Gargždai () is a city in western Lithuania located in

Klaipėda County Klaipėda County ( lt, Klaipėdos apskritis) 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 t ...

. The Minija River flows through the city.John S. Jaffer
ShtetLinks: Gargzdai (Gorzd), Lithuania
JewishGen, Inc., the Home of Jewish Genealogy. Accessed June 18, 2011.

Gargždai Stadium Gargždai Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Gargždai, Lithuania. It is mostly used for football matches and hosts the home games of the team, FK Banga Gargždai, of the A Lyga The A Lyga is the top division of professional football in Li ...

is its main sports venue. Gargždai is the Lithuanian name of the city. Versions of the name in other languages include Polish: ''Gorżdy'',

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

: Горжды ''Gorzhdy'', Belarusian: Го́ржды ''Horzhdy'',

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

: גורזד ''Gorzhd'', German: ''Garsden''.

The Holocaust

The number of Jewish residents of Gargzdai killed by the Nazi '' Einsatzkommando'' death squad during the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

is at least 500 including 200 men killed on June 24, 1941, and 300 women with children killed on September 14 and 16, 1941. The killings were perpetrated by

Einsatzgruppe A (, ; 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 im ...

under the command of SS

Brigadeführer ''Brigadeführer'' (, ) was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) that was used between the years of 1932 to 1945. It was mainly known for its use as an SS rank. As an SA rank, it was used after briefly being known as ''Untergruppenf ...

Walter Stahlecker Franz Walter Stahlecker (10 October 1900 – 23 March 1942) was commander of the SS security forces (''Sicherheitspolizei'' (SiPo) and the ''Sicherheitsdienst'' (SD) for the ''Reichskommissariat Ostland'' in 1941–42. Stahlecker commanded '' Ei ...

, and documented in the Jäger report. BZNGargždųKostelSvArchMikuláše01

International relations

In 2015 the development of Gargzdai Industrial Park (GIP) started to take place. It is located on the city boundary, in Gamyklos street. Both industrial and commercial purpose land with a total area of is offered to foreign and domestic investors. It is expected that the new industrial park will attract foreign investments, create new job vacancies for the unemployed in the region and proclaim the city of Gargzdai in other countries.

Industry

Established in 1993 and now located in Gargždai, Mars Lietuva is one of the biggest Mars Incorporated plants in Europe. With around 800 Associates, "Mars Lietuva" produces more than 85 000 tones of over 400 different recipe varieties and formats of pet food annually, which is mainly exported to over 30 European countries.

Twin towns — Sister cities

Gargždai is twinned with: *

Iława Iława (; german: Deutsch Eylau ) is a town in northern Poland with 32,276 inhabitants (2010). It is situated in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship (since 1999); previously it was in Olsztyn Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is the capital of Iława C ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gargzdai Cities in Lithuania Cities in Klaipėda County Municipalities administrative centres of Lithuania Telshevsky Uyezd Holocaust locations in Lithuania