Švenčionėliai | |
Settlement Type: | Village |
Coordinates: | 55.1667°N 26°W |
Pushpin Map: | Lithuania |
Pushpin Label Position: | bottom |
Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of Švenčionėliai |
Subdivision Type: | Country |
Subdivision Type1: | Ethnographic region |
Subdivision Name1: | Aukštaitija |
Subdivision Type2: | County |
Subdivision Name2: | Vilnius County |
Subdivision Type3: | Municipality |
Subdivision Name3: | Švenčionys district municipality |
Subdivision Type4: | Eldership |
Subdivision Name4: | Švenčionėliai eldership |
Subdivision Type6: | Capital of |
Subdivision Name6: | Švenčionėliai eldership |
Established Date: | End of the 16th century |
Established Title: | First mentioned |
Established Date2: | 1920 |
Established Title2: | Granted village rights |
Area Total Km2: | 6 |
Population Total: | 4,748[1] |
Population As Of: | 2021 |
Timezone: | EET |
Utc Offset: | +2 |
Timezone Dst: | EEST |
Utc Offset Dst: | +3 |
Švenčionėliai is a city in Švenčionys district municipality, in eastern Lithuania 10 km west of Švenčionys. The river Žeimena flows through Švenčionėliai.
On 10 July 1920, it was the site of a battle of the Polish–Soviet War, won by the Russians. Afterwards, in the interwar period, Nowe Święciany, as it was known in Polish, was administratively located in the Święciany County in the Wilno Voivodeship of Poland.
After the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland, which started World War II in September 1939, the town was occupied by the Soviets, who handed it over to Lithuania, to eventually re-occupy it in 1940, then from 1941 it was occupied by Nazi Germany and in 1944 it was re-occupied by the Soviet Union. In 1940, there were around 1,000 Jews, i.e. 20 percent of the total population. All of them were murdered in October 1941 in the Švenčionėliai massacre.[2]