POWs, and Polish teachers and youth were deported elsewhere. Later on, students under the age of 18 were released, older students were forcibly conscripted to the Wehrmacht, while teachers and staff were deported to Nazi concentration camps, where most of them were murdered. Also a Nazi prison for women was operated in the town. Unlike most other towns in northern East Prussia, Tapiau was largely undamaged during World War II. Following the war's end in 1945, it was annexed by the Soviet Union and renamed Gvardeysk ("guard town") in 1946. The town's German population of more than 9,000 either fled or were killed during the war, and those remaining after the war were expelled and gradually replaced by Soviet residents. Administrative and municipal status Within the framework of administrative divisions, Gvardeysk serves as the administrative center of Gvardeysky District. As an administrative division, it is, together with one rural locality (the settlement of Prigorodnoye), incorporated within Gvardeysky District as the town of district significance of Gvardeysk. Within the framework of municipal divisions, since June 11, 2014, the territories of the town of district significance of Gvardeysk and of four rural okrugs of Gvardeysky District are incorporated as Gvardeysky Urban Okrug. Before that, the town of district significance was incorporated within Gvardeysky Municipal District as Gvardeyskoye Urban Settlement. Coat of arms The coat of arms of Gvardeysk depicts a bare hand holding a sword amongst clouds, beneath a golden sun. When the town was known as Tapiau before 1946, the golden sun also included the Tetragrammaton (Jehova-Sonne). Sights Sights of Gvardeysk include a church from 1502 and the ruined Tapiau Castle, reconstructed into an orphanage in 1879. It has been used as a prison since 1945. People Tapiau's most famous resident was the German Impressionist painter Lovis Corinth (1858–1925), who donated the painting Golgatha for the altar of the town's church in 1910; the painting disappeared near the end of World War II. The house where Corinth was born still stands in Gvardeysk. Other notable people associated with the town include Albert, Duke of Prussia (1490–1568), who died in Tapiau. References Notes Sources External links Official website of Gvardeysk Gvardeysk Business Directory Cities and towns in Kaliningrad Oblast Castles of the Teutonic Knights Castles in Russia Gvardeysky District Renamed localities in Russia