman and guests of the region will see the knight armor.

Sources:

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Замок_Рагнит

https://www.prussia39.ru/sight/index.php?sid=225

https://masterok.livejournal.com/5281499.html