Romincka Forest
Romincka Forest (, ), also known as Krasny Les () or Rominte Heath (), is an extended forest and heath landscape stretching from the southeast of Russian Kaliningrad Oblast to the northeast of Polish Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. The palaearctic ecoregion is part of the Taiga and boreal forests biome. Etymology. The Polish and German names of the forest, like the "Rominta/Rominte" river and the settlement of "Rominty/Rominten", are derived from the Lithuanian syllable "rom", meaning calm, as the forest is in the land called Lithuania Minor. The Russian name, "Krasny Les", means "Red Forest". Geography. The total area of the  Romincka landscape is about , stretching from the Masurian Lake District in the southwest up to the border with Lithuania at Lake Vištytis in the east. The southern Polish part (about one-third of the area) comprises a protected zone known as Puszcza Romincka Landscape Park. The Krasnaya River flows through the Romincka Forest. Major settlements in the area include Krasnolesye in Kaliningrad Oblast, as well as Żytkiejmy and Gołdap in Poland. History. Part of the East Prussian historic region, the extended forests were known for its red deer populations and became a popular hunting ground of the Hohenzollern princes ruling  the Duchy of Prussia since 1525. Part of the German Empire from 1871 onwards, a vast premise in "Rominter Heide" was purchased by Emperor Wilhelm II, who had his Rominten Hunting Lodge erected here in 1891, including a chapel dedicated to Saint Hubertus. Hunt scenes were perpetuated by notable painters such as Richard Friese (1854–1918). Plundered by Russian forces in World War I, the hunting lodge and grounds upon Wilhelm's resignation in 1918 were administrated by the Free State of Prussia; Minister-President Otto Braun was a regular guest. Later on, the estates were seized by Nazi minister Hermann  Göring, whose "Reichsjägerhof Rominten" was built nearby in 1936. It also served as Göring's headquarters during the German Operation Barbarossa in 1941. The Allied Potsdam Agreement after World War II divided the region between the re-established Polish Republic and the Soviet Union. The German history of the region is documented at the East Prussian Regional Museum in Lüneburg and at the German Hunting and Fishing Museum in Munich. In recent years, hunting tourism has again become popular.