Šakiai (, pl, Szaki) is a city in the

Marijampolė County Marijampolė County ( lt, Marijampolės apskritis; pl, Okręg mariampolski) is one of the ten counties in Lithuania. It is in the south of the country in the historical Suvalkija region, and its capital is the town Marijampolė Marijampolė ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

. It is located west of

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

. It is presumed that Šakiai first expanded from ''Šakaičai'' village. By 1719 a church in Šakiai was built. By the 19th century Šakiai already had city rights; it also had a school,

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

churches, a

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

, and a post office. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the city was destroyed by the German army.

History

Šakiai is the birthplace of early

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

Isaac Leib Goldberg Isaac Leib Goldberg ( he, יצחק לייב גולדברג, 7 February 1860 – 14 September 1935) was a Zionist leader and philanthropist in both Ottoman Palestine and the Russian Empire, and one of the principal founders of Rishon LeZion, th ...

in 1860.
Several massacres of Jewish people are alleged to have taken place in Šakiai in World War II, from July to September 1941. The killings are alleged to have committed by an

Einsatzgruppen (, ; also ' task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the im ...

of German SS troops. The involvement of a small number of Lithuanians is also alleged.

Gallery

File:Šakiai, merija.JPG, Town hall of Šakiai File:Šakių bažnyčia.JPG, Church of John the Baptist File:Šakių ev. liuteronų bažnyčia.JPG, Šakiai Evangelical Lutheran Church File:VincasKudirkaPamátníkŠakiai.JPG, Bust of

Vincas Kudirka Vincas Kudirka (; – ) was a Lithuanian poet and physician, and the author of both the music and lyrics of the Lithuanian national anthem, "". He is regarded in Lithuania as a national hero. Kudirka used the pen names V. Kapsas, Paežeri ...

in Šakiai

Notable residents

Zygmunt Kęstowicz Zygmunt Kęstowicz (24 January 1921 – 14 March 2007) was a Polish actor. He appeared in more than 25 films and television shows between 1954 and 1997. Selected filmography * ''Shadow'' (1956) * ''Stawka większa niż życie ''Stawka wi� ...

(1921–2007), Polish actor *

Gvidonas Markevičius Gvidonas Markevičius (born November 22, 1969) is a Lithuanian retired professional basketball player. National team career Markevičius was a member of the Lithuanian national team which won silver medals at the EuroBasket 1995 The 1995 FIB ...

(born 1969), basketball player *

Dainius Adomaitis Dainius Adomaitis (born 19 January 1974) is a Lithuanian former professional basketball player and the head coach for Alvark Tokyo of Japan's B.League. Professional career He started his career in Statyba Vilnius. Later he moved to Žalgiris ...

(born 1974), basketball player and coach

Twin towns – sister cities

Šakiai is twinned with: *

Gołdap Gołdap ( or variant ''Goldapp''; lt, Geldupė, Geldapė, Galdapė) is a town in northeastern Poland, in the region of Masuria, seat of Gołdap County in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. It is located on the Gołdapa River, between the Szeskie ...

, Poland

References

Cities in Lithuania Cities in Marijampolė County Municipalities administrative centres of Lithuania Suwałki Governorate Holocaust locations in Lithuania {{MarijampolėCounty-geo-stub