Dieveniškės

(Redirected from Dieveniskes)

Dieveniškės (in Lithuanian literally: Place of gods; Polish: Dziewieniszki; Belarusian: Дзевянішкі Dzevyanishki) is a town in the Vilnius County of Lithuania, about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from the Belarusian border in the so-called Dieveniškės appendix. It is surrounded by the Dieveniškės Regional Park.

Dieveniškės
Dziewieniszki
Town
Coat of arms of Dieveniškės
Dieveniškės is located in Lithuania
Dieveniškės
Dieveniškės
Location of Dieveniškės
Coordinates: 54°11′40″N 25°37′30″E / 54.19444°N 25.62500°E / 54.19444; 25.62500
Country Lithuania
Ethnographic regionDzūkija
County Vilnius County
MunicipalityŠalčininkai district municipality
EldershipDieveniškės eldership
First mentioned1385
Area
 • Total0.47 km2 (0.18 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)
 • Total578
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)
Map

History

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Jewish cemetery of the town.

The estate of Dieveniškės was first mentioned in 1385 as a village of a Lithuanian noble Mykolas Mingaila, possibly the son of Gedgaudas, later ruled by the Goštautai family. Stanislovas Goštautas visited Dieveniškės with his wife Barbara Radziwill (Lithuanian: Barbora Radvilaitė), who used to pray in Dieveniškės church, built in the 16th century. According to the 1897 census, 75% of the village population was Jewish, and the town had two synagogues. The Jewish population was murdered during the Holocaust in Lithuania.[1][2]

The people living in the Dieveniškės were ethnically mixed (Lithuanian, Polish, Belarusian), when the region was assigned to Belarus post-1939. Belarus gave the area voluntarily to Lithuania in 1940. As the result, Dieveniškės becomes a 207-square-kilometre Lithuanian salient surrounded by and projecting some 30 kilometres into the Belarusian territory. At its neck, the “Lithuanian appendix” is less than 3 kilometres wide. According to the 1989 census, slightly over 60 percent of residents considered themselves Polish.[3]

References

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  1. ^ "DIEVENISKES: Vilnius County, Salcininkai district | Lithuania | International Jewish Cemetery Project".
  2. ^ "Devenishki book; memorial book, Lithuania".
  3. ^ "Lithuanian-Belarusian border: Divided villages, divided lives". 15min.lt. 19 October 2012.