Šakiai (, pl, Szaki) is a city in the Marijampolė County,

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 and Lutheran 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 the city was destroyed by the German army.

History

Šakiai is the birthplace of early Zionist

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 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 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 (born 1969), basketball player * Dainius Adomaitis (born 1974), basketball player and coach

Twin towns – sister cities

Šakiai is

twinned Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to: * In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so; * Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning * Twinning inst ...

with: * Gołdap, Poland

References

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