Nemenčinė is the original name of the town reflected in historical documents and still in use today.[1] It derives from a Lithuanian word referring to the river Nemenčia.[1] Other versions of the name include Niemenczyn in Polish, Неменчын in Belarusian, Неменчине (or Нямянчине) in Russian, Nementschine in German and Nementchin (נעמענטשין) in Yiddish.
History
Fragment of a map of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1613) and Nemenčinė (Niemenizijina), shown just north of the capital Vilnius (Vilna).
Lithuanian wooden castle and the mound stood in Nemenčinė in 10-14th centuries. The settlement started to grow around the castle. In 1387, following the Christianization of Lithuania, Jogaila established the first Christian parish in Nemenčinė and built a church there. In a 1434 document Andrius Sakaitis, one of the most influential Lithuanian nobleman families during the reign of Grand Duke of LithuaniaCasimir IV Jagiellon, listed Nemenčinė as his domain. In 1554, Nemenčinė after the Volok Reform got the rights of the town.
On 20 September 1941, 403 Jews from the town were massacred in a mass execution. 128 men, 186 women and 99 children were shot by an Einsatzgruppen of local Nazi collaborators. In 1971, a monument was erected on the execution site.[2]
Ethnic composition
The ethnic composition of Nemenčinė is as follows:[3]
