CULTURAL AND LEISURE ACTIVITIES IN THE KALININGRAD REGION IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1940s — 1980s

Abstract

The article analyses cultural life and leisure activities in the Kaliningrad region during the Soviet period. The concepts of “leisure”, “free time” at different times were different in contents. On the one hand, leisure was understood as time when people recharged after hard work, and on the other hand, it meant their spiritual development. On the basis of archival and published sources, as well as interviews with immigrants, the author attempts at reconstructing the idea of leisure time activities of Kaliningrad residents on the new Soviet territory. The study also analyzed the instruments of state control which were applied to this important part of human life. In particular, the measures of the state, aimed at ensuring that the majority of free time people spent centrally, are considered. Leisure time for the Kaliningrad residents in the 1940s is considered to have been primarily a way to arrange their personal life. In the 1950s and 1960s, as the general level of well-being of the population increased, there was a demand both for the diversity of the repertoire of artistic works and for the material arrangements of leisure facilities. The 1970s—1980s were a time when leisure time was clearly influenced by foreign culture, the most active interest in which was shown by young people. Here the region was characterized by the presence of more sailors who brought home elements of this culture in the form of records, tape recorders, and other household items from their overseas voyages.