The Soviet Union declared its rights to Koenigsberg back in 1943 at the very height of the war, when it became clear to the headquarters that sooner or later, the war would still end in Berlin, and not beyond the Urals. The Allies wanted to give East Prussia to Poland after the war. However, after the Potsdam Confederation in 1945, this land still went into the hands of the USSR. Why did the Soviets need this island of Europe at all?
Once the Slavs lived on the Rhine, but over the centuries they were forced out or assimilated by the Germans. By the way, if you start to understand German surnames, it turns out that many of them come precisely from the fruit of the assimilation of the Slavs and Germans. In the 13th century, East Prussia was conquered by the Teutonic Order, becoming the main stronghold for the expansion of the German chivalry into Eastern Europe. Over the centuries, this land has changed hands. It belonged to the Germans, Russians and Poles. In the 19th century, even France managed to hold East Prussia in its hands!
If we discard all state propaganda officialdom about the "ancestral lands" of both Germany and Poland, what Russia, it turns out that all Europeans were interested in East Prussia for two main reasons. First, this land is the gateway to the Baltics from Western Europe. Königsberg, and now Kaliningrad, has been the most important ice-free port since the 10th century AD. In ancient times, it was used for trade in the Baltic and piracy.
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Both in the 20th century and today, Kaliningrad is of great strategic and economic value for all European states. There are not so many ice-free ports, and the possession of one of them strengthens the position of the owner state in the Baltic Sea. And therefore, in reality, there is nothing surprising in the fact that the Soviet Union, taking advantage of the current political situation, sought to get this region into its own hands.
As for the local ethnic Germans, all of them, with rare exceptions, were deported to Germany after 1945. This was done in order to further prevent separatist sentiments in Kaliningrad. It is also worth recalling that not only the Soviet Union, but also Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Hungary were involved in the deportations of Germans after the war. The deportation was legalized by the decision of the already mentioned Potsdam Conference of 1945, where this issue was discussed between the USSR, the USA and Great Britain.
In continuation of the topic, read about why were the Red Army soldiers forbidden to use trophy weapons.
Source: https://novate.ru/blogs/100222/62128/