Jašiūnai ( pl, Jaszuny) is a town 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 ...

. It is situated on the

Merkys River The Merkys ( be, Мяркіс ''Miarkis'') is a river in southern Lithuania and northern Belarus. It flows for through Belarus, along the Belarusian–Lithuanian border, and through Lithuania before joining the Nemunas near Merkinė. Merkys is ...

and an edge of the Rūdninkai Forest. According to the 2001 census, it had population of 1,879. The town's population is primarily

Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Ce ...

(some 74,5%), with

Lithuanians Lithuanians ( lt, lietuviai) are a Baltic ethnic group. They are native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,378,118 people. Another million or two make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the United States, Uni ...

(12,4%) and Russians (8,4%).

History

The town was first mentioned in written sources in 1402. From the 15th to 18th century, the town belonged to the

Radziwiłł family The House of Radziwiłł (; lt, Radvila; be, Радзівіл, Radzivił; german: link=no, Radziwill) is a powerful magnate family originating from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later also prominent in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. ...

. In 1811 it was bought by Ignacy Baliński, father of historian Michał Baliński. His wife from the Śniadecki family initiated construction of the neoclassical

Jašiūnai Manor Jašiūnai ( pl, Jaszuny) is a town in Lithuania. It is situated on the Merkys River and an edge of the Rūdninkai Forest. According to the 2001 census, it had population of 1,879. The town's population is primarily Poles (some 74,5%), with Lithu ...

, designed by architect

Karol Podczaszyński Karol Podczaszyński ( lt, Karolis Podčašinskis) (7 November 1790 – 19 April 1860) was a Polish- Lithuanian leading Vilnius architect, a representative of the neoclassical architecture and a professor of the Vilnius University, as well as on ...

. The construction was undertaken between 1824 and 1828. The manor became a cultural center: it was a residence of Jan Śniadecki and Juliusz Słowacki frequently visited by Adam Mickiewicz,

Tomasz Zan Tomasz Zan (21 December 1796 Miasata, Vileysky Uyezd, Minsk Governorate, Russian Empire (now Belarus) – 19 July 1855 Kakoŭčyna, Orsha, Russian Empire), was a Polish and Belarusian poet and activist. Biography He was born on 21 December 179 ...

Stanisław Bonifacy Jundziłł Stanisław Bonifacy Jundziłł or, in Lithuanian, Stanislovas Bonifacas Jundzilas (6 May 1761 in Jasiańce, Voranava District – 15 April 1847 in Vilnius) was a Polish-Lithuanian priest, botanist, educator and diarist who lectured at the Un ...

Józef Mianowski Józef Mianowski (1804–1879) was a Polish medical researcher and practitioner, academic, social and political activist, and rector of the "Main School" incarnation (1862–69) of Warsaw University. In honor of Mianowski, after his death, in 188 ...

. This generation of

Polish Romantics Romanticism in Poland, a literary, artistic and intellectual period in the evolution of Polish culture, began around 1820, coinciding with the publication of Adam Mickiewicz's first poems in 1822. It ended with the suppression of the January Upris ...

studied and idealized the history and culture of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania. These studies had great influence on the worldview of the

szlachta The ''szlachta'' (Polish: endonym, Lithuanian: šlėkta) were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth who, as a class, had the dominating position in the ...

of the Vilnius Region: they would identify themselves as Poles while remaining loyal to the Grand Duchy. Alongside cultural life, the manor owners encouraged small industry: a ceramics workshop (still operating as of 2009), a factory of resin and turpentine, brickyard, paper factory. After the Uprising of 1863 and Baliński's death, Jašiūnai lost its position as a cultural center. The valuable library collection was transported to Poland or lost during the wars. As part of the Wilno Voivodeship, Jašiūnai belonged to the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of ...

during the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...

. During World War II, Jews were assembled in a building in the Jašiūnai manor and locked there. In September 25, 1941, the Jews of Jašiūnai were shot, together with those from other villages by the Vilnius Special Squad. According to the

Jäger Report The so-called Jäger Report, also Jaeger Report (full title: ''Complete tabulation of executions carried out in the Einsatzkommando 3 zone up to December 1, 1941'') was written on 1 December 1941 by Karl Jäger, commander of ''Einsatzkommando'' ...

, 575 Jews were murdered that day: 215 men, 229 women and 131 children. Three Roma people were shot and buried together with the Jews.

Religion

The first church, named after

St. Anna According to Christian apocryphal and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's name and that of her husband Joachim come on ...

, was built in 1515. When the Radziwiłłs converted to Protestantism, the church was also transformed from a Catholic to a Protestant church. The church was destroyed during the Great Northern War with Sweden (1700–1721). For a long time the town had only a chapel. The current church was built in 1929. It is half-brick, half-wooden church with a single rectangular tower. Its central nave is separated from the aisles by wooden pillars. The wooden ceiling attempts to imitate vaults. The main altar is decorated with a copy of Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn. There was a

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

in Jašiūnai containing 800 books in the Jewish language.

Symbols

In 2001 the town received its

coats of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its wh ...

, designed by

Arvydas Každailis Arvydas Stanislavas Každailis (born 4 April 1939, in Baisogala) is a Lithuanian artist, best known as the creator of many coat of arms for cities and towns of Lithuania. For his achievements in Lithuanian art, he was awarded the Order of the Lit ...

. The coat of arms depict a silver column in a red shield with two golden stars on each side. The column represents classical architecture and the manor. It also carries symbolical meaning of strength and power. The two stars are dedicated to the two families prominent in town's history – Balińskis and Śniadeckis.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jasiunai Towns in Lithuania Towns in Vilnius County Vilnius Voivodeship Vilensky Uyezd Wilno Voivodeship (1926–1939) Holocaust locations in Lithuania