Neman, Kaliningrad Oblast, Northwestern Federal District, Russia

🇷🇺 Neman, prior to 1946 known by its German name Ragnit, is a town and the administrative centre of Nemansky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located in the historic East Prussia, on the steep southern bank of the Neman River, where it forms the Russian border with the Klaipėda Region in Lithuania, and 130 km north-east of Kaliningrad, the administrative centre of the oblast.

Lithuanian community Located in the historic region of Lithuania Minor, for centuries Ragnit was an important centre of Lithuanian culture. From 1549 to 1563, famous Lithuanian writer and translator (who wrote the first book in the Lithuanian language, "Catechismusa Prasty Szadei" ("The Simple Words of Catechism") Martynas Mažvydas was priest and Archdiacon of Ragainė. While living in Ragainė he wrote "The Song of St. Ambrosy" (with a dedication in Lithuanian), translated "The Form of Baptism" from German into Lithuanian, published "The Prussian Agenda" into the prayer "Paraphrasis". One of his major works was "The Christian Songs" (Giesmės Krikščioniškos). In the 19th century, after the January Uprising when the Lithuanian language was banned from the office in all of Russian-ruled Lithuania, books in that language were printed in Ragnit and then smuggled to Russia by the Lithuanian book smugglers (knygnešiai). The first issue of the Lithuanian newspaper Auszra was published in the town in 1883. According to German data 17,500 Lithuanians lived in the Ragnit district in 1890 (32% of the population). In 2010 Lithuanians composed 2.8% of the town population, being the third largest ethnic group after Russians and Belarusians.