Žeimelis is a

small town "Small Town" is a 1985 song written by John Mellencamp and released on his eighth album ''Scarecrow (John Mellencamp album), Scarecrow''. The song reached #6 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and #13 on the Adult Contempo ...

in northern

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 ...

, 40 km to the north from

Pakruojis Pakruojis (; ) is a city in Lithuania. It is situated on the Kruoja River, which has a dam above the city. Forty three buildings of the manor, mentioned in 1531 still survive. History Pakruojis and it neighbourhood are within the boundaries of th ...

, near the border with

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. It is a centre of an elderate. According to a census in 2011, Žeimelis had 953 residents. Town of Žeimelis is a state-protected urbanistic monument. The town of Žeimelis has a town square with inns from the 18th and 19th centuries; the inns were adjusted for defensive needs as well. Žeimelis has museum of

Semigallia Semigallia is one of the Historical Latvian Lands located to the south of the Daugava and to the north of the Saule region of Samogitia. The territory is split between Latvia and Lithuania, previously inhabited by the Semigallian Baltic tri ...

History

The lands were inhabited by the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

tribe

Semigallians Semigallians (; ; also ''Zemgalians'', ''Semigalls'' or ''Semigalians'') were the Balts, Baltic tribe that lived in the south central part of contemporary Latvia and northern Lithuania. They are noted for their long resistance (1219–1290) agai ...

. Žeimelis manor was first mentioned in 1500. In 1542 Žeimelis was known as a town. In 1592–1674 school of reformats was operating. Since the 17th century Žeimelis was a place of big markets. Field Marshal

Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly Prince Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly (baptised – ) was a Russian field marshal who figured prominently in the Napoleonic Wars. Barclay was born into a Baltic German family from Livland. His father was the first of his family to be accep ...

was baptized in the Lutheran church on December 27, 1761. The high school was established in 1920. An agriculture school was founded in 1937. In August 1941, a total of 160 Jews from Žeimelis were murdered by an

Einsatzgruppe (, ; 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 impl ...

. The mass execution was perpetrated by Germans and local collaborators. After the Soviet occupation,

Lithuanian partisans Lithuanian partisans () were partisans who waged guerrilla warfare in Lithuania against the Soviet Union in 1944–1953. Similar anti-Soviet resistance groups, also known as Forest Brothers and cursed soldiers, fought against Soviet rule in E ...

from Prisikėlimas military district were active in Žeimelis and its surroundings.

Famous people

Abraham Isaac Kook Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook (; 7 September 1865 – 1 September 1935), known as HaRav Kook, and also known by the Hebrew-language acronym Hara'ayah (), was an Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox rabbi, and the first Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbina ...

, chief rabbi of Palestine, and philosopher of religious Zionism. * Liebegott Otto Conrad Schultz (1772 - 1840) * Theodor Grotthuss, the originator of the first law of photochemistry, author of the first theory of electrolysis * Juozas Šliavas, historian * Julius Juzeliūnas, composer

References

External links

Žeimelis Žiemgalos Museum
Towns in Lithuania Towns in Šiauliai County Ponevezhsky Uyezd Holocaust locations in Lithuania Pakruojis District Municipality {{ŠiauliaiCounty-geo-stub