Veliuona ( sgs, Veliouna, pl, Wielona, german: Wehlonen) is a small town on the

Nemunas River The Neman, Nioman, Nemunas or MemelTo bankside nations of the present: Lithuanian: be, Нёман, , ; russian: Неман, ''Neman''; past: ger, Memel (where touching Prussia only, otherwise Nieman); lv, Nemuna; et, Neemen; pl, Niemen; ...

in the Jurbarkas district municipality in Lithuania.

History

Veliuona (also known as Junigeda) was first mentioned in 1291 in the chronicle of Peter of Duisburg. The town is primarily known as the burial place of

Gediminas Gediminas ( la, Gedeminne, ; – December 1341) was the king or Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1315 or 1316 until his death. He is credited with founding this political entity and expanding its territory which later spanned the area ranging from t ...

. An old church, founded by

Vytautas the Great Vytautas (c. 135027 October 1430), also known as Vytautas the Great ( Lithuanian: ', be, Вітаўт, ''Vitaŭt'', pl, Witold Kiejstutowicz, ''Witold Aleksander'' or ''Witold Wielki'' Ruthenian: ''Vitovt'', Latin: ''Alexander Vitoldus'', O ...

in 1421, was rebuilt and enlarged in 1636. In 1501–1506 m. Veliuona was granted

Magdeburg rights Magdeburg rights (german: Magdeburger Recht; also called Magdeburg Law) were a set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973) and based on the Flemish Law, which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within ...

by the Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland

Alexander Jagiellon Alexander Jagiellon ( pl, Aleksander Jagiellończyk, lt, Aleksandras Jogailaitis; 5 August 1461 – 19 August 1506) of the House of Jagiellon was the Grand Duke of Lithuania and later also King of Poland. He was the fourth son of Casimir IV Jag ...

. In the 18th century Veliuona belonged to prince

Józef Poniatowski Prince Józef Antoni Poniatowski (; 7 May 1763 – 19 October 1813) was a Polish general, minister of war and army chief, who became a Marshal of the French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. A nephew of king Stanislaus Augustus of Poland (), ...

, in the 19th century to the Zalewski family. In July 1941, an Einsatzgruppen of German and Lithuanian nationalists murdered dozens of Jews from the town in mass executions.

Gallery

File:Veliuona.jpg, Veliuona from west File:Lithuania Veliuona Gediminas tomb.jpg,

tombstone File:Veliuona vytautas.jpg,

Monument File:Veliuona in 19c.jpg, Veliuona in 19th century

References

Veliuona, 2001, Versme, 1176 p.

External links

Towns in Lithuania Towns in Tauragė County Duchy of Samogitia Kovensky Uyezd Holocaust locations in Lithuania {{TauragėCounty-geo-stub