Seirijai is a small town in

Alytus County Alytus County () is one of ten counties of Lithuania, counties in Lithuania. It is the southernmost county, and its Capital (political), capital is the city of Alytus. Its territory lies within the Regions of Lithuania, ethnographic region of Dz� ...

in southern

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 ...

. In 2011 it had a population of 788.

Etymology

Seirijai toponym came from the lake ''Seirijis'', which got its name from the creek ''Seira'' name of which is of Dainavian dielect of Lithuanian language (from Lithuanian word "sūrus" meaning either salty or soured). Derivative names in other languages are - Polish: ''Sereje'', German: ''Serrey'', English sometimes "Serey"

History

The lands were inhabited by the

Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Lithuania, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe ** Lithuanian language ** Lithuanians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to Lithuania and the immediate geographical region ** L ...

tribe Dainavians. Due to the frequent raids and pillaging of the

Teutonic Order The Teutonic Order is a religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious institution founded as a military order (religious society), military society in Acre, Israel, Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Sa ...

, the Dainavians moved to other parts of Lithuania abandoning the lands and Seirijai became a wilderness. From 1383 to 1398 Seirijai was in the

State of the Teutonic Order The State of the Teutonic Order () was a theocratic state located along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea in northern Europe. It was formed by the knights of the Teutonic Order during the early 13th century Northern Crusades in the region ...

. After the defeat of the Teutonic Order in the

Battle of Grunwald The Battle of Grunwald was fought on 15 July 1410 during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. The alliance of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led respectively by King Władysław II Jagiełło (Jogaila), a ...

and the

Treaty of Melno The Treaty of Melno (; ) or Treaty of Lake Melno () was a peace treaty ending the Gollub War. It was signed on 27 September 1422, between the State_of_the_Teutonic_Order, Teutonic Knights and an alliance of the Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569), Kin ...

(1422), the land became populated again and started to grow economically. Since the 16th century Serijai was known as a proprietary land of a ruler. King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania

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 ...

donated Seirijai to

Jerzy Radziwiłł Jerzy Radziwiłł (; 1480 – April 1541), nicknamed "Herkules", was a Polish–Lithuanian nobleman. He was Deputy Cup-Bearer of Lithuania from 1510, voivode of Kiev Voivodeship from 1510, Field Hetman of Lithuania in 1521, castellan of ...

, and later it became a possession of Radziwill family. Jerzy Radziwill built a Catholic church in 1537. Already in 1564 the church was given to Calvinists, since many in the Radziwill family converted to

Calvinism Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyteri ...

. The tensions between Catholics and Calvinists lasted up to 1655 and the Thirteen Years' War with Russia. Seirijai was devastated and the Calvinists retreated. From 1691 until 1793 the district was a Prussian

exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...

within Poland-Lithuania (). In 1793 it was ceded, along with

Tauragė Tauragė (; see #Names and etymology, other names) is an industrial city in Lithuania, and the capital of Tauragė County. In 2020, its population was 20,956. Tauragė is situated on the Jūra, Jūra River, close to the border with the Kaliningr ...

(Tauroggen), to Poland-Lithuania as "compensation" for the territories annexed in the

Second Partition of Poland The 1793 Second Partition of Poland was the second of partitions of Poland, three partitions (or partial annexations) that ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The second partition (politics), partition occurred i ...

; it returned to Prussian control two years later in the

Third Partition of Poland The Third Partition of Poland (1795) was the last in a series of the Partitions of Poland–Lithuania and the land of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth among Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy, and the Russian Empire which effectively ended Polis ...

