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Kalvarija | |
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Town | |
 Church in Kalvarija | |
 Coat of arms | |
 Interactive map of Kalvarija | |
  Kalvarija Location of Kalvarija | |
| Coordinates:54°25′0″N23°13′0″E / 54.41667°N 23.21667°E /54.41667; 23.21667 | |
| Country |  Lithuania |
| Ethnographic region | Suvalkija |
| County |  Marijampolė County |
| Municipality | Kalvarija Municipality |
| Eldership | Kalvarija eldership |
| Capital of | Kalvarija Municipality Kalvarija eldership |
| First mentioned | 1667 |
| Grantedtown rights | 1791 |
| Population (2021) | |
• Total | 3,971 |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
Kalvarija (pronunciationⓘ) is a town in southwesternLithuania, located in theMarijampolė County, close to the border withPoland. It is the administrative seat and largest town ofKalvarija Municipality.
Variants of the name include Kalvarijos, Kalvariya, Kalwarja,[1]Yiddish: קאלװאריע (Kalvarye), Kalwaria (Polish), Kalvarien (German), Calvaria, Kalvaria, Kalwariya, and Kalwarya.[2] The town is named so because it was established in the 17th century asa shrine commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus.
In 1705, the first wooden church was built. In 1713, local Jews received permission fromKing August II to build a synagogue and Jewish craftsmen were first permitted to practice their crafts without having to be members of the craft guilds. In 1791,Stanisław August Poniatowski recognized that Kalvarija had the right tocall itself a town and confirmed the municipality's coat of arms. 1840 saw the construction of a new Catholic church, which still stands today. Kalvarija developed rapidly when the newSt. Petersburg–Warsaw road was constructed toward the end of the 19th century. By the outbreak ofWorld War I, Kalvarija had over 10,000 inhabitants; the destruction of two-thirds of the town during the war caused thepopulation decline. The city was the site of abattle in 1915, duringWorld War I.
After World War I Kalvarija became part of newly independentRepublic of Lithuania in 1918.
DuringWorld War II, Lithuania and Kalvarija was under Soviet occupation from 15 June 1940 until 22 June 1941, whenGerman occupation begun. German occupation lasted until 1 August 1944,[3] when Sovietre-occupied Lithuania.
During German occupation Kalvarija was part of theGeneralbezirk Litauen ofReichskommissariat Ostland. In 1941, a mass execution of 38 Jews of the city was perpetrated by Gestapo soldiers and Lithuanian policemen.[4] Soviet reoccupied Kalvarija and Lithuania during summer 1944. The town suffered greatly during World War II – about 70 percent of the buildings burned down. After re-occupation by the Soviets, there was partisan activity in the area.[5]
The American comedianSeth Meyers' great-grandfather originated from a small village 6 km from Kalvarija, and emigrated to the US around 1869. According to Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates on Youtube, Seth Meyers' ancestors probably came from the Trakenai estate in the village of Brazavas.[6]
Kalvarija istwinned with:
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