Eišiškės

It is located in the south-east of the country, on the Vilnius - Radun - Grodno highway, 70 km south-west of Vilnius , 35 km east of Varna and 33 km from Šalčininkai . Coordinates

Kindergarten, elementary school, 3 secondary schools (with Polish as the language of instruction, 650 students; with the Lithuanian language of instruction, 297 students; with the Russian language of instruction, 129 students; 2004 ), A. Ratkevicius Sports School (270 students), music school ( 70 students).

In Soviet times, an oil factory operated. As of January 1, 2000 , 82 enterprises were registered, of which 51 were individual, 24 closed joint-stock companies, 2 joint-stock companies, 1 public institution, 1 public organization.

The former trading square since 1969 is a monument of urban architecture of Lithuania.

The stone church of Christ's Ascension ( Kristaus Žengimo į dangų ; 1847 - 1852 ) with a separate high bell tower of 40 m (designed by Theodor Narbut ). The church has valuable paintings of the 18th-19th centuries.

At a distance of more than a kilometer from the church on the highway connecting with Shalniki, are the ruins of the castle, overgrown with forest and shrubs, and in them are the remains of the foundation of the optical telegraph St. Petersburg - Warsaw , which operated in the first half of the 19th century . Due to the latter circumstance, local residents still call the remains of the castle “Mayak”.

In 1820, the majority of the population - 80% - were Jews ^[3] . In 1866, there were 715 inhabitants, of which 600 were Jews. In 1896, 3156 inhabitants, in 1897 - 3196, mainly Jews , also Tatars , Poles , Lithuanians , gypsies .

Before World War II, the main population was Jews. There were synagogues in the city; out of 117 enterprises, 106 belonged to citizens of Jewish origin.

As a result of the extermination of the Jewish population, the ethnic composition of urban residents changed in a radical way.

In 1990, the population was 3.8 thousand inhabitants, according to the 2001 census, there were 3 857, of which 85% were Poles. Today the city has 3,629 inhabitants ( 2007 ).

The name ( lit. Eišiškės , Polish. Ejszyszki , Rus. Eishishki ) in the monuments of writing is found in versions on eik- ( Eykschissken , 1384; Eyksiskindorfee , 1387; Eyxyszki , 1492) and eiš- ( Ejszyszki , 1400; Eyshyski . Its origin is associated with the name of the Lithuanian nobleman Aikšas, Aikšis, Aishis ( lit. Eikšas , lit. Eišys ), which received this area in possession in the XIV century .

The city received the coat of arms under King Jan III Sobiesk along with Magdeburg rights in the 17th century . The modern coat of arms was approved on December 9, 1997 .

Known since the 14th century . The contract of Vytautas the Great with the Crusaders 1384 was sealed with the inscription "Wesisken", in which historians see the name of the town. Two separate parts of the city formed on both sides of the Versaki river ( lit. Verseka ) in the XIII century - the end of the XIV century . The southern part of the complex, the core of which was a Jewish place, is larger than the northern “jurzdika” (Jurzdika, from “jurisdiction”).

The city grew rapidly from the beginning of the 15th century and at the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th centuries was considered one of the important cities of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania .

Under King Jan III Sobieski, the place received Magdeburg rights and a coat of arms.

The first church was built in 1398 . The stone church of Christ's Ascension, preserved to our time ( Kristaus Žengimo į dangų ), was built in 1847 - 1852 according to the project of the historian and engineer Theodor Narbut .

In the first half of the 19th century , the lighthouse of the optical telegraph St. Petersburg - Warsaw operated in Eishishki.

On September 27, 1941, over 3,200 Jews were exterminated in Eishishki.

On the night of October 19–20, 1944, the mother and brother of Professor Jaffa Eliah , the founder of the first Holocaust Documentation and Research Center and director of the Holocaust Memorial Museum in the United States, died in Eishishki. In her book “There Once Was A World: A 900-Year Chronicle of the Shtetl of Eishyshok,” the death of loved ones is presented as an episode of the purposeful extermination of Jews by Polish nationalists “on Kresy ” (eastern outskirts of the pre-war Polish state). Polish historians argue that this was a tragic accident that occurred during the raid of the battle group of the Regional Army on the house of parents of Jaffa Eliah, in which captain SMERSHA , a sergeant and a policeman stayed.

After the Second World War, Eishishki were the district center of the Eishish region, in 1972 the administrative center was moved to Shalchininki , and the district was renamed.

• Not far from the city, the famous teacher Stanislav Rapolionis was born.

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  Church of Christ's Ascension

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  Bell tower of the church

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  Great Synagogue in Eishishki

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  Vilenskaya street (now Vilniaus; 1915-1917)

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  Remains of the castle (fragment)

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  Castle remains

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  Castle remains

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  Estate in Eišiškės

• Eishki // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.

• Aishish Starostvo, official page ( lit. )
• Czesław Malewski. Ejszyszki - Une ville à la frontière lituano-biélorusse ( French )
• Czesław Malewski. Ejszyszki - polskie miasteczko na pograniczu litewsko - białoruskim ( Polish )