Salantai () is a small town in

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 in the

Klaipėda County Klaipėda County () 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 the west is the Baltic S ...

, Kretinga district.

Etymology

Salantai is named after the Salantas River, which runs through the town.

History

Salantai area was known to be inhabited since the Bronze Age -

1st millennium BC File:1st millennium BC.jpg, 400x400px, From top left clockwise: The Parthenon, a former temple in Athens, Greece; Aristotle, Greek philosopher; Gautama Buddha, a spiritual teacher and the founder of Buddhism; Wars of Alexander the Great last from ...

. Since 1556 ''Skilandžiai'' manor and town are mentioned. In 1567 town had a marketplace, 4 streets and 27 houses. In 1630 first church was built and since 1638 ''Skilandžiai'' was started to be named as Salantai. In 1667 parish school was founded. In 1668 Salantai was being named a town in which 66 families lived. In 1750 forty Catholic homes or homesteads (''kiemas'') were counted. A few years later, in 1765, the first enumeration of Jewish taxpayers found 279. Aleksandras Bendikas, the Lithuanian book carrier and publisher settled in Salantai and since 1905 started to publish a calendar for the farmers ''Traveler, leaving to Samogitia and Lithuania'' (''Keleivis, išeinąs į Žemaičius ir Lietuvą''). A parson, canon Pranas Urbonavičius established a

consumers' co-operative A consumer cooperative is an enterprise owned by consumers and managed democratically and that aims at fulfilling the needs and aspirations of its members. Such cooperatives operate within the market economy independently of the state, as a for ...

''Kaukas'' in 1905, in 1906 opened a Lithuanian primary school for girls supported by the

Saulė Society Saulė Society (; "saulė" means ''sun'') was a Catholic educational society active in Lithuania from 1906 to 1940. It organized and maintained Lithuanian-language schools in the Kovno Governorate, Russian Empire, and later interwar Lithuania. Th ...

, and in 1906–1911 built church (archit. Karlas Eduardas Strandmanas). This town is known for three famed

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

s: Rabbi

Yisrael Lipkin Salanter Yisrael ben Ze'ev Wolf Lipkin, also known as "Israel Salanter" or "Yisroel Salanter" (November 3, 1809 – February 2, 1883), was the father of the Musar movement in Orthodox Judaism and a famed Rosh yeshiva and Talmudist. The epithet ''Salanter ...

, his teacher Rabbi

Zundel Salant Yosef Zundel of Salant (1786–1866) (also known as Zundel Salant) was an Ashkenazi rabbi and the primary teacher of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter. Biography Early life and family Zundel was born on the first day of Rosh Hashana in 1786 (Septemb ...

, and Rabbi

Shmuel Salant Shmuel Salant (; January 2, 1816 – August 16, 1909) served as the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem for almost 70 years. He was a renowned Talmudist and Torah scholar. Early life Shmuel Salant was born in Białystok, then part of the Russ ...

, who spent most of his life in Salantai. Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Jerusalem between 1866 and 1910, also lived here before immigration. During the summer of 1941, 95

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

of the city were massacred in a mass execution by

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

and their local collaborators in the nearby forest. In 2025, Lithuanian researchers found records in metrics of the Salantai Church of the Assumption where it is stated that

Michał Kleofas Ogiński Michał Kleofas Ogiński (25 September 1765 – 15 October 1833) was a Polish diplomat and politician, Grand Treasurer of Lithuania, and a senator of Tsar Alexander I. He was also a composer of late Classical and early Romantic music. Early ...

was born in the surroundings of Salantai and was

baptized Baptism (from ) is a Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by sprinkling or pouring water on the head, or by immersing in water either partially or completely, traditionally three ...

in the Salantai Church of the Assumption.

Culture

The Orvydas Farmstead located on the outskirts of Salantai is a sculpture park created by the Lithuanian artist Vilius Orvydas.

External links

Secondary School - History of Salantai

History of Salantai town

References

{{Authority control Cities in Klaipėda County Cities in Lithuania Telshevsky Uyezd Historic Jewish communities in Lithuania Holocaust locations in Lithuania