Sejny
| Sejny | |||
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| Basic data | |||
| State : | Poland | ||
| Voivodeship : | Podlaskie | ||
| Powiat : | Sejny | ||
| Area : | 4.49 km² | ||
| Geographic location : | 54 ° 6 ′ N , 23 ° 21 ′ E | ||
| Residents : | 5286 (Jun. 30, 2019) |
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| Postal code : | 16-500 | ||
| Telephone code : | (+48) 87 | ||
| License plate : | BSE | ||
| Economy and Transport | |||
| Street : | Ext. 651 : Gołdap - Dubeninki - Żytkiejmy → Sejny | ||
| Ext. 653 : Ploćkuny ↔ Suwałki - Bakałarzewo - Sedranki (- Olecko ) | |||
| Next international airport : | Warsaw Airport | ||
| Gmina | |||
| Gminatype: | Town | ||
| Residents: | 5286 (Jun. 30, 2019) |
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| Community number ( GUS ): | 2009011 | ||
| Administration (as of 2007) | |||
| Mayor : | Jan Stanisław chap | ||
| Address: | ul.Józefa Piłsudskiego 25 16-500 Sejny |
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| Website : | www.sejny.home.pl | ||
Sejny [ ˈsɛi̯nɨ ] ( Lithuanian Seinai , German Seine ) is a small Polish town and district seat of the Powiat Sejneński in the northeast of the Podlaskie Voivodeship . The city is located in the middle of the Sudauen Lake District (Pojezierze Wschodniosuwalskie) on the Marycha River near the border with Lithuania and the Ogrodniki border crossing.
history
The city was founded between 1593 and 1602 by the aristocrat Jerzy Grodziński as an amalgamation of various villages, one of which was probably already called Sejny . The new name Juriewo planned by the founder could not prevail. St. George's Church was built at the same time, and after the death of childless Grodziński in 1603, a Dominican monastery was built from his donated property. The town, which had started to develop into a trading center on the way to Grodno , was almost completely destroyed in the Swedish Wars between 1655 and 1660. A modest upswing did not begin again until the 18th century, a new town hall was built in 1770 and a synagogue in 1778, which from then on led many Jews to Sejny.
After the Polish-Lithuanian Rzeczpospolita was finally destroyed by the third partition of Poland in 1795, the city first fell to Prussia, from 1807 briefly part of the Duchy of Warsaw , from 1815 it belonged to the Russian division. Nevertheless, an economic revival set in, not least because in 1818 the bishopric was moved from Wigry to Sejny. In the second half of the century, as a result of the Russian policy of repression, some privileges were lost, and there was no connection to the railway network. After all, the magnificent synagogue, which still exists today, was built in 1885.
During the First World War , German troops occupied the city in 1915. After their withdrawal, Sejny was handed over to the new Lithuanian state on May 8, 1919. The resident Poles did not agree with this decision and rose up on August 23, 1919 at gunpoint in the so-called "Sejny Uprising". After six days the Lithuanians were expelled and the city was integrated into the likewise new Polish state. During the Polish-Soviet War, however, the Lithuanians returned with the support of the Bolsheviks and briefly occupied the area again (July 19, 1920). After the “ miracle on the Vistula ” a Polish-Lithuanian war broke out in the region, which only ended on October 7, 1920 with the Treaty of Suwałki , which left Sejny with Poland. It was not until 1938 that Lithuania officially recognized the new border.
In 1925 Sejny was revoked its status as a district town (since 1807) and as a bishopric. In 2009, the Polish clergyman and diplomat Jan Romeo Pawlowski was appointed Apostolic Nuncio in Gabon and Congo and appointed Titular Archbishop of Sejny . The city was thus elevated to the title of titular seat.
In the course of the Soviet occupation of Eastern Poland in 1939 , the Red Army marched in on September 24, 1939, which surrendered the city to the German Wehrmacht on October 13, as a result of the German-Soviet border and friendship treaty . During the almost five-year occupation, the city's Jewish population was expelled from the border area by the German occupation authorities, and most of them were later murdered in Lithuania, which was occupied by the German Wehrmacht.
On August 31, 1944, the region was liberated from the Germans and Sejny became part of Poland again. From 1956 to 1975 it was again a county seat, from 1975 to 1998 it belonged to the Suwałki Voivodeship and has been a county seat again since 1999.
population
In Sejny there was never a nationally homogeneous population. The entire region was populated by Baltic tribes in the Middle Ages. Later Poles and Jews immigrated. In 1897 the latter made up about half of the population. After 1945, Poles who had been displaced from the eastern regions were increasingly settled in the area. Today the Powiat Sejneński is the center of the Lithuanian minority in Poland. There is a Lithuanian school, a consulate general and various cultural institutions such as Aušra (Dawn) magazine . In the last Polish census of 2002, 7.9% of the city's population and 18.6% in the Gmina Seiny claimed to be Lithuanian.
Culture
Various youth and cultural festivals take place in Sejny every year, including an organ festival and a children's theater festival. In addition, the famous magazine of the same name is published in the Pogranicze (Grenzland) cultural center .
Attractions
- Dominican monastery from the 17th century
- Church of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary
- synagogue
- White synagogue
- New Jewish cemetery
- town hall
- Figure of the "Our Lady of Sejny"
- Monument to Antanas Baranauskas
Personalities
- Antanas Baranauskas (1835–1902), bishop and poet who wrote in Lithuanian and Polish
- Jerzy Ignatowicz (* 1914), Polish lawyer
- Erich Klapproth (1894–1945), NSDAP district leader from 1939 to 1944 and landowner in Sejny
- Henryk Kuczyński (1909 – unknown), Polish chemist
- Morris Rosenfeld (1862–1923), Yiddish poet
- Szymon Konarski (1808–1839), Polish freedom fighter, born in Dobkiszki.
Rural community
The rural municipality of Sejny, to which the city of Sejny itself does not belong, has an area of 218 km², on which (as of June 30, 2019) 4028 people live.
Web links
- City homepage
- Homepage of the Museum of the Sejny Region
- Article about Sejny in the German-Polish magazine Dialog
- Website of the “Pogranicze” Foundation
- Shtetl links via Sejny
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b population. Size and Structure by Territorial Division. As of June 30, 2019. Główny Urząd Statystyczny (GUS) (PDF files; 0.99 MiB), accessed December 24, 2019 .
- ↑ August Carl von Holsche (ed.): Geography and statistics of West, South and New East Prussia. In addition to a brief history of the Kingdom of Poland up to its division. First volume. Friedrich Maurer, Berlin 1800, page 442.
- ↑ Cf. Polish Statistical Office ( Memento of the original from October 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
