Anatoly Bakhtin

Local history researcher, medieval historian

(1949 – 2023)
Anatoly Pavlovich Bakhtin, who served as chief archivist of the State Archive of the Kaliningrad Region (http://www.gako.name/), considered the Teutonic Order and everything connected with it, including the Order's castles, churches and towns, to be his main passion. Geographically, his interests naturally centred on the Kaliningrad Region, where he spent his entire life. In 1999 he published "Vergessene Kultur" (Forgotten Culture), a book about the churches of the region. In 2005 came "Castles and Fortifications of the Teutonic Order in the Northern Part of East Prussia", covering more than 50 castles, beginning with Balga (1239). In 2012 he published "The Prussian Trail of the Ark of the Covenant" ("The Ark of the Covenant: From Sinai to Prussia"), which brings together a wealth of information on the Teutonic (German) Order. In 2020 Anatoly Pavlovich explored the subject to which he had devoted his life in full, publishing his monumental volume "The Teutonic Order" with the Kaliningrad publishing house Zhivyom.