Varėna (; pl, Orany; yi, אוראַן ''Oran'') is a city in

Dzūkija Dzūkija or Dainava is one of five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. Dzūkija is a cultural region defined by traditional lifestyles and dialects of the local Lithuanian population (mostly rural farmers) and has never been defined as a politi ...

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 ...

History

The town was founded in 1862 near the Warsaw – Saint Petersburg Railway, south of

Sena Varėna Sena may refer to: Places * Sanandaj or Sena, city in northwestern Iran * Sena (state constituency), represented in the Perlis State Legislative Assembly * Sena, Dashtestan, village in Bushehr Province, Iran * Sena, Huesca, municipality in Huesc ...

(Old Varėna). At that time it was a small settlement, but following steady development it eventually became the center of the

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

. In the interbellum period, following World War I, the town was annexed by Poland, and renamed Orany. It was located near the then Polish-Lithuanian border, in the Wilno-Troki County (''Powiat wileńsko-trocki'') of the Wilno Voivodeship. In 1939, following the German-Soviet Invasion of Poland, Varėna was returned to Lithuania. On September 9, 1942, all the Jews of the town of Varėna were collected in the local synagogue. On that day, even though the Germans had tried to prevent him from doing so, the priest Jonas Gylys entered the synagogue and encouraged the Jews to be brave in their last hours rather than convert to Christianity. On the following day (or, according to another source, on the 9th itself) all of the Jews were taken from the synagogue to Eserekiai - a grove of trees near the village of Druckūnai, from the town, on the side of the road leading to the village. Two large pits had been dug there apart, one for the men and one for the women. Germans forced the victims in groups toward the pits and shot them there. According to the report of Karl Jaeger, commander of Einsatzkommando 3A, 831 Jews from Varėna (and the surrounding areas) – 541 men, 149 women, and 141 children – were killed on that day. In 1946 around 2000 Poles were repatriated to Poland. Following industrialization in the 1970s, the town grew rapidly. Currently there are 9,240 residents in Varėna. The

Varėna district Varėna (; pl, Orany; yi, אוראַן ''Oran'') is a city in Dzūkija, Lithuania. History The town was founded in 1862 near the Warsaw – Saint Petersburg Railway, south of Sena Varėna (Old Varėna). At that time it was a small settleme ...

is the largest and most forested region in Lithuania.

People

* Lithuanian

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis ( pl, Mikołaj Konstanty Czurlanis – ) was a Lithuanian painter, composer and writer. Čiurlionis contributed to symbolism and art nouveau, and was representative of the fin de siècle epoch. He has been ...

was born in

in 1875.

Twin towns — Sister cities

Varėna is twinned with: *

Mikołajki Mikołajki () is a resort town in Mrągowo County in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in north-eastern Poland, with 3,852 inhabitants as of 2017. The town is located near the Śniardwy, the largest lake of both the Masurian Lake District and Po ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

References

External links

The murder of the Jews of Varėna
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

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. Cities in Alytus County Cities in Lithuania Municipalities administrative centres of Lithuania Trakai Voivodeship Troksky Uyezd Wilno Voivodeship (1926–1939) Holocaust locations in Lithuania {{AlytusCounty-geo-stub