Eišiškes
Encyclopedia
Eišiškės) is a city in southeastern Lithuania
on the border with Belarus
. It is situated on a small group of hills, surrounded by marshy valley of Verseka and Dumblė Rivers. Rivers divide the town into two parts; the northern part is called Jurzdika. As of January 2008, Eišiškės had a population of 3,610. It has a small hospital and two high schools (one for Polish and another for Lithuanian students).
, the town was named after Eikšys, possibly one of the sons of Karijotas.
between Vytautas the Great
and the Teutonic Knights
. East of the town there is a castle site, dating back from the 14th–15th centuries. Historian Ignas Jonynas
argued that Anna, Grand Duchess of Lithuania and wife of Vytautas the Great was a sister of Sudimantas, a nobleman from Eišiškės and commander of Vytautas' army. An important route, connecting Vilnius
, Hrodna
, and Warsaw
, ran through the town. Protected by the castle and boasting a church built by Vytautas, the town became one of the important trading centers in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
. It had a court and here nobles gathered for a sejmik
.
Eišiškės was sacked and burned in 1655 during the Muscovite invasion
and in 1706 during the Great Northern War
. The town lost majority of inhabitants and lost its former status as a trade center. At the end of the 17th century, in hopes to revive the economy Eišiškės were granted Magdeburg rights
and became known for its horse and cattle markets. The former market square and surrounding streets are protected as urban heritage since 1969. The town's importance decreased after the partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, especially after it was sacked during the French invasion of Russia
. However, the town grew rapidly following the Uprising of 1863 and abolition of serfdom. After few devastating fires, residents started constructing brick buildings. The town continued to be known for its markets and for its carriages. Eišiškės was part of the Nowogródek Voivodeship of the Second Polish Republic
during the interwar years. During World War II, the town witnessed some fighting between Polish Armia Krajowa
, Nazi Wehrmacht
, and Soviet Red Army
.
German troops arrived in Eišiškės on June 23, 1941, and on September 21, 1941, an SS Mobile Killing Squad
entered the town, accompanied by Lithuanian auxiliaries. More than four thousand Jews from Eishishok and its neighboring towns and villages were first imprisoned in three synagogues and then taken in groups of 250 to the old Jewish cemetery where SS men ordered them to undress and stand at the edge of open pits. There, Lithuanian auxiliary troops shot them to death. The old cemetery is now a site of remembrance with a memorial stone in three languages. The new cemetery was destroyed in 1953 and turned into a yard of a kindergarten. Some of the private Jewish buildings survive and are protected as part of the urban heritage. One school is now a library, another was demolished.
There are no Jews living in the town today. The history of Jewish Eishyshok has been documented in the book There Once Was A World by Yaffa Eliach
, professor at Brooklyn College
.
Up to the Holocaust
, Jews formed a majority in the town. Today Poles form a majority: they constitute some 80% of the population within the Šalčininkai district municipality
. Eišiškės also have a small community of Roma people, numbering some 34 families. It dates from at least 1780 when Stanisław August Poniatowski appointed a certain Znamirowski as community's elder. In 2001, in Eišiškės 42 students of Roma descent received financial assistance from an education fund.
in 1385. It is suggested that the church was burned during the Lithuanian Civil War (1431–1435). It was rebuilt on another site. About 1500 a second church was built in the southern part of the town. Likely both churches burned down during the Muscovite invasion. A small poor church was rebuilt, but before it could be improved it was burned by the Swedes. In 1707 a wooden church was built with a two-story tower and three-story belfry. By 1770s it was falling apart and needed reconstruction. The construction included the rectory
and a wooden parish school. In 1845 a plan was drafted by historian Teodor Narbutt
for a new brick church in neoclassical style
. The construction was finished in 1852 and the church preserves its basic design to this day. The church, built of field stones, has a portico
with six Doric
columns. It is accompanied by a four-story belfry with a Baroque
cap. The church lost its tower. The plain exterior is contrasted with the interior, decorated in light Baroque style. Three paintings, housed in the church, are protected as monuments of national importance.
The former synagogue
s are either destroyed or abandoned, including one that was reconstructed into a sport hall during the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic.
, had 460 students in 2006. The Russian "Viltis" school was attached to the Lithuanian school.
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
on the border with Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
. It is situated on a small group of hills, surrounded by marshy valley of Verseka and Dumblė Rivers. Rivers divide the town into two parts; the northern part is called Jurzdika. As of January 2008, Eišiškės had a population of 3,610. It has a small hospital and two high schools (one for Polish and another for Lithuanian students).
