Užventis (, Samogitian: ''Ožvėntis'', pl, Użwenty, yi, אוזשווענט ''Uzhvent'') is a city in the

Kelmė district municipality Kelmė (; is a city in northwestern Lithuania, a historical region of Samogitia. It has a population of 8,206 and is the administrative center of the Kelmė district municipality. History Kelmė's name may come from the Lithuanian ''kelmynės'' ...

, Lithuania. It is located north-west of

Kelmė Kelmė (; is a city in northwestern Lithuania, a historical region of Samogitia. It has a population of 8,206 and is the administrative center of the Kelmė district municipality. History Kelmė's name may come from the Lithuanian ''kelmynės'' ...

. River Venta flows through the city.

History

In 1923, 173 Jews lived in the village, comprising 22 percent of the total population. The Lithuanian white armband squad formed in Užventis just after the German invasion, and they gathered Jewish residents of the village in the brewery in early July 1941. Jews were humiliated and forced to do various kinds of work for several weeks. At the end of July, the white armbanders dug a large pit in the Želviai forest. The next day, they rounded up the majority of the Jews from the ghetto (about 50-70 people), brought them to the execution place and shot them. Several groups of Jewish men who were fit to work were taken to

Šiauliai Šiauliai (; bat-smg, Šiaulē; german: Schaulen, ) is the fourth largest city in Lithuania, with a population of 107,086. From 1994 to 2010 it was the capital of Šiauliai County. Names Šiauliai is referred to by various names in different la ...

and

Žagarė Žagarė (, see also other names) is a city located in the Joniškis district, northern Lithuania, close to the border with Latvia. It has a population of about 2,000, down from 14,000 in 1914, when it was the 7th largest city in Lithuania. Žag ...

. About 20 Jews who were left in Užventis were executed in the Želviai forest in December 1941. Užventis is well known for its church.

References

Cities in Lithuania Cities in Šiauliai County Shavelsky Uyezd Holocaust locations in Lithuania Kelmė District Municipality {{ŠiauliaiCounty-geo-stub