Dubingiai

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Dubingiai (Polish: Dubinki) is a town in Molėtai district in Lithuania. It is situated near Lake Asveja, the longest lake in the country. It was the site of the infamous Dubingiai massacre during the Second World War. The town has 260 inhabitants as of 2003.

Contents 1 History 2 Massacre 3 Notes 4 References 5 External link

[edit] History

The town was first mentioned in 1334, when Teutonic knights razed terra Dubingam during one of their raids. Other raids took place in 1373 and 1375. During the reign of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas the Great the town became an important place in that part of Lithuania. In 1415 Vytautas ordered the building of a new masonry castle.

Later it was governed by the Radziwiłłs who built Dubingiai Castle from stone and town became one of the centres of the reformation in Lithuania. Many famous members of Radziwiłł family are buried here. In 17th century - 18th century the town was slowly re-converted to Catholicism.

The population of the town was generally Polish in the 19th century^{[citation needed]}. When the Lithuanian national renaissance began, conflicts between Poles and Lithuanians were almost inevitable. The local population struggled to receive education and masses in Polish and continued to complain about local priests, who used only Lithuanian^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Massacre

During World War II, on 23 June, 1944, a number of Lithuanians in Dubingiai were massacred by the local Armia Krajowa unit commanded by Zygmunt Szendzielarz aka "Łupaszko". The crime was supposed to be a retaliation by the Polish commander for an earlier massacre of Polish villagers in Glitiškės by Lithuanian police. Polish partisans probably had prepared "hit" lists since they did not kill Lithuanian villagers married to Polish women^[1]. The number of Lithuanian victims is estimated at 20 to 27 ^{[2] [3]}.

Some authors report that the action was not limited to Dubingiai only and that more Polish units than the one commanded by "Łupaszko" were involved. ^[4]. According to Lithuanian historians ^{[5] [6] [7]} 70-100 Lithuanians, including many civilians, were killed in total by the end of June 1944, not only in Dubingiai but also in the neighbouring towns of Joniškis, Inturkė, Bijutiškis, and Giedraičiai. Some of these numbers have been confirmed by Polish historians.^[8]

See "Polish-Lithuanian relations during the World War II" for a discussion of the event.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ (Lithuanian) Tadas Galinis. Dubingių skerdynės (Dubingiai massacre) in "Armijos Krajovos ...", pp. 76-80.
2. ^ Piotrowski, p.168, p.169
3. ^ (Polish) Gazeta Wyborcza, 2001-02-14, Litewska prokuratura przesłuchuje weteranów AK (Lithuanian prosecutor questioning AK veterans), last accessed on 7 June 2006
4. ^ Kozłowski, p. 66
5. ^ (Lithuanian) Kazimieras Garšva. Armija krajova ir Vietinė rinktinė Lietuvoje (Armia Krajowa and Local Lithuanian Detachment in Lithuania), "XXI amžius", No.61 (1264), 2004
6. ^ (Lithuanian) Rimantas Zizas in "Armijos Krajovos ...", pp. 14-39.
7. ^ (Lithuanian) Arūnas Bubnysin in "Armijos Krajovos ...", pp. 6-13.
8. ^ Patryk Kozłowski confirms that 12 Lithuanians were killed in the area of Joniškis (Janiszki) by the squad commanded by "Maks" ("Jeden z wyklętych ...", p. 64)

[edit] References

• (Polish) Kozłowski, Patryk (2004). Jeden z wyklętych. Zygmunt Szendzielarz "Łupaszko". ISBN 83-7399-073-9. 
• (Lithuanian) K. Garšva; A. Bubnys, E. Gečiauskas, J. Lebionka, J. Saudargienė, R. Zizas (1995). "Armijos Krajovos ištakos ir ideologija Lietuvoje" (Beginnings and ideology of Armia Krajowa in Lithuania). Armija Krajova Lietuvoje. ISBN 9986-577-02-0. 
• (English) Piotrowski, Tadeusz (1997,). "Poland's Holocaust". McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864-0371-3. 

[edit] External link

• (Lithuanian) Website of Dubingiai
• Location on Encarta map

Coordinates: 55°04′N, 25°27′E