Po juodojo erelio skeptru

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Prūsijos Karalystė; Karinė įgula; Kareivinės; Karinis miestelis; Klaipėdos universitetas; Kingdom of Prussia; Military garrison; Barracks; Cantonment; University of Klaipeda.

ENSince the early 17th c., Klaipėda (Memel) was one of several fortresses in the Brandenburg- Prussian state that had a permanent military garrison. In the most remote north-eastern part from the Hohenzollern political centre of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, it played the role of the outpost in the region where Sweden, Russia, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and Prussia competed for dominance. Due to economic reasons, the urban population in the Brandenburg-Prussia state was exempted from forced recruitment to the army applied to other classes; however, towns had to accommodate and maintain garrisons at their own expense: they supplied the garrisons with grain, food, horses, hired hands for construction, and even with cash. In that respect, the change that took place in Klaipėda in the 30s of the 17th c., when the garrison was no longer concentrated in the castle but was accommodated in the town, was of special importance. It was only Law on Taxes, adopted on 30 May 1820, that radically reformed the order which was in force for several centuries: instead of towns, the state Treasury undertook the function of covering the expenses of the garrison accommodation in towns and their servicing costs. Since then, despite the fact that residents of Klaipėda had to pay dues for the maintenance of the troops alongside with other municipal taxes, the garrison was quartered in townspeople’s apartments, and the troops had to pay for the rent. In 1866, when after a long break Klaipėda received another permanent garrison, it was accommodated in apartment rented from townspeople and in special rental homes. In the period of 1876-1880, the greater part of the garrison - three infantry companies - were inhabited in the houses specially built for renting to the troops by a ballast transporting businessman Johann Sergies, and another company settled down in the Plantation Fort (Plantagenfort).The authorities of the city, in response to the expectations of German Military Treasury, tried to deal with the garrison accommodation task as effectively as possible. Around 1902, a decision was taken to build new barracks outside the city; nearly a century later, they were to house Klaipėda University. The barracks were built in 1904 to 1907, with Klaipėda City Magistrate having concluded a contract with the German Military Treasury. For the construction of the barracks, which cost 1,124 million Marks, the city took a loan, and the Military Treasury undertook to pay the interest. However, Klaipėda was able to pay off the loan over six or seven years, as it would annually get about 180,000 Marks for the maintenance of a battalion-sized garrison in the barracks rented by the Military Board from the Magistrate. Moreover, at the turn of the 20th c., the City of Klaipėda more than once applied to respective institutions with a request to increase the garrison stationed in it. However, it is quite understandable that the German Reichstag and the Ministry of War did not find the idea of stationing a larger garrison in Klaipėda, within 18 km from the border with the Russian Empire at the time, especially rational. The complex of barracks (architect unknown) consisted of eight buildings of neo-gothical architecture, with six having survived to date, and auxiliary structures. Two main buildings for soldier accommodation were in the southern part of the plot. Opposite the central annex protruding to the yard of the soldier accommodating buildings, neo-gothical brick toilets were built (demolished after World War II). A one-storey building with a tower, symmetrically placed between two residential buildings and slightly removed from them, housed a kitchen and canteens for non-commissioned officers and soldiers.In the buildings along Moltke (presently Herkus Mantas) Street, non-commissioned officers and lieutenants must have lived, as captains who commanded companies and battalion commander lived in the city. The eighth two storeyed building in the north-western corner of the plot (the present University bookshop and the Senate Hall) served as stables and a storehouse. The barracks complex also included a large parade ground for exercises (Exerzierplatz) in the former sands to the north from the barracks, and still further to the north, on the skirts of a forest, a firing field was formed with several shooting lanes and stands in which the battalion shooting exercise would take place. On i October 1907, the 3rd Battalion, consisting of four companies, of the 41st Infantry Regiment von Boyen (the 5th East Prussian), whose headquarters were in Tilsit at the time, moved into the barracks. The said military unit, formed in i860, could have been proud of having participated in major Germany unification wars: in the Prussian-Austrian War of 1866 and German-France War of 1870-1871. For the service in Klaipėda in the Battalion of the 41st Infantry Regiment von Boyen, diverse people in terms of their origin and culture would arrive, mainly from the northern lands of the German Empire. Among the newcomers, one or two Klaipėda residents would appear. The service would start with initial training and the ceremony of the military oath. The routine of living in the barracks consisted of two parts: in the first part of the day, military training took part, while the second part of the day was spent on different duties in the barracks. In the cold seasons, soldiers spent relatively long time in theory lectures and the exercise of shooting, marching, and responding to different situations. [...]. [From the publication]