Darbėnai is a small town in

Klaipėda County Klaipėda County () is one of ten counties in Lithuania, bordering Tauragė County to the southeast, Telšiai County to the northeast, Kurzeme in Latvia to the north, and Kaliningrad Oblast in Russia to the south. To the west is the Baltic S ...

, in northwestern

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 ...

. According to the 2011 census, the town has a population of 1,461 people. It is located 16 km north of

Kretinga Kretinga (Yiddish: קרעטינגע) is a List of cities in Lithuania, city in Klaipėda County, in north-western Lithuania. It is the capital of the Kretinga District Municipality. It is located east of the popular Baltic Sea resort town of Pala ...

. Darbėnai is the capital of Darbėnai eldership.

History

Darbėnai was first mentioned in 1591 but it is thought that the village was established in 1566 during the

Wallach reform The Volok Reform (; ; ) was a 16th-century land reform in parts of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Lithuania proper, Duchy of Samogitia and parts of White Ruthenia). The reform was started by Grand Duchess Bona Sforza in her possessions to increase t ...

. According to

Simonas Daukantas Simonas Daukantas (; 28 October 1793 – 6 December 1864) was a Lithuanian/Samogitian historian, writer, and ethnographer. One of the pioneers of the Lithuanian National Revival, he is credited as the author of the first book on the history of Li ...

in 1550 it was still a Palanga forest (''Palangos giria''). In 1621

Jan Karol Chodkiewicz Jan Karol Chodkiewicz (; 1561 – 24 September 1621) was a Polish–Lithuanian identity, Polish–Lithuanian military commander of the Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army, who was from 1601 Field Hetman of Lithuania, and from 1605 Grand Hetman of Lit ...

built the first wooden church in the town. In 1701 the duke of Courland granted the privilege of trade to the town which was confirmed by the king

Augustus II the Strong Augustus II the Strong (12 May 1670 – 1 February 1733), was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1697 to 1706 and from 1709 until his death in 1733. He belonged to the Albertine branch of the H ...

. Since 1730 Darbėnai was started to call a town. In the beginning of the 19th century, the first parish school was established. In 1842 the current Catholic church named after Saint Apostles Peter and Paul was built. In 1855 the first public primary school was opened. Darbėnai was an important centre during the 1831 Uprising however the town burned during the battles. Since 1861 Darbėnai became the centre of volost. In 1897 there lived 2059 inhabitants. The post office was opened in 1906. In 1923 Darbėnai had 1018 inhabitants and in 1936 - 1921 inhabitants. In 1930 there was built the Independence Monument (it was destroyed in 1962 and rebuilt in 1989). Just before World War II, there were around 800 Jews in Darbėnai (about 80% of all residents). They were mostly traders and craftsmen. There was a synagogue, a Jewish meeting house, several schools, a Jewish library, local bureaus of Zionists and social democrats, theatre and sports clubs in Darbėnai. The German Army occupied on June 24, 1941. With the help of locl collaborators, they executed more than 500 Jews at the edge of the forest outside the city. During the years of Soviet occupation Darbėnai was the central settlement of kolkhoz. In 1944–1952 Darbėnai environs, Vaineikiai forest

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 ...

had a staff of Kardas (The Sword) detachment belonging to

Žemaičiai military district Žemaičiai military district () was a military district of Lithuanian partisans which operated in 1945–1953 in the counties of Telšiai County, Telšiai, Kretinga, Mažeikiai, and some parts of Tauragė county. It is named after ethnographic reg ...

. Nowadays Darbėnai is the capital of Darbėnai eldership. The old town of Darbėnai is an urbanistic monument. There operates a post office, public library, kindergarten, gymnasium, hospital, pharmacy, home of culture, forester's administration etc.

Origin of the name

Darbėnai was called after the river Darba which flows near the town.

Notable people

David Wolffsohn David Wolffsohn (; ; 9 October 1855 in Darbėnai, Kovno Governorate – 15 September 1914) was a Lithuanian-Jewish businessman, prominent early Zionist and second president of the Zionist Organization (ZO). Biography David Wolffsohn was ...

(1856–1914) a Lithuanian-Jewish businessman, prominent early Zionist * Kazys Maksvytis (born 1977) a

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 ...

coach, who currently works for Žalgiris * Mindaugas Rojus (born 1981) a Lithuanian opera singer *

Joshua Bloch Joshua J. Bloch (born August 28, 1961) is an American software engineer and a technology author. He led the design and implementation of numerous Java platform features, including the Java Collections Framework, the package, and the mechanism ...

(1890–1957) a rabbi and librarian * The grandmother of

Mark Cuban Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958) is an American businessman and television personality. He is the former principal owner and current minority owner of the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and co-owner of 2929 Entertain ...

, American entrepreneur and NBA club owner, hails from Darbėnai.

References

Towns in Lithuania Towns in Klaipėda County Telshevsky Uyezd Holocaust locations in Lithuania {{KlaipėdaCounty-geo-stub