A Viking settlement existed on the site of Norkitten as early as the 9th century BC. In 1275 knights led by Konrad von Thierberg destroyed a Prussian fortification on the site of the present-day settlement of Mezhdurechye. In 1380–81 the Pfleger of Tapiau Castle (Gvardeysk) built an Order castle here.
In 1440 Franciscan monks from Wehlau (Znamensk) built the first church in Norkitten. In 1446 an inn was opened in Norkitten; in those years the settlement had seven farms. In 1466–69 the Komtur of Mohrungen, Heinrich Reuss von Plauen, handed over Norkitten Castle and its surroundings to Felix Waldmann, the commander of a unit of the Order's mercenaries. In 1469 the castle was converted into a knightly estate. After Waldmann's death the estate was owned by his widow. In May 1518 a certain von Mosel became the owner of Norkitten, and after his death in 1521 Christoph Gattenhofen, secretary to the Order's Grand Master Albrecht, who had married von Mosel's widow. The Gattenhofen family owned the estate until 1721.
In 1600 a new church was built in Norkitten, and in 1616 it acquired a tower. During the plague of 1709–10 more than half of Norkitten's inhabitants died. In 1721 the estate passed to Prince Leopold I of Dessau (1676–1747), who bought plague-ravaged Norkitten for 14,000 thalers. In 1733 he built the third church in Norkitten to replace the previous one, which had been destroyed by a hurricane. The new church was a copy of St George's Church in Dessau. In 1737 von Dessau had the castle rebuilt.
On 19 (30) August 1757, south of the village of Norkitten, the Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf took place, during which Norkitten Castle was damaged by fire.
By 1803 the castle was badly damaged, and after the Napoleonic invasion of 1807 only ruins remained. In 1785 Norkitten was the seat of a Domänenamt of the Duke of Dessau, belonging to the district of Insterburg (Chernyakhovsk). In 1786 the Norkitten brickworks (Ziegelei Norkitten) was founded, which had the status of a locality within the community of Norkitten.
By 1815 Norkitten was administratively divided into an estate and a village (community). The ferry, with one fireman and five inhabitants, and the brickworks were also separate localities at that time. The Norkitten estate was rebuilt on the old castle foundations in 1818–20. By 1822–24 the village of Norkitten ceased to be ducal property.
In 1860 Norkitten was connected to the railway and became a station on the Königsberg – Eydtkuhnen (Chernyshevskoye) line.
In the 19th century the village of Norkitten formed a rural community, and the Norkitten estate a Gutsbezirk, in the Landkreis of Insterburg (Chernyakhovsk). The Norkitten church was the parish church for the surrounding villages and estates. On 11.03.1874 the community and the Gutsbezirk of Norkitten were included in the newly established Amtsbezirk of Norkitten. Residents of Norkitten held the post of head of the Amtsbezirk in 1899–1900 (the domain leaseholder Fähser), in 1908–19 (the merchant Zimmerriemer) and from 1937 (the community head Nieswandt). On 30.09.1928 the rural communities of Norkitten (Mezhdurechye) and Mangarben (Mezhdurechye, Privalovo) and the Gutsbezirke of Norkitten (Mezhdurechye), Schloßberg (Bochagi) and Woynothen (from 1938 Kleinnorkitten, Shlyuznoye) were merged into the new rural community of Norkitten.
In the pre-war years there was a shooting range south of Mangarben, and a sawmill operated on the northern outskirts of the village.
Norkitten and its surroundings were taken in the fighting of 21–23.01.1945 by units of the 94th Guards Rifle Division (Major General I.K. Shcherbina) of the 16th Guards Rifle Corps of the 11th Guards Army and of the 72nd Rifle Corps of the 5th Army.
On 17.06.1947 Norkitten was renamed the settlement of Mezhdurechye. At the same time the Mezhdurechye village soviet was formed. On 17.11.1947 Mangarben was renamed the settlement of Privalovo, but in fact most of this locality became part of the settlement of Mezhdurechye. The southern part of Mangarben formed the settlement of Privalovo, which became part of the Berezhkovskoye village soviet. In 1961 the Mezhdurechye village soviet was dissolved, and the settlement of Mezhdurechye was included in the Berezhkovskoye village soviet. In 1971 the settlement had 29 houses, a school and a dairy farm. In 1997 the settlement had 229 registered houses. In 2016 the House of Culture closed. As of 2001 the settlement has a school, a post office, a feldsher-midwife station, a home for the elderly and a general store.
Coordinates of the settlement: 54°37'32'' N 21°31'22'' E (Norkitten, centre), 54°37'25'' N 21°31'47'' E (Mangarben).
Sights: monument to the Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf, church ruins, the castle hill, pre-war buildings, mass grave of Soviet soldiers (more than 80 people, memorial 1949), Lock No. 4 on the Pregel (c. 1920).
Population: 1985 – 620, 1997 – 639, 2002 – 619, 2010 – 550 inhabitants.
Population of the Norkitten community: 1815 – 117, 1905 – 243, 1910 – 228, 1933 – 1,090, 1939 – 1,147 inhabitants.
Population of the Norkitten estate: 1815 – 65, 1905 – 185, 1910 – 188 inhabitants.
Population of Mangarben: 1905 – 278, 1910 – 265 inhabitants.
