Rusnė (german: Ruß) is a border town in Šilutė district, Lithuania, located on the Rusnė Island in the

Nemunas Delta Nemunas Delta is the Lithuanian name for the Neman (Nemunas) River Delta, in Lithuania. Prior to post-World War II border changes, it was known in German as the ''Memel Niederung'', as the Neman was for centuries called the Memel in German. When ...

, 9 km south-west from

Šilutė Šilutė (, previously ''Šilokarčiama'', german: link=no, Heydekrug), is a city in the south of the Klaipėda County, Lithuania. The city was part of the Klaipėda Region and ethnographic Lithuania Minor. Šilutė was the interwar capital of ...

History

Rusnė was first mentioned in historical sources in the 14th century. In 1419 the first church was built in Rusnė, and in 1553 a Lithuanian parish school was established.Nemunas Delta Regional Park website
Accessed September 16, 2006 In 1863 the Rusnė synagogue opened. In 1946 Rusnė received municipal rights, and in 1967 the whole Island of Rusnė was given this status.

Geography

Some parts of the town of Rusnė near

Lake Dumblė A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a Depression (geology), basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the World Ocean, oce ...

are located below the sea level and are the lowest in Lithuania. Rusnė is on the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

n border, which is marked by the Skirvytė river.

Tourism

Rusnė town and Rusnė island is very popular place for

angling Angling is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook or "angle" (from Old English ''angol'') attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated via a fishing rod, although rodless techni ...

, as Nemunas delta is rich in various kinds of fish, and tourism infrastructure is built up in recent years. It is also a popular place for

birdwatching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...

Kursenieki

While today the

Kursenieki The Kursenieki ( lv, kursenieki, kāpenieki, german: Kuren – 'Curonians'; lt, kuršiai; pl, Kuronowie pruscy – 'Prussian Curonians') are a nearly extinct Baltic ethnic group living along the Curonian Spit. "Kuršiai" refers only to inhabi ...

, also known as Kuršininkai are a nearly extinct

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 originati ...

ethnic group living along the

Curonian Spit The Curonian (Courish) Spit ( lt, Kuršių nerija; russian: Ку́ршская коса́ (Kurshskaya kosa); german: Kurische Nehrung, ; lv, Kuršu kāpas) is a long, thin, curved sand-dune spit that separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Balti ...

, in 1649 Kuršininkai settlement spanned from Memel (Klaipėda) to Danzig (Gdańsk), including in the area of the

. The Kuršininkai were eventually assimilated by the

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

, except along the Curonian Spit where some still live. The Kuršininkai were considered

Latvians Latvians ( lv, latvieši) are a Baltic ethnic group and nation native to Latvia and the immediate geographical region, the Baltics. They are occasionally also referred to as Letts, especially in older bibliography. Latvians share a common La ...

until after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

when Latvia gained independence from the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, a consideration based on linguistic arguments. This was the rationale for Latvian claims over the Curonian Spit, Memel, and other territories of East Prussia which would be later dropped.

Notable residents

* Heinrich Ancker (1850-1900), member of the Reichstag * Gerhard Gregor (1906–1981), musician * Rudolf Jenett (1914–1998), majorgeneral of the

Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

Hermann Kallenbach Hermann Kallenbach (1 March 1871 – 25 March 1945) was a Lithuanian-born Jewish South African architect who was one of the foremost friends and associates of Mahatma Gandhi. Kallenbach was introduced to the young Mohandas Gandhi while they were b ...

(1871-1945) architect * Charlotte Keyser (1890-1966), writer *

Otto D. Tolischus Otto David Tolischus (November 20, 1890 – February 24, 1967) was a Prussian Lithuanians, Prussian-Lithuanian-born journalist for ''The New York Times'' and winner of the 1940 Pulitzer Prize for Correspondence for his writing and reporting from Be ...

(1890–1967), journalist

Image gallery

Image:Rusne from Nemunas.JPG, View of Rusnė from Pakalnė and Neman confluence Image:Rusne7.JPG, Rusnė housing Image:Rusne old rectory.JPG, Old Rusnė rectory, now a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

Image:Rusne ethnographic museum.JPG,

Ethnographic museum Ethnographic museums conserve, display and contextualize items relevant to the field of ethnography, the systematic study of people and cultures. Such museums include: List by country/region Albania * Ethnographic Museum of Kavajë, * Gjirokast� ...

near Rusnė Image:Rusne center housing 2.JPG, House in the Rusnė central square Image:Rusne_anglers.JPG, Anglers on Rusnė island Image:Rusne Neringa street.JPG, Neringa street Image:Rusne Lutheran church.jpg,

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

church in Rusnė Image:Rusne church.jpg, The church (1809) in Rusnė

References

Towns in Lithuania Towns in Klaipėda County Rusnė Island {{KlaipėdaCounty-geo-stub