Names
According to the Lithuanian ChroniclesLithuanian Chronicles
The Lithuanian Chronicles are three redactions of chronicles compiled in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. All redactions were written in the Old Church Slavonic language and served the needs of Lithuanian patriotism. The first redaction, compiled in 1420s, glorified Vytautas the Great and supported...
, the town was named after Eikšys, possibly one of the sons of Karijotas.
History
Eišiškės is mentioned for the first time in the Treaty of Königsberg (1384)Treaty of Königsberg (1384)
The Treaty of Königsberg was signed in Königsberg on January 30, 1384 during the Lithuanian Civil War between Vytautas the Great and representatives of the Teutonic Knights. Vytautas waged a civil against his cousin Jogaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania and future King of Poland, and allied himself...
between Vytautas the Great
Vytautas the Great
Vytautas ; styled "the Great" from the 15th century onwards; c. 1350 October 27, 1430) was one of the most famous rulers of medieval Lithuania. Vytautas was the ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania which chiefly encompassed the Lithuanians and Ruthenians...
and the Teutonic Knights
Teutonic Knights
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...
. East of the town there is a castle site, dating back from the 14th–15th centuries. Historian Ignas Jonynas
Ignas Jonynas
Ignas Jonynas was a Lithuanian diplomat, historian, and university professor. As a diplomat he is known for negotiations with the Second Polish Republic and League of Nations regarding Vilnius Region. As a historian he specialized in the history of Lithuania in the 13–16th centuries...
argued that Anna, Grand Duchess of Lithuania and wife of Vytautas the Great was a sister of Sudimantas, a nobleman from Eišiškės and commander of Vytautas' army. An important route, connecting Vilnius
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
, Hrodna
Hrodna
Grodno or Hrodna , is a city in Belarus. It is located on the Neman River , close to the borders of Poland and Lithuania . It has 327,540 inhabitants...
, and Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, ran through the town. Protected by the castle and boasting a church built by Vytautas, the town became one of the important trading centers in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...
. It had a court and here nobles gathered for a sejmik
Sejmik
A sejmik was a regional assembly in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and earlier in the Kingdom of Poland. Sejmiks existed until the end of the Commonwealth in 1795 following the partitions of the Commonwealth...
.
Eišiškės was sacked and burned in 1655 during the Muscovite invasion
Russo-Polish War (1654–1667)
The Russo-Polish War of 1654–1667, also called Thirteen Years' War, First Northern War, War for Ukraine was the last major conflict between Tsardom of Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Between 1655 and 1660, the Second Northern War was also fought in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth,...
and in 1706 during the Great Northern War
Great Northern War
The Great Northern War was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in northern Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedish alliance were Peter I the Great of Russia, Frederick IV of...
. The town lost majority of inhabitants and lost its former status as a trade center. At the end of the 17th century, in hopes to revive the economy Eišiškės were granted Magdeburg rights
Magdeburg rights
Magdeburg Rights or Magdeburg Law were a set of German town laws regulating the degree of internal autonomy within cities and villages granted by a local ruler. Modelled and named after the laws of the German city of Magdeburg and developed during many centuries of the Holy Roman Empire, it was...
and became known for its horse and cattle markets. The former market square and surrounding streets are protected as urban heritage since 1969. The town's importance decreased after the partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, especially after it was sacked during the French invasion of Russia
French invasion of Russia
The French invasion of Russia of 1812 was a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars. It reduced the French and allied invasion forces to a tiny fraction of their initial strength and triggered a major shift in European politics as it dramatically weakened French hegemony in Europe...
. However, the town grew rapidly following the Uprising of 1863 and abolition of serfdom. After few devastating fires, residents started constructing brick buildings. The town continued to be known for its markets and for its carriages. Eišiškės was part of the Nowogródek Voivodeship of the Second Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
during the interwar years. During World War II, the town witnessed some fighting between Polish Armia Krajowa
Armia Krajowa
The Armia Krajowa , or Home Army, was the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II German-occupied Poland. It was formed in February 1942 from the Związek Walki Zbrojnej . Over the next two years, it absorbed most other Polish underground forces...
, Nazi Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
, and Soviet Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
.
