Švenčionėliai

Švenčionėliai
City
Švenčionėliai panorama
Coat of arms
Švenčionėliai Location of Švenčionėliai
Coordinates: 55°10′N 26°0′E / 55.167°N 26.000°E / 55.167; 26.000Coordinates: 55°10′N 26°0′E / 55.167°N 26.000°E / 55.167; 26.000
Country	Lithuania
Ethnographic region	Aukštaitija
County	Vilnius County
Municipality	Švenčionys district municipality
Eldership	Švenčionėliai city eldership
Capital of	Švenčionėliai city eldership Švenčioneliai rural eldership
First mentioned	End of the 16th century
Granted city rights	1920
Population  (2020)
• Total	4,726
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)

Švenčionėliai (pronunciation (help·info)) (Polish: Nowe Święciany, Yiddish: נײַ־סווענציאַן‎ Nay Sventzion) is a city in Švenčionys district municipality. It is 10 km west of Švenčionys. The river Žeimena flows through Švenčionėliai.

History[]

In 1940, there were around 1000 Jews in Švenčionėliai, i.e. 20 percent of the total population.

It has been suggested that this article be split into a new article titled . (Discuss) (September 2019)

After the arrival of the Germans in 1941, local Lithuanians formed an activist group to fight the Red army troops as well as the procommunist Jews. Jewish shops in Švenčionėliai were looted and the accused Jews were shot in the nearby forest in July 1941. Soon after that, a ghetto was established. In September 1941, all the Jews were relocated to barracks in the former Soviet military training camp about 1,5 km from Švenčionėliai. Several thousand Jews, brought from nearby towns and villages (Švenčionys, Ignalina, Daugėliškis, Kaltanėnai, Linkmenys, Pabradė, Adutiškis, Stajėtiškis, Saldutiškis, Labanoras, Mielagėnai, Ceikiniai...), were kept in 8 barracks for about a week.

On 8 October 1941, all the Jews from the barracks were taken in smaller groups and shot in the pit that had been dug. Men were executed first. Women and children were shot afterwards. The killings lasted several days. The precise number of victims is not known but, according to the Soviet archives, it is assumed that around 7000-9000 Jews were executed.^[1]

References[]

External links[]

• Švenčionėliai from above