Dieveniškės
Dieveniškės (literally: "Gods' place"; Polish: Dziewieniszki, Belarusian: Дзевянішкі Dzevyanishki) is a town in the Vilnius County of Lithuania, about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from the Belarusian border in the so-called Dieveniškės appendix. It is surrounded by the Dieveniškės Regional Park.
Dieveniškės | |
|---|---|
Town | |
 | |
 Coat of arms | |
  Dieveniškės Location of Dieveniškės | |
| Coordinates: 54°11′40″N 25°37′30″E | |
| Country |  Lithuania |
| Ethnographic region | Dzūkija |
| County |  Vilnius County |
| Municipality | Šalčininkai district municipality |
| Eldership | Dieveniškės eldership |
| First mentioned | 1385 |
| Population (2011) | |
| • Total | 720 |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
History
The estate of Dieveniškės was first mentioned in 1385 as a village of a Lithuanian noble Mykolas Mingaila, possibly the son of Gedgaudas, later ruled by the Goštautai family. Stanislovas Goštautas visited Dieveniškės with his wife Barbara Radziwill (Lithuanian: Barbora Radvilaitė), who used to pray in Dieveniškės church, built in the 16th century. According to the 1897 census, 75% of the village population were Jewish. The shtetl had 2 synagogues. The Jews were murdered during the Holocaust in Lithuania.[1]