JelgavaJelgava (jælɡava; Mitau, ˈmiːtaʊ̯; see also other names) is a state city in central Latvia about southwest of Riga. It is the largest town in the region of Zemgale (Semigalia). Jelgava was the capital of the united Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (1578–1795) and the administrative center of the Courland Governorate (1795–1918). Jelgava is situated on a fertile plain rising only above mean sea level on the right bank of the river Lielupe. At high water the plain and sometimes the town as well can be flooded.
GomelGomel or Homiel (Гомель, ˈɡomjɪlj, ˈɣomjelj) is a city in Belarus. It serves as the administrative centre of Gomel Region and Gomel District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2023, it is the second-largest city in Belarus with 501,802 inhabitants. There are at least six narratives of the origin of the city's name. The most plausible is that the name is derived from the name of the stream Homeyuk, which flowed into the river Sozh near the foot of the hill where the first settlement was founded.
KielKiel (kiːl) is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland peninsula on the southwestern shore of the Baltic Sea, Kiel has become one of Germany's major maritime centres, known for a variety of international sailing events, including the annual Kiel Week, which is the biggest sailing event in the world.
Curonian SpitThe Curonian (Courish) Spit (Kuršių nerija; Ку́ршская коса́; Kurische Nehrung; Kuršu kāpas) is a long, thin, curved sand-dune spit that separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. Its southern portion lies within Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, and its northern within southwestern Klaipėda County, Lithuania. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site shared by Lithuania and Russia. The Curonian Spit stretches from the Sambia Peninsula on the south to its northern tip next to a narrow strait, across which is the port city of Klaipėda on the mainland of Lithuania.
GvardeyskGvardeysk (Гварде́йск), known prior to 1946 by its German name Tapiau () (Tepliava; Tapiawa/Tapiewo), is a town and the administrative center of Gvardeysky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Pregolya River east of Kaliningrad. Population figures: It is located within the historic region of Sambia. Peter of Dusburg wrote of a settlement known as Tapiow, first documented in 1254, and the neighboring fort Surgurbi built by 1265.
ZelenogradskZelenogradsk (; Cranz; Lithuanian and Old Prussian: Krantas) is a town and the administrative center of Zelenogradsky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located north of Kaliningrad, on the Sambian coastline near the Curonian Spit on the Baltic Sea. Population: In its heyday, Zelenogradsk (as Cranz) was a popular seaside resort on Germany's eastern Baltic coast, comparable to Bognor Regis in England. However, at the end of World War II, the Soviets took over the town, and much of its tourist traffic has been diverted to nearby Svetlogorsk.
Katyn massacreThe Katyn massacre was a series of mass executions of nearly 22,000 Polish military officers and intelligentsia prisoners of war carried out by the Soviet Union, specifically the NKVD ("People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs", the Soviet secret police) in April and May 1940. Though the killings also occurred in the Kalinin and Kharkiv prisons and elsewhere, the massacre is named after the Katyn forest, where some of the mass graves were first discovered by German Nazi forces.
ToruńToruń is a city on the Vistula River in north-central Poland and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its population was 196,935 as of December 2021. Previously, it was the capital of the Toruń Voivodeship (1975–1998) and the Pomeranian Voivodeship (1921–1945). Since 1999, Toruń has been a seat of the local government of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship and is one of its two capitals, together with Bydgoszcz. The cities and neighboring counties form the Bydgoszcz–Toruń twin city metropolitan area.
LiepājaLiepāja (liepaːja; Līepõ; Лиепая; German: Libau; Yiddish: ליבאווע Libave) is a state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest city in the Kurzeme Region and the third-largest city in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an important ice-free port. In the 19th and early 20th century, it was a favourite place for sea-bathers and travellers, with the town boasting a fine park, many pretty gardens and a theatre. Liepāja is however known throughout Latvia as "City where the wind is born", likely because of the constant sea breeze.
SambiansThe Sambians were a Prussian tribe. They inhabited the Sambia Peninsula north of the city of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad). Sambians were located in a coastal territory rich in amber and engaged in trade early on (see Amber Road). Therefore, they established contacts with foreign nations before any other Prussians. However, as all other Prussians, they were conquered by the Teutonic Knights, and, exposed to assimilation and Germanization, became extinct sometime in the 17th century.
