Vilkija () ( pl, Wilki, yi, ווילקי or ''Vilki'') is a city in the

Kaunas district municipality Kaunas District Municipality (''Kauno rajono savivaldybė'') is one of 60 municipalities in Lithuania. The seat of the municipality is the city of Kaunas, which does not belong to the municipality but is a separate administrative unit. It surroun ...

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 north-west of

Kaunas city municipality 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 ...

, right on the north side of the river

Nemunas The Neman, Nioman, Nemunas or MemelTo bankside nations of the present: Lithuanian: be, Нёман, , ; russian: Неман, ''Neman''; past: ger, Memel (where touching Prussia only, otherwise Nieman); lv, Nemuna; et, Neemen; pl, Niemen; ...

, the most important river in Lithuania.

Etymology

The name of Vilkija originated when people living on the opposite side of Nemunas heard the packs of wolves howling in the surroundings of the place where contemporary Vilkija is situated. From then on, this land is called Vilkija and this name may have been derived from words ''vilkų gauja'' meaning ''a pack of wolves''.

History

During summer and fall 1941, mass executions of 800 Jews were 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. Murdered Jews were from Vilkija and nearby villages.

Notable people

* Folklorist

Antanas Juška Antanas Juška (16 June 1819 – 1 November 1880) was a Lithuanian Roman Catholic priest known for his lifelong study of Lithuanian folk traditions. For about three decades, he observed the Lithuanian people, their traditions, and recorded their s ...

(1819–1880) lived in Vilkija 1862–1864. * In the end of 1863 one of the revolt leaders

Antanas Mackevičius Antanas Mackevičius ( pl, Antoni Mackiewicz; 26 June 1828 – 28 December 1863) was a Lithuanian Roman Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders o ...

(1828–1863) was captured close to Vilkija and later taken to Kaunas to be executed. * Writer

Petras Cvirka Petras Cvirka (March 12, 1909, Jurbarkas District Municipality, Klangai, Kovno Governorate – May 2, 1947, Vilnius) was a Lithuanian writer of several novels, children's books, and short story collections. He wrote under a variety of pen names: A. ...

(1909–1947) studied in Vilkija 1922–1926.

References

Cities in Kaunas County Cities in Lithuania Duchy of Samogitia Kovensky Uyezd Holocaust locations in Lithuania {{KaunasCounty-geo-stub