Under the Teutonic Knights Heiligenstadt was built near an Old Prussian settlement. It was granted town rights in 1301.[2] It was later renamed Heiligenbeil after a holy axe used by Augustinian monks, established in the area by Grand Master Winrich von Kniprode after the Battle of Rudau, to cut down an oak tree worshiped by pagan Prussians.[11] It came under the bishopric of Warmia, then to the territory of Natangia. Since 1440, the town was a founding member of the anti-Teutonic Prussian Confederation, upon the request of which, Polish King Casimir IV Jagiellon incorporated the region and town to the Kingdom of Poland in 1454.[12] Then the Thirteen Years' War, the longest of all Polish–Teutonic wars, broke out, after which the region and town became part of Poland as a fief held by the Teutonic Knights,[13] and after 1525 held by secular Ducal Prussia. The area was home to a mixed population with several villages founded by the Poles in the 15th century.[2]
From 1701, the town was part of the Kingdom of Prussia. From 1758 to 1762 it was occupied by Russia during the Seven Years' War, then restored to Prussia, and from 1871 it was also part of Germany, within which it was located in the province of East Prussia. In the late 19th century, the inhabitants were mostly employed in farming and cattle and horse breeding.[2] The town sold sizable amounts of barley, rye and oats to Silesia, Saxony and Berlin, and flour to Gdańsk, Brunswick, Berlin and surrounding towns.[2]
During World War II, in 1944–1945, it was the location of the Heiligenbeil concentration camp, a subcamp of the Stutthof concentration camp, in which the Germans imprisoned around 1,100 Jewish women and 100 Jewish men as forced labour.[14] There were also forced labour camps for French POWs and Russians.[15] Towards the end of the war in fierce fighting between January and March 1945 the Heiligenbeil pocket fell to the Red Army. It was captured by Red Army on March 26, 1945, and was soon integrated into the Kaliningrad Oblast. It took its present name in 1946. The defending 4th Army's archives were buried in a forest near the town and found in 2004, in an area still littered with debris from the final battles.[16]
^ abcdefSłownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom XI (in Polish). Warszawa. 1890. pp. 691–692.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^"Об исчислении времени". Официальный интернет-портал правовой информации (in Russian). June 3, 2011. Retrieved January 19, 2019.
^Почта России. Информационно-вычислительный центр ОАСУ РПО. (Russian Post). Поиск объектов почтовой связи (Postal Objects Search) (in Russian)
^M. Kaemmerer (2004). Ortsnamenverzeichnis der Ortschaften jenseits von Oder u. Neiße (in German). ISBN3-7921-0368-0.
^M. Kiełczewska; Wł. Chojnacki (1946). Okręg Mazurski: mapa komunikacyjno-administracyjna wraz z niemiecko-polskim i polsko-niemieckim słownikiem nazw (Map). 1:500,000 (in Polish). Poznań.
^Gliński, Mirosław. "Podobozy i większe komanda zewnętrzne obozu Stutthof (1939–1945)". Stutthof. Zeszyty Muzeum (in Polish). 3: 178. ISSN0137-5377.
^Megargee, Geoffrey P. (2009). The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume I. Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. p. 1459. ISBN978-0-253-35328-3.
Правительство Калининградской области. Постановление №640 от 30 августа 2011 г. «Об утверждении реестра объектов административно-территориального деления Калининградской области», в ред. Постановления №877 от 21 ноября 2011 г «О внесении изменения в Постановление Правительства Калининградской области от 30 августа 2011 г. №640». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Калининградская правда" (вкладыш "Официально"), №170, 15 сентября 2011 г. (Government of Kaliningrad Oblast. Resolution #640 of August 30, 2011 On the Adoption of the Registry of the Objects of the Administrative-Territorial Divisions of Kaliningrad Oblast, as amended by the Resolution #877 of November 21, 2011 On Amending the Resolution of the Government of Kaliningrad Oblast #640 of August 30, 2011. Effective as of the day of the official publication.).
Калининградская областная Дума. Закон №395 от 15 мая 2004 г. «О наделении муниципального образования "Город Мамоново" статусом городского округа», в ред. Закона №370 от 1 июля 2009 г «О составе территорий муниципальных образований Калининградской области». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Российская газета" ("Запад России"), №115, 3 июня 2004 г. (Kaliningrad Oblast Duma. Law #395 of May 15, 2004 On Granting the Urban Okrug Status to the Municipal Formation of the "Town of Mamonovo", as amended by the Law #370 of July 1, 2009 On the Composition of the Territories of the Municipal Formations of Kaliningrad Oblast. Effective as of the day of the official publication.).