German houses in Svetlogorsk, built in the early 20th century, have survived to the present day. This is due to on April 14, 1945, German troops left Rauschen without a fight, so there was no destruction in the city. Before the war, Rauschen was the largest German resort in the Baltic, the German military especially liked to spend their holidays here.
The resort in the village of Raushen was founded in 1820. During a visit to the village in 1840, the Prussian King Frederick William IV ordered the creation of convenient descents to the sea, a City Park and other resort infrastructure. However, vacationers mostly stayed in the homes of local residents.
In 1901, the Konigsberg-Rauschen railway was built, and this gave a powerful impetus to the development of the resort. It has become a favorite vacation place for the high political and special military leadership of Germany. They built beautiful private houses for themselves, where they came for rest and treatment.
The main points of attraction for the resort public were the Kurzal (in the western district), the Balneary (in the center) and the City Park Plantage (in the eastern district). All of them have survived to the present day, although only people from the military sanatorium are accepted in the Balneary, and the Kurzal requires complete reconstruction.
Between these centers of resort life, from the beginning of the 20th century until the WWII, a large number of villas were built by wealthy Germans who came to Rauschen every year. German houses can be called a landmark of Svetlogorsk, although all of them, as in the early 20th century, are now private property.
There are quite a lot of these houses in Svetlogorsk, huge pine trees grow above them and this creates a resort atmosphere. The fences of private properties are not high, so they are clearly visible. All the houses have preserved the features of German architecture of the early 20th century.
