Zielkeim has been mentioned since 1347 as Sillikaym, from 1540 as Sillikaim or Sillikeim, and later as Sylkaym. In 1785 Zielkeim consisted of two noble Vorwerke (adeliches Vorwerk): Groß Zielkeim with nine households and Klein Zielkeim with one. Both Vorwerke belonged to the Mischen estate (Petrovo) and were part of the Kreis Schakenschen.
In 1818 Groß Zielkeim was classified as a noble estate (adlig Gut) with seven households, while Klein Zielkeim remained a noble Vorwerk with one household. Around 1840 the Vorwerk Klein Zielkeim burned down. It was never rebuilt as a separate Vorwerk. Groß Zielkeim came to be called simply Zielkeim.
In the second half of the 19th century Zielkeim was a manorial estate (Rittergut) which from 1867 formed a Gutsbezirk in the Kreis Fischhausen (Primorsk; from 1939 Samland). The estate belonged to the parish of Wargen (Kotelnikovo).
The Gutsbezirk Zielkeim also included the Vorwerk Backelfeld (Kuznetskoye). In 1871 the Gutsbezirk Zielkeim had eight residential houses, in which 33 families lived. Of these, five residential houses were on the Zielkeim estate itself, and another three belonged to the Vorwerk Backelfeld.
On 13 June 1874 the Gutsbezirk Zielkeim was included in the newly established Amtsbezirk Groß Mischen. In 1918–31 the post of head of the Amtsbezirk was held by Oesterreich, the owner of Zielkeim. From 1931 the head was the senior inspector Klappke from Zielkeim, and from 1943 the farmer Karl Klappke.
However, in 1874–1907 the status of the Gutsbezirk Zielkeim (Petrovo) itself long remained undetermined, since on the one hand it was considered an independent Gutsbezirk, and on the other it belonged to the Groß Mischen estate (Svobodnoye). Only on 4 June 1907 was the Gutsbezirk Zielkeim officially and finally separated from the Gutsbezirk Groß Mischen (Svobodnoye); at the same time the Vorwerk Backelfeld (Svobodnoye) was confirmed as belonging to the Gutsbezirk Zielkeim (Petrovo).
Zielkeim, Backelfeld, Groß Mischen, Dammhof and Dammteich on an early 20th-century map of East Prussia.
In 1879 the Gutsbezirk Zielkeim owned 677 ha of land (13th place among the 140 Gutsbezirke of the Kreis), and its property tax revenue amounted to 7226 marks (18th place in the Kreis). As of 1885, of the 677 ha of total holdings, 470 ha were arable land, 57 ha meadows and 40 ha forest. The Gutsbezirk still had eight residential houses (5 on the Zielkeim estate, 3 on the Vorwerk Backelfeld), and the population still consisted of 33 families. The housing situation in the Gutsbezirk was unchanged in 1895 as well, but by then 25 families, one man without a family and six independent women lived in the houses.
As of 1905 the Gutsbezirk Zielkeim owned 676.6 ha of land. Property tax revenue per hectare of landholdings amounted to 10.86 marks, almost 10% above the average for the Kreis Fischhausen. Thirty-four families lived in the eight residential houses of the Gutsbezirk.
On 30 September 1928 the Gutsbezirk Zielkeim was abolished and incorporated into the rural community of Groß Mischen (Svobodnoye).
On 29 January 1945 Zielkeim was taken by troops of the 5th Guards Rifle Corps (Lieutenant General I.S. Bezugly, 1897–1983) of the 39th Army.
On 17 November 1947 Zielkeim was renamed the settlement of Petrovo. Initially the settlement belonged to the Matrosovo Village Council, and from October 1950 to the Kutuzovo Village Council. In 1955 the settlement had 29 houses. In 1969 the Kholmogorovka primary school moved from Svobodnoye to the settlement of Petrovo. In 1975 the school in Petrovo became a secondary school. As of 2011, 384 households were registered in the settlement of Petrovo. As of 2024 the settlement had about 300 registered residential houses and public buildings.
Sights: a memorial to Soviet soldiers (1,003 people, 1972), the remains of the Zielkeim estate.
Population change: 1818 – 951, 1871 – 114, 1885 – 94, 1895 – 75, 1905 – 120, 1982 – 980, 2002 – 1110, 2010 – 1162, 2012 – 1164 inhabitants.
Population change of the Zielkeim Gutsbezirk: 1867 – 172, 1871 – 185, 1885 – 153, 1895 – 124, 1905 – 192, 1910 – 153 inhabitants.
Composition of the population of the Zielkeim Gutsbezirk in 1871: all 185 Protestant Christians, children under 10 – 56, literate – 73 (58%), blind – 1, deaf-mute – 1, insane – 1.
Composition of the population of Petrovo in 2011: men – 549, women – 633, children – 199 (incl. 126 schoolchildren), pensioners – 109, disabled – 36.
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1 — including 85 inhabitants in Groß Zielkeim and 10 in Klein Zielkeim.
Translated from Russian with the help of AI (Claude, Anthropic), October 2026.