Jewish history
According to Jewish sources, there were tombstones dating from as early as 1097 at the former Jewish cemetery, making Eshishok one of the oldest Jewish settlements in Eastern Europe. In the 18th century, the Jewish population accounted for about half of the population, and as the town grew, the proportion of Jewish residents increased, hitting a peak of 80% in 1820. Jews dominated trade and crafts: in 1935 out of 117 enterprises, 106 belonged to Jews.German troops arrived in Eišiškės on June 23, 1941, and on September 21, 1941, an SS Mobile Killing Squad
Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen were SS paramilitary death squads that were responsible for mass killings, typically by shooting, of Jews in particular, but also significant numbers of other population groups and political categories...
entered the town, accompanied by Lithuanian auxiliaries. More than four thousand Jews from Eishishok and its neighboring towns and villages were first imprisoned in three synagogues and then taken in groups of 250 to the old Jewish cemetery where SS men ordered them to undress and stand at the edge of open pits. There, Lithuanian auxiliary troops shot them to death. The old cemetery is now a site of remembrance with a memorial stone in three languages. The new cemetery was destroyed in 1953 and turned into a yard of a kindergarten. Some of the private Jewish buildings survive and are protected as part of the urban heritage. One school is now a library, another was demolished.
There are no Jews living in the town today. The history of Jewish Eishyshok has been documented in the book There Once Was A World by Yaffa Eliach
Yaffa Eliach
Yaffa Eliach is a historian, author, and scholar of Judaic Studies and the Holocaust. She is probably best known for creating the “Tower of Life” made up by 1,500 photographs for permanent display at the US Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.-Life:Yaffa Eliach was born Yaffa Sonenson to a Jewish...
, professor at Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
.
Demographics
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1833 | 630 |
| 1861 | 751 |
| 1897 | 3196 |
| 1931 | 2839 |
| 1959 | 2532 |
| 1970 | 3477 |
| 2008 | 3765 |
Up to the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
, Jews formed a majority in the town. Today Poles form a majority: they constitute some 80% of the population within the Šalčininkai district municipality
Šalcininkai district municipality
Šalčininkai district municipality is one of 60 municipalities in Lithuania.It has one of biggest Polish minority populations in Lithuania, with 31,223 or over 80% of the population claiming Polish ethnicity. Šalčininkai is the largest town in and the center of the region.-References:...
. Eišiškės also have a small community of Roma people, numbering some 34 families. It dates from at least 1780 when Stanisław August Poniatowski appointed a certain Znamirowski as community's elder. In 2001, in Eišiškės 42 students of Roma descent received financial assistance from an education fund.
Religion
The first church was probably built in 1398 by Vytautas the Great. It was one of the first churches built in Lithuania after the Christianization of LithuaniaChristianization of Lithuania
The Christianization of Lithuania – Christianization of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that took place in 1387, initiated by the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Jogaila and his cousin Vytautas, that signified the official adoption of Christianity by Lithuanians, one of the last pagan...
in 1385. It is suggested that the church was burned during the Lithuanian Civil War (1431–1435). It was rebuilt on another site. About 1500 a second church was built in the southern part of the town. Likely both churches burned down during the Muscovite invasion. A small poor church was rebuilt, but before it could be improved it was burned by the Swedes. In 1707 a wooden church was built with a two-story tower and three-story belfry. By 1770s it was falling apart and needed reconstruction. The construction included the rectory
Rectory
A rectory is the residence, or former residence, of a rector, most often a Christian cleric, but in some cases an academic rector or other person with that title...
and a wooden parish school. In 1845 a plan was drafted by historian Teodor Narbutt
Teodor Narbutt
Teodor Narbutt was a Polish–Lithuanian writer, Romantic historian and military engineer...
for a new brick church in neoclassical style
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
. The construction was finished in 1852 and the church preserves its basic design to this day. The church, built of field stones, has a portico
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...
with six Doric
Doric order
The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...
columns. It is accompanied by a four-story belfry with a Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
cap. The church lost its tower. The plain exterior is contrasted with the interior, decorated in light Baroque style. Three paintings, housed in the church, are protected as monuments of national importance.
The former synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
s are either destroyed or abandoned, including one that was reconstructed into a sport hall during the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Education
The first school, attached to the church, was established in 1524. It was one of the first schools in Lithuania. A seven-year school was established in 1921, but up until 1938 it did not have a separate building and had to rent rooms from private individuals. Before the new school building could properly open, World War II began and Germans seized the building and established a command post. The school was bombed and suffered large damage. After the war the school was rebuilt and classes commenced in three languages: Russian, Polish, and Lithuanian. As the number of students grew, an extension was built in 1967. Russian school moved out in 1983 and Lithuanian in 1992. In 2006, the Polish school earned the name of Eišiškės Gymnasium and had 602 students and 79 teachers. The Lithuanian school, named after Stanislovas RapalionisStanislovas Rapalionis
Stanislovas Rapalionis was a founder of the first Lithuanian language school in Vilnius, a professor of theology in Königsberg Albertina University, and the first translator of the Bible into Lithuanian, although this translation has not survived....
, had 460 students in 2006. The Russian "Viltis" school was attached to the Lithuanian school.