Dūkštas

Dūkštas
City
Church of Dūkštas
Coat of arms
Dūkštas Location of Dūkštas
Coordinates: 55°31′20″N 26°19′10″E
Country	Lithuania
Ethnographic region	Aukštaitija
County	Utena County
Municipality	Ignalina district municipality
Eldership	Dūkštas eldership
Capital of	Dūkštas eldership
First mentioned	1862
Granted city rights	1956
Population  (2021)
• Total	729
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)

Dūkštas (pronunciation^ⓘ; Polish: Dukszty) is a city in eastern Lithuania, 26 km (16 mi) north from Ignalina, on the bank of Lake Dūkštas.^[1]

History

Railway station in 1916

During World War I, the town was occupied by Germany.

In the interbellum, it was administratively located in the Wilno Voivodeship of Poland. According to the 1921 Polish census, the town had a population of 1,076, of which 91.1% declared Polish nationality.^[2]

During World War II, it was initially occupied by the Soviet Union until 1941, then by Nazi Germany until 1944, and then once again by the Soviet Union, which eventually annexed it from Poland. The Germans operated a forced labour camp for Jews in the town.^[3]

Notable people

• Charles Rappoport (1865–1941), militant communist politician, journalist and writer, who lived most of his life in a France
• Jerzy Turonek (1929–2019), Polish-Belarusian historian^[4]

References

1. "Utenos apskrities gyventojų surašymo duomenys". Lithuanian official statistics department. 2 August 2022.
2. Skorowidz miejscowości Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Tom VII. Część II (in Polish). Warszawa: Główny Urząd Statystyczny. 1923. p. 7.
3. "Zwangsarbeitslager für Juden Dukštas". Bundesarchiv.de (in German). Retrieved 25 December 2024.
4. "'Юры Туронак: І «Пагоня» вернецца, і мова таксама...' ('Jerzy Turonek: the Chase coat of arms will return and the language too')(in Belarusian)".