The Tilsit church school’s first language was German. By 1918, the effects of World War I were taking their toll, and English would become the primary language in schools.

Right behind there is Deutsche Strasse (literally: German Street) -- now called Gagarin Street -- where Czar Alexander stayed in 1807 when he visited Tilsit, as it was known then, to sign a peace ...

Wilhelm Gerke, 57, a former Gestapo inspector in Tilsit, was sentenced today to five years’ imprisonment at hard labor for complicity in the murder of 1,109 Jews and other victims in the German ...