Merkine
Encyclopedia
Merkinė is a town in Dzūkija National Park
in Lithuania
, located at the confluence of the Merkys and Neman River
s.
First mentioned in 1359, Merkinė is one of the oldest Lithuanian settlements. It received the Magdeburg rights
in 1569. The town is the location of The Mount of Queen Bona
, a mound
which was the site of an ancient hill-fort overlooking the rivers. Situated on a historic Warsaw
–Vilnius
trail, the town was also the place where King of Poland And Grand Duke of Lithuania Władysław IV Vasa
died in 1648.
The earliest mention of Jews in Merkinė is dated 1539, when a dispute was adjudicated (July 8) between a Jew named Konyuk and a Christian in regard to a debt of the former. In 1551 the Jews of Merech were named among those of fourteen other towns to be exempted from the special tax ("Serebshchizna") levied upon all inhabitants, with the exception of villagers and Jews, at the Polish diet held in that year (Nov. 27) at Vilnius. Merkinė produced in the nineteenth century some noted Hebrew scholars, as Mordecai Melzer, Isaac b. Elijah Margolis (d. New York 1887), and his son Max Margolis
, of the University of California
.
A mass grave of Polish Jews killed during the Nazi occupation is in the forest behind the town.
Dzukija National Park
Dzūkija National Park - a national park in Dzūkija, Lithuania, was established in 1991 in order to preserve the pine forests, the landscape, and the villages of the region. The area encompasses approximately 550 square kilometers on the banks of the Nemunas River.The park is the largest protected...
in Lithuania
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...
, located at the confluence of the Merkys and Neman River
Neman River
Neman or Niemen or Nemunas, is a major Eastern European river rising in Belarus and flowing through Lithuania before draining into the Curonian Lagoon and then into the Baltic Sea at Klaipėda. It is the northern border between Lithuania and Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast in its lower reaches...
s.
First mentioned in 1359, Merkinė is one of the oldest Lithuanian settlements. It received the 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...
in 1569. The town is the location of The Mount of Queen Bona
Bona Sforza
Bona Sforza was a member of the powerful Milanese House of Sforza. In 1518, she became the second wife of Sigismund I the Old, the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and became the Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania.She was the third child of Gian Galeazzo Sforza and his wife...
, a mound
Mound
A mound is a general term for an artificial heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. The most common use is in reference to natural earthen formation such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. The term may also be applied to any rounded area of topographically...
which was the site of an ancient hill-fort overlooking the rivers. Situated on a historic 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...
–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...
trail, the town was also the place where King of Poland And Grand Duke of Lithuania Władysław IV Vasa
Władysław IV Vasa
Władysław IV Vasa was a Polish and Swedish prince from the House of Vasa. He reigned as King of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 8 November 1632 to his death in 1648....
died in 1648.
Names
The names of the town as it is called or was formerly called in other languages spoken by non-Lithuanian ethnic groups which have lived or live in or around the town include: ; .Jewish history
Max Margolis
Max Leopold Margolis was a Lithuanian-born American philologist. Son of Isaac Margolis; educated at the elementary school of his native town, the Leibniz gymnasium, Berlin, and Columbia University, New York city...
, of the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
.
A mass grave of Polish Jews killed during the Nazi occupation is in the forest behind the town.
External links
- Merkine, Lithuania, JewishGenJewishGenJewishGen is a non-profit organization founded in 1987 as a resource for Jewish genealogy. In 2003, JewishGen became an affiliate of the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York.It provides amateur and professional genealogists with the tools to research their...