Kaišiadorys () is a city in central

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 situated between

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

and

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 ...

. Kaišiadorys is one of six Lithuanian

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

centres. It is home to the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of Christ built in 1932. The Lithuanian Veterinary Institute is located there.

Etymology

The name of the town was first mentioned in the written sources in 1590. It is believed to originate from the name of a nobleman ''Chašaidaras'', an ethnic

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

, who was enlisted to the

Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army The Lithuanian Armed Forces () are the military of Lithuania. The Lithuanian Armed Forces consist of the Lithuanian Land Forces, the Lithuanian Naval Force and the Lithuanian Air Force. In wartime, the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service (whi ...

in 1565. In the area of the present day town, the nobleman had some land and a mansion, referred to by his name, which later became the name of the settlement.

History

The city expanded when a railroad connecting Vilnius with Liepāja was built in 1871. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the city was occupied by the Germans in 1915, and it became the capital of an administrative unit for the first time. In 1919 the first train departed from Kaišiadorys to

Radviliškis Radviliškis () (german: Radwilischken; pl, Radziwiliszki; yi, ראדווילישאָק, ''Radvilishok'') is a town in the Radviliškis district municipality, Šiauliai County, Lithuania. Radviliškis has been the administrative center of th ...

. When

Trakai Trakai (; see names section for alternative and historic names) is a historic town and lake resort in Lithuania. It lies west of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Because of its proximity to Vilnius, Trakai is a popular tourist destination. T ...

and the rest of the

Vilnius Region Vilnius Region is the territory in present-day Lithuania and Belarus that was originally inhabited by ethnic Baltic tribes and was a part of Lithuania proper, but came under East Slavic and Polish cultural influences over time. The territory ...

became part of Poland, Kaišiadorys became the temporary capital of the Trakai Apskritis. On August, 1941, the Jewish population of the town and surroundings was murdered in mass executions perpetrated 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 Germans and Lithuanian nationalists.The murder of the Jews of Kaišiadorys
in the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

, at

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

website

Notable people

* The first President of the re-established independent

Republic of Lithuania A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

Algirdas Brazauskas Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas (, 1932 – 2010) was the first President (fourth overall) of a newly re-independent post-Soviet Lithuania from 1993 to 1998 and Prime Minister from 2001 to 2006. He also served as head of the Communist Party of Li ...

, was a pupil in Kaišiadorys in his youth; a secondary school there is named after him * European basketball forward

Ramūnas Šiškauskas Ramūnas Šiškauskas (, born September 10, 1978) is a former Lithuanian professional basketball player and basketball coach. At a listed height of 6'6" (1.98 m) tall, he could play at both the shooting guard and small forward positions. His indi ...

was born in Kaišiadorys * The first Lithuanian racing driver to compete at an international level, Kazimieras Vasiliauskas, is also from the town

Gallery

References

External links

Kaišiadorys Poultry FactoryMuseum of Kaišiadorys (in Lithuanian)The murder of the Jews of Kaišiadorys
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 ...

, at

website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaisiadorys Cities in Lithuania Cities in Kaunas County Municipalities administrative centres of Lithuania Holocaust locations in Lithuania