Anna Alimpieva and Olga Sezneva explore the complex ways in which
German-period cultural heritage in Russia’s Kaliningrad region is
reclaimed, interpreted, and contested.
After World War II,
Königsberg became Kaliningrad. German inhabitants were replaced by
Soviet citizens, who inherited their homes along with abandoned
objects—porcelain, furniture, family keepsakes. Decades later, these
“foreign” things have re-emerged in public interest, shifting between
meanings of trophy and heritage.
Through interviews with
collectors, activists, museum workers, and residents, Anna and Olga
investigate why and how people preserve remnants of a culture that is
at once alien, appropriated, and woven into local identity. They look
at private collections and grassroots museums as acts of care,
curiosity, and sometimes quiet resistance.
“Someone Else’s
Memory” questions the ethics of preservation and ownership: Whose
stories do these objects tell—and who has the right to tell them?
