Šilalė (; Samogitian: ''Šėlalė'', ) is a city in western

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, 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, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

Samogitia Samogitia, often known by its Lithuanian language, Lithuanian name ''Žemaitija'' (Samogitian language, Samogitian: ''Žemaitėjė''; see Samogitia#Etymology and alternative names, below for alternative and historical names) is one of the five ...

Tauragė County Tauragė County (Lithuanian language, Lithuanian: ''Tauragės apskritis'') is one of ten counties of Lithuania, counties in Lithuania. It is in the west of the country, and its capital is Tauragė. On 1 July 2010, the county administration was ...

. It is located north of

Tauragė Tauragė (; see #Names and etymology, other names) is an industrial city in Lithuania, and the capital of Tauragė County. In 2020, its population was 20,956. Tauragė is situated on the Jūra, Jūra River, close to the border with the Kaliningr ...

. The River Lokysta flows through the town and there is a pond in the centre of the town.

History

The town is part of the Samogitian

ethnographic Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

region of Lithuania and was first mentioned in the sixteenth century. Its name derives from the generic word sila ("Pinewood") and Samogitian suffix ''-alė.'' It was located in the

Duchy of Samogitia The Duchy of Samogitia (, , ) was an administrative unit of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1422 (and from 1569, a member country of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth). Between 1422 and 1441 it was known as the Eldership of Samogitia. Si ...

in the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

within the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the town was under Soviet occupation from 1940, and then under

German occupation German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany at ...

from 1941 to 1944. In July 1941, 135 Jewish men from Šilalė were shot on a site in the Jewish cemetery. In September 1941, the Jewish women and children of Šilalė were shot in the Tūbinės forest. Around 1,300 Jews were massacred 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 imp ...

of Germans and local Lithuanian collaborators.

Population

Ethnic composition

2011 – population of 5,492 people: * Lithuanian – 99.02% (5438); * Russian – 0.33% (18); * Other – 0.66% (36). 2001 – population of 6,281 people: * Lithuanian – 99.23% (6235); * Russian – 0.37% (23); * Other – 0.37% (23).

Notable people

* Ferdinand Ignatius Piłsudski (–), Lithuanian nobleman, and a Colonel and Commander in the

n division of the

. * Franciszek Piłsudski (1713–1791) Lithuanian nobleman, '' Podczaszy'' (Deputy Cup Bearer) and member of the Sejm in the

. * Stasys Girėnas (1893–1933), Lithuanian–American pilot *

Lukas Lekavičius Lukas Lekavičius (born March 30, 1994) is a Lithuanian professional basketball player for BC Žalgiris, Žalgiris Kaunas of the Lietuvos krepšinio lyga, Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) and the EuroLeague. Standing at , he plays the point guar ...

, professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player * Edvinas Gertmonas, professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player

References

Cities in Lithuania Cities in Tauragė County Municipalities administrative centres of Lithuania Rossiyensky Uyezd Holocaust locations in Lithuania Šilalė District Municipality {{TauragėCounty-geo-stub