/ Olkhovatka – Walterkehmen

Walterkehmen Church

Walterkehmen Church

Walterkehmen, a village on the Rominte (Krasnaya) river, was given a new name after the Second World War — Olkhovatka. Coordinates of the church: 54.501431, 22.296369.

The Protestant church was founded in 1607 and thoroughly restored in 1753. A plastered building of fieldstones and bricks. In 1855 its interior was rebuilt. On the roof there was a wooden turret; the windows had round arches within rectangular surrounds. The porch was on the south, the sacristy on the east, and there was also an entrance on the west. Inside, the central nave had wooden barrel vaults, while both side aisles had flat wooden ceilings. The altar and pulpit were combined. The church had one bell.


Walterkehmen Church

During the First World War the church was ransacked and burned. It was restored in 1925–26.

Walterkehmen Church


During the fighting of the Second World War the church was damaged again. The roof did not survive. Only in the post-war period, when it was decided to put the building to use, was a new roof made. The church was used as a storehouse for compound feed. All the windows were bricked up, and the porch on the south and the sacristy on the east were destroyed. In place of the sacristy, square gates were cut for vehicles. In many places the plaster has fallen off.



Photos on this page: Bildarchiv Ostpreußen, bildarchiv-ostpreussen.de.


Translated from Russian with the help of AI (Claude, Anthropic), October 2026.