Žeimiai () is a small town in

Kaunas County Kaunas County () is one of ten counties of Lithuania. It is in the centre of the country, and its Capital (political), capital is Kaunas. On 1 July 2010, the county administration was abolished. Symbols The county's coat of arms can be blazoned ...

in central

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 ...

the center of the Žeimiai Eldership. As of 2011 it had a population of 860.

History

Before the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

, the town had a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

population who were murdered in 1941 in mass executions perpetrated 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 Lithuanian collaborators. Polish architect Wacław Michniewicz, who was responsible for designing many buildings in Lithuania, designed the church in the town, and was buried in the churchyard there in 1947.

References

*''Parts of this article were initially translated from the Lithuanian Wikipedia.'' Jonava District Municipality Towns in Lithuania Towns in Kaunas County Kovensky Uyezd Holocaust locations in Lithuania {{KaunasCounty-geo-stub