Židikai is a town in Mažeikiai district municipality

Mažeikiai district municipality

Mažeikiai district municipality is in north-west Lithuania, on the Venta River . The administrative center of Mažeikiai district is the town of Mažeikiai...

, 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...

. It is located 21 km west of Mažeikiai

Mažeikiai

Mažeikiai is a city in the north-western Lithuania, on the Venta River. It has a population of around 45,300, making it the eighth largest city in Lithuania. The city is the administrative center of Mažeikiai district municipality in Telšiai County. It is the largest city that does not have its...

.

History

Židikai name has been originated from the words Žydi kaip laukas, or from the word Židikis (tough). For the first time Židikai was mentioned in 1568. Since 1614, Židikai belonged to Kražiai

Kražiai

Kražiai is a town in Lithuania, located in the Kelmė district municipality, between Varniai and Raseiniai , on the Kražantė river. The old town of Kražiai is an archeological and urban monument....

 Jesuits

Society of Jesus

The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...

. In 1659, during the Northern Wars

Northern Wars

Northern Wars is a term used for a series of wars fought in northern and northeastern Europe in the 16th and 17th century. An internationally agreed nomenclature for these wars has not yet been devised...

, the Swedish burnt down Židikai; later on, some more fires ravaged the town.

In Židikai, from 1915 till the end of her days, in town lived an authoress and educational Šatrijos Ragana

Šatrijos Ragana

Šatrijos Ragana was a pen name of Marija Pečkauskaitė , a Lithuanian humanist and romantic writer and educator...

- Marija Pečkauskaitė (1877–1930).

External links

• http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Zidikai/Home.htm Archive and Memorial website for Židikai (Zhidik in Yiddish)– what was a predominantly Jewish Shtetl (tiny village), destructed at the Holocaust during WWII