Kukruse

Kukruse ( German Kuckers ) is a village (Estonian küla ) in the Estonian Ida- Viru. It belongs to the rural community Kohtla. Kukruse has 58 inhabitants. In Kukruse oil shale was mined in the 1870s as one of the first places in the world. During the energy crisis of 1916, the oil shale was then developed industrially. Kukruse gave the Kukersit, a combustible oil-shale sediment, its name.

It is known primarily from the manor Kukruse ( Kukruse mõis ). The manor of Kukruse was first mentioned in 1453. 1762 it came into the possession of the Baltic German family of Toll. From Kukruse the Russian polar explorer Eduard Toll dates ( 1858-1902 ). 1919, the estate was expropriated by the Estonian state.

The manor house in the classical style, and ancillary buildings are in its present form from the second half of the 19th century. An oak alley leads to the manor house, which is surrounded by a forest park.

After the Second World War was in Kukruse a Soviet POW camp for former members of the Wehrmacht. 1998, a German prisoner of war cemetery was inaugurated in a wooded area north-east of the village.