Akmenė | |
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City | |
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 Flag .svg) Coat of arms | |
  Akmenė Location of Akmenė | |
| Coordinates:56°19′N22°54′E / 56.317°N 22.900°E /56.317; 22.900 | |
| Country |  Lithuania |
| Ethnographic region | Samogitia |
| County | Šiauliai County |
| Municipality | Akmenė district municipality |
| Eldership | Akmenė eldership |
| Capital of | Akmenė eldership |
| First mentioned | 1511 |
| Grantedcity rights | 1592 |
| Population (2021) | |
• Total | 2,345 |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
Akmenė (pronounced[ɐkˈmɛːneː]ⓘ) is a city in northernLithuania.
Following the discovery of large reserves of limestone and clay in the region, in 1947 construction work began on one of the largest cement production complexes in the Baltic States. Nearby, a new town grew up which was to become the region's administrative centre:Naujoji Akmenė ("New Akmenė").
Most probably the name is derived from a rivulet that flows north of the town: theAkmenupis (approximate meaning – "river with a lot of stones"). Foreign renderings include:German:Akmene,Yiddish: אַקמיאַן/Akmian,Polish:Okmiany,Russian: Окмяны/Okmiany. Up to 17th century the place was known asDabikinė.
Akmenė is first mentioned as an estate owned by theKęsgaila family circa 1511.In 1531 a privilege was granted by theGrand Duke of LithuaniaSigismund I the Old to build a town, named Dabikinė near teDabikinė River. It was built inWallach reform style. The town grew fast, and by the time there were 3streets, 82 households and 28inns in 1561. In 1596Grand Duchess of LithuaniaAnna Jagiellon founded a wooden church.[1]
City rights were granted to Akmenė in 1592.
The city was devastated and burned down in 1705 during theSwedish occupation after a nearby battle. Aplague of 1710–1711 left the city without inhabitants, although it recovered fast, and in 1754 received a privilege to hold a market and four fairs per year. In 1792 Akmenė city rights were reconfirmed and acoat of arms was granted.
After thePartitions of Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth the neighborhoods were donated to the wife ofRussian General Fitinhof.
According to the recordsJews arrived in Akmenė[2] in the eighteenth century. By the mid-nineteenth century the majority of the population in the town was Jewish. The first mass migration of Jews followed the notoriousMay Laws of 1882. Many of the Jews who left in the face of increasingTsarist persecution settled inCork, Ireland, where Jews today still refer to themselves as Akmianers.
In 1915, some of the Jews were expelled into the Russian interior.
By 1939 the Jewish community had fallen in number to around 30 families. At the end of June 1941, following theNazi occupation of Lithuania, Jewish people were arrested. TheRollkommando Hamann with the help of local collaborators, shot and killed three Jews, and on August 4, 1941, all the remaining prisoners were transferred to three silos on the bank of the riverVenta, nearMažeikiai. The men were taken immediately to dig pits and the women were imprisoned in Mažeikiai together with other Jewish women prisoners. All of them were murdered together with the Jews of Mažeikiai and the surroundings on August 9, 1941.
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