Smalininkai

Smalininkai
City
Piers on the Nemunas River in Smalininkai
Nickname(s): Smolnis
Smalininkai
Location of Smalininkai
Coordinates: 55°5′0″N 22°34′0″E / 55.08333°N 22.56667°E / 55.08333; 22.56667Coordinates: 55°5′0″N 22°34′0″E / 55.08333°N 22.56667°E / 55.08333; 22.56667
Country  Lithuania
Ethnographic region Lithuania Minor
County Tauragė County
Municipality Jurbarkas district municipality
Eldership Smalininkai eldership
Capital of Smalininkai eldership
First mentioned 15th century
Granted city rights 1945
Population (2007)
 • Total 621
Time zone UTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST) UTC+3 (EEST)

Smalininkai ( pronunciation ) is a small city in Lithuania. It is in the former Samogitian part of Memelland on the right bank of the Neman River, 12 km (7.5 mi) west from Jurbarkas. It was part of German East Prussia and was called Schmalleningken from 1422 to 1945. Between 1923 - 1939 and since the World War II it has been part of Lithuania.

Name

The name describes a place of tar and pitch burners ("smala": tar, pitch; -ingken: village).

History

Since 1422 (Treaty of Melno) Schmalleningken was a border village at the Lithuanian-German customs frontier. In 1792 it was appointed to a market town. In 1845 the village became a parish and 1878 a church was built there. In 1902 a light railway was built from Pogegen to Schmalleningken. The village had in 1925 1,741 inhabitants and was incorporated into the Landkreis Tilsit-Ragnit in 1939.

Literature

  • Kurschat, Heinrich A.: Das Buch vom Memelland, Siebert Oldenburg 1968
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