Baltic Riviera

When President Putin wanted to meet the French and German premiers on Russian soil in July 2005, he chose the Baltic town of Svetlogorsk (above) for the encounter. Svetlogorsk is the most attractive of the coastal towns along the so-called Amber Coast of Russia’s Kaliningrad Oblast. Like everywhere in the Kaliningrad region, it is a place which comes with a hefty dose of history.

Until 1945, the town was known as Rauschen. Its popular appeal developed following the arrival of the railway from Königsberg in 1901. Rauschen was a place that cut a dash on the German spa circuit, being a favored summer watering-hole  for the German aristocracy and literati in the opening years of the 20th century. Thomas Mann spent the summer here in 1929, using the time to pen Mario and the Magician, a novella with a powerful critique of fascism.

The town’s erstwhile German name, Rauschen, admits of no easy translation, but it evokes images of rustling leaves or of waves breaking gently on the beach – both very apt for this resort community. Spared any great damage in the Second World War, Rauschen assumed a new Soviet mantle with ease, and as Svetlogorsk (literally, the city of light) it is now a preferred haunt for New Russians. Yet it has not lost its traditional charm. It is a spot where old Prussia blends imperceptibly into modern Russia. Extravagant art nouveau buildings, an old Lutheran church and monuments to Thomas Mann and other august Germans are ever present reminders of the town’s history.