, this time as a fully

contiguous Contiguity or contiguous may refer to: *Contiguous data storage, in computer science *Contiguity (probability theory) *Contiguity (psychology) *Contiguous distribution of species, in biogeography *Geographic contiguity Geographic contiguity is t ...

part of Prussia within the

New East Prussia New East Prussia (; ; ) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1795 to 1807. It was created out of territory annexed in the Third Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and included parts of Masovia, Podlaskie, Trakai voivod ...

province. In 1807 it passed by the

Treaties of Tilsit The Treaties of Tilsit (), also collectively known as the Peace of Tilsit (; ), were two peace treaties signed by French Emperor Napoleon in the town of Tilsit in July 1807 in the aftermath of his victory at Friedland, at the end of the War o ...

to the

Duchy of Warsaw The Duchy of Warsaw (; ; ), also known as the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and Napoleonic Poland, was a First French Empire, French client state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars. It initially comprised the ethnical ...

, a Polish

client state A client state in the context of international relations is a State (polity), state that is economically, politically, and militarily subordinated to a more powerful controlling state. Alternative terms for a ''client state'' are satellite state, ...

of the

First French Empire The First French Empire or French Empire (; ), also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from ...

. 1815 it became part of

Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...

, a kingdom in a

personal union A personal union is a combination of two or more monarchical states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, involves the constituent states being to some extent in ...

with the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

; while formally separate from Russia, Congress Poland increasingly became ''de facto'' part of it, culminating in the 1867 establishment of the

Vistula Land Vistula Land, also known as Vistula Country (; ), was the name applied to the lands of Congress Poland from 1867, following the defeats of the November Uprising (1830–1831) and January Uprising (1863–1864) as it was increasingly stripped of ...

in its place. After

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 ...

it became part of the newly independent

Republic of 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 ...

. During the

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 ...

almost all Seirijai was bombed by German army. On September 11, 1941, 953 Jews from Seirijai were murdered in the Baraučiškės Forest, including 229 men, 384 women and 340 children. The mass execution was perpetrated by

Rollkommando Hamann ''Rollkommando'' Hamann () was a small mobile unit that committed mass murders of Lithuanian Jews in the countryside in July–October 1941, with an estimated death toll of at least 60,000 Jews. The unit was also responsible for many murders in L ...

(, a small mobile unit that committed mass murders of

Lithuanian Jews {{Jews and Judaism sidebar , Population Litvaks ({{Langx, yi, ליטװאַקעס) or Lita'im ({{Langx, he, לִיטָאִים) are Jews who historically resided in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (covering present-day Lithuan ...

in the countryside across Lithuania in July–October 1941, with a death toll of at least 60,000 Jews.) / 1st Battalion 3rd Unit led by Norkus and Obelenis; Lithuanian Activists Front members from Seirijai In 2018 a monument was built in Seirijai for

Lithuanian partisans Lithuanian partisans () were partisans who waged guerrilla warfare in Lithuania against the Soviet Union in 1944–1953. Similar anti-Soviet resistance groups, also known as Forest Brothers and cursed soldiers, fought against Soviet rule in E ...

, who fought against Soviet occupants. Seirijai belonged to Dainava partisans military district.

Economy

Company ''Seirijų žirgai'', which keeps and breeds

Trakehner Trakehner () is a light warmblood breed of horse, originally developed at the East Prussian state stud farm in the town of Trakehnen from which the breed takes its name. The was established in 1731 and operated until 1944, when the figh ...

horses.

Notable people

* Alexander Ziskind Maimon (1809–1887) – Lithuanian Jewish author and scholar of the Talmud. *

Antanas Žmuidzinavičius Antanas Žmuidzinavičius (, 31 October 1876 – 9 August 1966) was a Lithuanian painter and art collector. Educated at the Veiveriai Teachers' Seminary, Žmuidzinavičius worked as a teacher while pursuing art education in the evenings in Warsa ...

(1876–1966) – Lithuanian painter. *

Bronius Kazys Balutis Bronius Kazys Balutis (1880–1967) was a Lithuanian diplomat. He worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania in 1919–1928 and was involved in many of the major international negotiations of the period. He was the Lithuanian envoy t ...

(1880–1967) – Lithuanian diplomat. * Juozas Adomonis (g. 1932) – artist, ceramicist. * Vidas Kavaliauskas (g. 1965) – Lithuanian linguist.

References

{{Authority control Towns in Lithuania Towns in Alytus County Holocaust locations in Lithuania