For reference
Amtsbezirk Norkitten
On 11.03.1874 the Amtsbezirk of Norkitten was formed in the Landkreis of Insterburg (Chernyakhovsk), comprising two rural communities: Mangarben (Privalovo, Mezhdurechye) and Norkitten (Mezhdurechye), and two Gutsbezirke: Kutkehmen (from 1928 Pregelau, Ushakovo) and Norkitten (Mezhdurechye). By 1908 three more Gutsbezirke had joined the Amtsbezirk of Norkitten: Paradeninken (from 1938 Paradefeld, Tryokhdvorka), Schloßberg (Bochagi) and Woynothen (from 1938 Kleinnorkitten, Shlyuznoye).
On 30.09.1928 the Gutsbezirke were abolished, and Norkitten (rural community and Gutsbezirk), Mangarben (Privalovo, Mezhdurechye), Schloßberg (Bochagi) and Woynothen (Shlyuznoye) were merged into the new rural community of Norkitten. The remaining Gutsbezirke were attached to other communities. As a result the Amtsbezirk of Norkitten came to consist of a single community, Norkitten. On 01.03.1939 the number of communities in the Amtsbezirk of Norkitten rose to three: the communities of Schönwiese (Poddubnoye) and Siemohnen (Sirenevka) were transferred to the Amtsbezirk of Norkitten from the Amtsbezirk of Saalau (Kamenskoye).
Mangarben was founded in 1469 as Mangarbe. In 1721 the village was bought by Prince Leopold I of Anhalt-Dessau. On 30 August 1757, during the Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf, the village burned down completely. In 1822–24 Mangarben ceased to be the property of the Anhalt-Dessau family and was converted into a peasant village forming a rural community in the Landkreis of Insterburg (Chernyakhovsk). The community's parish was in Norkitten (Mezhdurechye). In 1860 the Prussian Eastern Railway (Preußische Ostbahn) was built past the village. The nearest station on it to the village of Mangarben was Norkitten station (Bahnhof Norkitten; Mezhdurechye station), 1 km away.
On 11.03.1874 the rural community of Mangarben was included in the newly established Amtsbezirk of Norkitten (Mezhdurechye). The landowner Borówy of Mangarben held the post of head of the Amtsbezirk in 1919–37. At the end of the 19th century a windmill operated in Mangarben, but it was later dismantled. On 30.09.1928 Mangarben lost its status as an independent community and was merged with the community of Norkitten (Mezhdurechye) and the Gutsbezirke of Norkitten (Mezhdurechye), Schloßberg (Bochagi) and Woynothen (Shlyuznoye) into the new rural community of Norkitten (Mezhdurechye).
Norkitten Station
Mezhdurechye railway station (German: Bahnhof Norkitten), a station with the status of a settlement in the Chernyakhovsk urban district (until 2016 in Chernyakhovsk District, Svobodnoye rural settlement; until 2008 in the Berezhkovskoye rural okrug) where the Golubaya River flows into the Pregolya. Coordinates of the settlement: 54°37'10'' N 21°32'42'' E. Railway station on the Gvardeysk–Chernyakhovsk line. Landing stage on the Pregolya (Pregel). Population: 53 (2010).
Bahnhof Norkitten was formed on 06.06.1860, when the Königsberg – Eydtkuhnen railway line was built. Initially the locality belonged to the Gutsbezirk of Paradeningken (Tryokhdvorka). The parish was in Norkitten (Mezhdurechye). From 01.10.1928 Bahnhof Norkitten was part of the rural community of Norkitten (Mezhdurechye). From 16.07.1938 it was a district of the municipality of Norkitten.
On 17.11.1947 Bahnhof Norkitten was renamed Mezhdurechye station.
Population: 1905 – 52, 2002 – 48 inhabitants.
Norkitten Parish
The parish of Norkitten comprised: the Burkdorfshöhe forester's lodge (Försterei Burkdorfshöhe; 54°33'57'' N 21°29'13'' E), Daupelken (Izvilino), Groß Bubainen (from 1928 Waldhausen, Berezhkovskoye), Groß Jägersdorf (Motornoye), Hopfenau (Zaovrazhnoye, part), Kosacken (Kazakovo), Kutkehmen (from 1928 Pregelau, Ushakovo), Mangarben (Mezhdurechye, Privalovo), Metschullen (from 1938 Lahwald, Motornoye, part), Milchbude (Pastukhovo, part), Norkitten (Mezhdurechye), Paradeninken (from 1938 Paradefeld, Tryokhdvorka), Schloßberg (Bochagi), the Schönfeld forester's lodge (Försterei Schönfeld; 54°35'10'' N 21°32'26'' E), Schwägerau (Zaovrazhnoye), the Schwägerau forester's lodge (Försterei Schwägerau; Zaovrazhnoye, part), Stutterei (Vinogradnoye), Szaluppchen (54°34'38'' N 21°28'50'' E), Uderballen (from 1938 Otterwangen, Izvilino), Uszbundszen (from 1928 Eichenstein, Voronovo), the Waldhausen head forestry (Oberförsterei Waldhausen; Pastukhovo), Wenskowethen (54°36'13'' N 21°32'46'' E), Wiepeningken (from 1928 Staathausen, Podgornoye), Worpillen (Voronovo), Woynothen (from 1938 Kleinnorkitten, Shlyuznoye).
Modern photo by Mikhail Ogorodnikov.
Translated from Russian with the help of AI (Claude, Anthropic), October 2026.
