On 16 July 1938, more than 1500 place names in East Prussia were changed, following a decree issued by Gauleiter and Oberpräsident Erich Koch and initiated by Adolf Hitler.

[4][nb 1] Following this order, the Prussian Ministry of Science, Education and People's Education (Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Erziehung und Volksbildung) set up an expert commission led by the ministerial adviser (Ministerialrat) Heinrich Harmjanz [de].

In the case of major oblast towns, half of them were named after Russian and Soviet military leaders.

[3] A similar replacement of place names was carried out in other regions of Nazi Germany, especially in Silesia.

[6] During World War II, renaming occurred primarily in occupied/annexed territories, because the Nazi government felt that "foreign language names for places constitute a national threat and may lead to mistaken world opinion in regard to their nationality".