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Kybartai is a town in
Marijampolė County Marijampolė County () is one of the ten counties of Lithuania, counties in Lithuania. It is in the southwest of the country and roughly corresponds to the historical region of Suvalkija, Sudovia. Its Capital (political), capital and the largest ...
,
Vilkaviškis District Municipality Vilkaviškis () is a city in southwestern Lithuania, the administrative center of the Vilkaviškis District Municipality. It is located northwest from Marijampolė, at the confluence of and rivers. The city got its name from the Vilkauja ...
in south-western
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 ...
. It is located west of
Vilkaviškis Vilkaviškis () is a city in southwestern Lithuania, the administrative center of the Vilkaviškis District Municipality. It is located northwest from Marijampolė, at the confluence of and rivers. The city got its name from the Vilkauj ...
and is on the border of
Kaliningrad Oblast Kaliningrad Oblast () is the westernmost federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of the Russian Federation. It is a Enclave and exclave, semi-exclave on the Baltic Sea within the Baltic region of Prussia (region), Prussia, surrounded by Pola ...
,
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
.


History

Kybartai was founded during the reign of
Sigismund I the Old Sigismund I the Old (, ; 1 January 1467 – 1 April 1548) was List of Polish monarchs, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1506 until his death in 1548. Sigismund I was a member of the Jagiellonian dynasty, the son of Casimir IV of P ...
by the colonization efforts of his wife, Queen
Bona Sforza Bona Sforza (2 February 1494 – 19 November 1557) was Queen consort, Queen of Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569), Poland and List of Lithuanian consorts, Grand Duchess of Lithuania as the second wife of Sigismund the Old, and Duchess of Bari and ...
. In 1561, it was listed in the land register of
Jurbarkas Jurbarkas (; Samogitian: ''Jorbarks'', known also by several alternative names) is a city in Tauragė County, in Samogitia, Lithuania. Jurbarkas is located in the historic land of Karšuva. It is on the right-hand shore of the Nemunas at its c ...
and
Virbalis Virbalis (, , ''Virbalen'', ) is a list of cities in Lithuania, city in the Vilkaviškis district municipality, Lithuania. It is located west of Vilkaviškis. History It is frequently mentioned in historical as well in modern literature. In 15 ...
. When in 1861 a branch of the
Saint Petersburg–Warsaw Railway In Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Anglican, Oriental Ortho ...
was built from
Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...
to the
Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
n border, where it was linked to the
Prussian Eastern Railway The Prussian Eastern Railway () was a railway in the Kingdom of Prussia and later Germany until 1918. Its main route, approximately long, connected the capital, Berlin, with the cities of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) and Königsberg (now Kalini ...
, the Russian border station near the village of Kybartai was named after the neighbouring town of Verzhbolovo (Вержболово), Lithuanian
Virbalis Virbalis (, , ''Virbalen'', ) is a list of cities in Lithuania, city in the Vilkaviškis district municipality, Lithuania. It is located west of Vilkaviškis. History It is frequently mentioned in historical as well in modern literature. In 15 ...
, German Wirballen. Meanwhile, Kybartai has become a town bigger than Virbalis and the now Lithuanian border station is called Kybartai, too. The German station of the Prussian Eastern Railway on the western side of the frontier was ''Eydtkuhnen'' (Eitkūnai in Lithuanian), today it is the Russian border station and is called
Chernyshevskoye Chernyshevskoye (; , from 1938: ''Eydtkau''; ) is a settlement in Nesterovsky District in the eastern part of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, close to the border with Lithuania. Between Chernyshevskoye and Lithuanian Kybartai is an important 24-h ...
(Чернышевское). In 1914, Kybartai had 10,000 inhabitants. The town was destroyed in
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, but soon recovered and grew again. In 1919 and 1924, Kybartai was granted town rights and privileges. Small businesses began to set up. In 1919, the Žiburys Society founded a secondary school (later to become a gymnasium). Lithuanian, German and Jewish schools and folk universities were established. In 1919, the first
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
club in Lithuania, FK Sveikata, was founded. In 1923, the town recorded a population of 6000. In 1927-1928, the Eucharistic Saviour Church was built according to the design of architect
Vytautas Landsbergis-Žemkalnis Vytautas Landsbergis-Žemkalnis (10 March 1893 – 21 May 1993) was a Lithuanian architect most active in interwar Lithuania (1926–1939). He was the father of Vytautas Landsbergis, the first Lithuanian head of state after independence from th ...
. Kybartai was the last place where President
Antanas Smetona Antanas Smetona (; 10 August 1874 – 9 January 1944) was a Lithuanian intellectual, journalist and politician. He served as the first president of Lithuania from 1919 to 1920 and later as the authoritarian head of state from 1926 until the Occu ...
was staying in Lithuania. Late in the evening of 15 June 1940, when the Soviet Army invaded Lithuania, President Smetona fled from Kybartai to Germany after crossing the Liepona stream. On 23 June 1940, the were signed actually in
Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...
, but dated retrospectively by 15 June supposedly in Kybartai, marking the formal transfer of power to the so-called
Provisional Government of Lithuania The Provisional Government of Lithuania () was an attempted temporary government, provisional government to form an independent Lithuanian state in June Uprising in Lithuania, the last days of the Soviet occupation of Lithuania (1940), first Sovi ...
when Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Army. During
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 ...
, Kybartai was again severely devastated (only 100 inhabitants remained). On June 30, 1941, an
Einsatzgruppe (, ; 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 impl ...
of Germans and a few Lithuanian policemen perpetrated a mass execution of the local Jewish population. 106–116 men were murdered in a sand quarry. From July to Autumn 1941, other Jews from the town were executed with hundreds of victims from the nearby town of
Virbalis Virbalis (, , ''Virbalen'', ) is a list of cities in Lithuania, city in the Vilkaviškis district municipality, Lithuania. It is located west of Vilkaviškis. History It is frequently mentioned in historical as well in modern literature. In 15 ...
on another execution site. In 1945, the Kybartai Secondary School was founded and in 1964 was named after Kristijonas Donelaitis.


Climate


People born in Kybartai

* the Russian
landscape painter Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction in painting of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, rivers, trees, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a cohe ...
Isaac Ilyich Levitan (
Russian language Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...
: Исаак Ильич Левитан, 1860–1900) * the Polish composer
Emil Młynarski Emil Szymon Młynarski (; 18 July 18705 April 1935) was a Polish conducting, conductor, violinist, composer, and pedagogue. Life Młynarski was born in Kibarty (Kybartai), Russian Empire, now in Lithuania. He studied violin with Leopold Auer and ...
(1870–1935) * the Polish
ethnographer Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...
Maria Znamierowska-Prüfferowa Maria Znamierowska-Prüfferowa (1898–1990) was a Polish ethnography, ethnographer, professor at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, founder and long-term director of the Toruń Ethnographic Museum, posthumously named after her. She w ...
(1898-1990) * the Austrian singer Harald Serafin (born 1931) * the Lithuanian singer and politician (born 1966)


Notes


References

{{Authority control Cities in Lithuania Cities in Marijampolė County Historic Jewish communities in Lithuania Holocaust locations in Lithuania Populated places established in the 16th century