Darbėnai is a small town in

Klaipėda County Klaipėda County ( lt, Klaipėdos apskritis) is one of ten counties in Lithuania, bordering Tauragė County to the southeast, Telšiai County to the northeast, Kurzeme in Latvia to the north, and Kaliningrad Oblast in Russia to the south. To the ...

, in northwestern

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 ...

. According to the 2011 census, the town has a population of 1,461 people. It is located 16 km north of

Kretinga Kretinga (; german: Crottingen) is a City in Klaipėda County, Lithuania. It is the capital of the Kretinga district municipality. It is located east of the popular Baltic Sea resort town of Palanga, and about north of Lithuania's 3rd largest c ...

. Darbėnai is the capital of Darbėnai eldership.

History

Darbėnai was first mentioned in 1591 but it is thought that the village was established in 1566 during the

Wallach reform "Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other Easte ...

. According to

Simonas Daukantas Simonas Daukantas ( pl, Szymon Dowkont; 28 October 1793 – 6 December 1864) was a Lithuanian/Samogitian historian, writer, and ethnographer. One of the pioneers of the Lithuanian National Revival, he is credited as the author of the first book o ...

in 1550 it was still a

Palanga forest Palanga (; bat-smg, Palonga; pl, Połąga; german: Polangen) is a seaside resort town in western Lithuania, on the shore of the Baltic Sea. Palanga is the busiest summer resort in Lithuania and has sandy beaches (18 km, 11 miles long ...

(''Palangos giria''). In 1621

Jan Karol Chodkiewicz Jan Karol Chodkiewicz ( lt, Jonas Karolis Chodkevičius, be, Ян Караль Хадкевіч ; 1561 – 24 September 1621) was a military commander of the Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army, who was from 1601 Field Hetman of Lithuania, and from ...

built the first wooden church in the town. In 1701 the duke of Courland granted the privilege of trade to the town which was confirmed by the king

Augustus II the Strong Augustus II; german: August der Starke; lt, Augustas II; in Saxony also known as Frederick Augustus I – Friedrich August I (12 May 16701 February 1733), most commonly known as Augustus the Strong, was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as Ki ...

. Since 1730 Darbėnai was started to call a town. In the beginning of the 19th century the first parish school was established. In 1842 the current Catholic church named after Saint Apostles Peter and Paul was built. In 1855 the first public primary school was opened. Darbėnai was an important centre during the 1831 Uprising however the town burned during the battles. Since 1861 Darbėnai became the centre of volost. In 1897 there lived 2059 inhabitants. The post office was opened in 1906. In 1923 Darbėnai had 1018 inhabitants and in 1936 - 1921 inhabitants. In 1930 there was built the Independence Monument (it was destroyed in 1962 and rebuilt in 1989). Just before World War II, there were around 800 Jews in Darbėnai (about 80% of all residents). They were mostly traders and craftsmen. There was a synagogue, a Jewish meeting house, several schools, a Jewish library, local bureaus of Zionists and social democrats, theatre and sports clubs in Darbėnai. The German Army occupied on June 24, 1941. With the help of locl collaborators, they executed more than 500 Jews at the edge of the forest outside the city. During the years of Soviet occupation Darbėnai was the central settlement of kolkhoz. In 1944–1952 Darbėnai environs, Vaineikiai forest

Lithuanian partisans The Lithuanian partisans () were partisans who waged a guerrilla warfare in Lithuania against the Soviet Union in 1944–1953. Similar anti-Soviet resistance groups, also known as Forest Brothers and cursed soldiers, fought against Soviet rule ...

had a staff of Kardas (The Sword) detachment belonging to

Žemaičiai military district Žemaičiai military district (Žemaičiai partisans military district) is a military district of Lithuanian partisans which operated in 1945–1953 in the counties of Telšiai, Kretinga, Mažeikiai, and some parts of Tauragė county. It is named a ...

. Nowadays Darbėnai is the capital of Darbėnai eldership. The old town of Darbėnai is an urbanistic monument. There operates post office, public library, kindergarten, gymnasium, hospital, pharmacy, home of culture, forester's administration etc.

Origin of the name

Darbėnai was called after the river Darba which flows near the town.

Notable people

David Wolffsohn David Wolffsohn ( yi, דוד וואלפסאן; he, דוד וולפסון; 9 October 1855 in Darbėnai, Kovno Governorate – 15 September 1914) was a Lithuanian-Jewish businessman, prominent early Zionist and second president of the Zionis ...

(1856-1914) a Lithuanian-Jewish businessman, prominent early Zionist *

Kazys Maksvytis Kazys Maksvytis (born 15 June 1977) is a Lithuanian professional basketball coach who is currently the head coach for Lithuania men's national basketball team and Žalgiris Kaunas. Coaching career Professional clubs From 2011 to 2012, Maksvyt ...

(born 1977) a

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

coach, who currently works for

Parma Basket BC Parma (russian: БК Парма), also known as Parma Basket, is a professional basketball team that is based in Perm, Russia. It plays in the VTB United League, the highest level of basketball in Russia. The club's full name is Parma Basket Pe ...

* Mindaugas Rojus (born 1981) a Lithuanian opera singer *

Joshua Bloch Joshua J. Bloch (born August 28, 1961) is an American software engineer and a technology author, formerly employed at Sun Microsystems and Google. He led the design and implementation of numerous Java platform features, including the Java Collec ...

(1890–1957) a rabbi and librarian * The grandmother of

Mark Cuban Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958) is an American billionaire entrepreneur, television personality, and media proprietor whose net worth is an estimated $4.8 billion, according to ''Forbes'', and ranked No. 177 on the 2020 ''Forbes'' 400 list ...

, American entrepreneur and NBA club owner, hails from Darbėnai.

References

Towns in Lithuania Towns in Klaipėda County Telshevsky Uyezd Holocaust locations in Lithuania {{KlaipėdaCounty-geo-stub