church In 1255 the
Sambians tribe's stronghold of Vurgvala was taken by
Teutonic Knights and renamed as
Neuhausen in 1262. After the subsequent
Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466), it became a
fief of Poland held by the Teutonic Knights until 1525, and by secular
Ducal Prussia afterwards. From 1701, the settlement was part of the
Kingdom of Prussia, and in 1871 it became part of the
German Empire upon the
unification of Germany, within which it was administered as part of the Province of
East Prussia. In 1877, the village had a population of 559, mostly employed in agriculture and cattle breeding. It was captured by
Red Army on 28 January 1945. After the end of
World War II in 1945, the town was annexed by the
Soviet Union. The remaining
German population which had not been
evacuated was subsequently
expelled in accordance with the
Potsdam Agreement and replaced with
Russians. The following year it was renamed Guryevsk in honor of
Stepan Guryev, a Soviet marshal who died during the capture of Kaliningrad. ==Administrative and municipal status==