Veliuona ( sgs, Veliouna, pl, Wielona, german: Wehlonen) is a small town on the

Nemunas River 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; ...

in the Jurbarkas district municipality in

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

Veliuona (also known as Junigeda) was first mentioned in 1291 in the chronicle of Peter of Duisburg. The town is primarily known as the burial place of Gediminas. An old church, founded by Vytautas the Great in 1421, was rebuilt and enlarged in 1636. In 1501–1506 m. Veliuona was granted Magdeburg rights by the Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland Alexander Jagiellon. In the 18th century Veliuona belonged to prince Józef Poniatowski, in the 19th century to the Zalewski family. In July 1941, 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 German and Lithuanian nationalists murdered dozens of Jews from the town in mass executions.

Gallery

File:Veliuona.jpg, Veliuona from west File:Lithuania Veliuona Gediminas tomb.jpg, Gediminas tombstone File:Veliuona vytautas.jpg, Vytautas the Great Monument File:Veliuona in 19c.jpg, Veliuona in 19th century

References

Veliuona, 2001, Versme, 1176 p.

External links

Towns in Lithuania Towns in Tauragė County Duchy of Samogitia Kovensky Uyezd Holocaust locations in Lithuania {{TauragėCounty-geo-stub