Eržvilkas ( Samogitian: ''Eržvėlks'') is a town in Taurage County,

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 429 people.

Etymology

''Eržilas'' + ''vilkas'' ("stallion" + "wolf"). The name of the town comes from the name of the local stream with the same name, a tributary of the river. According to a local legend, a detachment of

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

was chased off after one Samoginian scared Crusader's horses by wolf's scent by covering his stallion with wolf's hide and letting him go onto the Crusader's herd. This event is reflected in the coat of arms of the town.Gitana Kazimieraitienė, ''"Legendos pasakoja". Lietuvos geografiniai objektai'', Kaunas, ''Šviesa'', 2008
p. 100
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History

Jewish history

Before

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 ...

and 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 village had an important Jewish community. In 1923, they were 46% of the total population. At the beginning of the Second World War there were 180 Jews living in the village. In 1941 these Jews were exploited as forced labour. In September 1941, they were murdered in mass executions perpetrated 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 Lithuanian policemen at the Gryblaukis forest.

Notable residents

* Hermann Schapira (1840–1898), a mathematician and important forerunner of the

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

movement, was born here

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erzvilkas Towns in Lithuania Towns in Tauragė County Rossiyensky Uyezd Holocaust locations in Lithuania