| Kelmė | |
| Settlement Type: | City |
| Pushpin Map: | Lithuania |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of Kelmė |
| Coordinates: | 55.6333°N 22.9333°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Type1: | Ethnographic region |
| Subdivision Name1: | Samogitia |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Šiauliai County |
| Subdivision Type3: | Municipality |
| Subdivision Name3: | Kelmė district municipality |
| Subdivision Type4: | Eldership |
| Subdivision Name4: | Kelmė eldership |
| Subdivision Type6: | Capital of |
| Subdivision Name6: | Kelmė district municipality Kelmė eldership |
| Established Date: | 1484 |
| Established Title: | First mentioned |
| Established Date2: | 1947 |
| Established Title2: | Granted city rights |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Vaclovas Andrulis |
| Area Total Km2: | 7.85 |
| Population Total: | 7,544 |
| Population As Of: | 2021 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Elevation M: | 128 |
| Timezone: | EET |
| Utc Offset: | +2 |
| Timezone Dst: | EEST |
| Utc Offset Dst: | +3 |
Kelmė (; Polish: Kielmy) is a city in northwestern Lithuania, a historical region of Samogitia. It has a population of 8,206 and is the administrative center of the Kelmė District Municipality.
Kelmė's name is likely derived from the Lithuanian word kelmynės, literally: the stubby place, because of the forests that were there at the time of its founding.[1] [2] The Yiddish name is Kelm, as in Kelm Talmud Torah.
Kelmė was first mentioned in 1416, the year that Kelmė's first church was built.[2] It was located in the Duchy of Samogitia in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Prior to World War II, Kelmė (Yiddish: Kelm) was home to a famous Rabbinical College, the Kelm Talmud Torah. According to an 1897 census, 2,710 of Kelme's 3,914 inhabitants were members of the town's Jewish population, the vast majority of whom were merchants and traders and lived in the town. Most of the Jews in Kelmė rural district were murdered during a mass execution on 29 July 1941. On August 22 a second mass execution occurred. On 2 October 1941, some Kelmė and Vaiguva Jews were murdered in Žagarė. The executions were committed by the Germans soldiers, auxiliary police and Lithuanian collaborators.[3] In total, the number of victims is 1,250-1,300 people.