Map - Simnas

Simnas
Simnas is small town on the river Dovinė between Simnas and Giluitis lakes, in Alytus district, Alytus county, in the south of Lithuania. It lies on the 131 a national primary road from Alytus to Kalvarija. Simnas located within the ethnographical region Dzūkija. According to the 2022 data, 1209 people live in the town with 3148 in Simnas eldership. It is most populous settlement in Alytus district.

Simnas started as a hunting hut for the Grand Duke of Lithuania in a strategic place where a river flows into a lake. Gradually the living place around the hut turned to an estate. Wigand of Marburg, a German chronicler, describes Lithuanians victory under the leadership of Grand Duke Vytautas against Crusades in Simnas (Samenike in chronicle) near the lake in 1382. In Lithuanian chronicle Simnas name first time mentioned in 1494 as a manor with peasants. Simnas name origin is unclear and remains a mystery. There is no other similar or analogic name in the Baltic language. Some local lore says that two giants - Simas and Sinas - lived around the place and after their death half the name of each was added together to create the current town name. Another version of the name is the corruption of the human name Simonas. But most historians believe that the name origin is hydronym, taken from a lake's name where the hunting hut stood.

In 1506 Grand Duke of Lithuania Aleksandras donated Simnas manor to nobleman Jonas Zaberezinskas. As a good statesman and organizer he built a brick church in 1520. This situation remains another mystery about Simnas because neither wooden nor old churches have ever been mentioned before in any written sources. Around the church began to develop settlements. Coat of arms was created in 1536 depicting St. Peter and Paul. In a letter of the Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1549 Simnas mentioned the town. 10 years later a new road was laid from Simnas to Konigsberg, Prussia, showing the importance of the town and its location. More ever, in 1613 Simnas was marked on the map for the first time.

In 1603 Simnas went into the hands of Povilas Sapiega, the member of a wealthy politician family. Due to Povilas Sapiega efforts, in 1626 Simnas got Magdeburg rights, the privileges of the town. Which means that at that time Simnas had a mayor, town hall, court, judge, jail, shops, inns, mills, cobbled road and footpath and held annual fair and markets. After that situation in a town dramatically changed: a coat of arms image of St. Peter was dropped, St. Paul remained, who gave a hint to a patron of the town - Povilas (Paul) Sapiega. The townspeople dropped Lithuanian and turned to the Polish language. Even Mass in a church became the official Polish language in 1639.

To accelerate the town's economy, the decree of 1 July in 1639 allowed the Jews to enter and live in a town; to have land, property, keep business and to be exempt from taxes. Prosperity started to rise but after the Russian invasion of Lithuania in 1655 town was looted and went into disrepair.

Political curiosity - in a 20 years gap Simnas changed three ruling countries: after the partition of Poland - Lithuania Commonwealth in 1795, Simnas became part of Prussia; in 1807 Simnas fell under the rule of the Polish Duchy on behalf of France; after defeating Napoleon in 1815, for next 100 years Simnas was occupied by Russia.

Living under occupation, life did not stop but continued with population growth. Place to bury deceased people around the church was overfilled, so local authorities in 1858 established a new cemetery in a former hunting manor estate where the town started. After the 1863 - 1864 rebellion the tsar government understood the importance of roads to the military. A new road was laid between Simnas and Marijampolė. Traffic increased and it led to the opening of the Post station and office in 1872. The letter collection and delivery was carried twice a week in town and once a week in suburbs. Along traffic activity on a road, infectious diseases followed and in 1871 cholera epidemic attacked town. Many people and animals have died. After the withdrawal of the epidemic, a new law was introduced that every house must keep toilet cabin. Defecation around the corner was banned. In 1878 a pharmacy was opened. The streets and footpaths were paved. In 1882 a fire station was built.

A Census of 1888 showed that town population was 1870 people of whom 944 jews and 926 polish. No one declared themself as lithuanians. Official state language was Russian. 10 times a year the town held an annual fair. In 1897 the railway was built in the South side of the town and a telegraph office opened. A new road between Simnas and Alytus was laid. Police station had 6 policemen to keep order around.

In the end of the 19th century, national revival began. People started to demand to use the Lithuanian language. After fighting, in 1897 first Mass in a church was held in Lithuanian language. In 1899 the town suffered a disaster - after a faulty chimney a fire started and devastated the town. Half of it, from church to Simnas lake, turned to ashes. Another disaster followed after the beginning of World War I in 1914. Fighting three times happened in the town limits, so after all, wooden houses were burned. Before World War I German intelligence reported that Simnas had 1979 people of whom 786 are Jews.

After the Declaration of Independence in 1918, a new era began. In 1919 the first telephone started to operate in post offices. In 1927 a power station was built and all town streets were lit. 25 households had telephones. In 1929 townspeople had 3 cars and 1 truck. In 1935 a nursing home for women was built, followed by a hospital which had a dentist and midwife; creamery in 1937; secondary school in 1939 and central sewage system laid across town. The town operated 93 shops of which only 4 are Lithuanians, rest of them jewish; 2 pharmacies, 2 distilleries, 3 banks, 2 hotels, 5 restaurants, 4 pubs, 1 beer bulk warehouse, 2 inns, 2 tea shops, 3 wool mills, 2 shoe workshops and a lemonade factory. In 1893 both lakes - Simnas and Giluitis - became property of Jews. 
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Country - Lithuanian_Soviet_Socialist_Republic_(1918–1919)
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The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (LSSR) was a short-lived Soviet Puppet state during early Interwar period. It was declared on 16 December 1918 by a provisional revolutionary government led by Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas. It ceased to exist on 27 February 1919, when it was merged with the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia to form the Lithuanian–Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (Litbel). While efforts were made to represent the LSSR as a product of a socialist revolution supported by local residents, it was largely a Moscow-orchestrated entity created to justify the Lithuanian–Soviet War. As a Soviet historian described it as: "The fact that the Government of Soviet Russia recognized a young Soviet Lithuanian Republic unmasked the lie of the USA and British imperialists that Soviet Russia allegedly sought rapacious aims with regard to the Baltic countries." Lithuanians generally did not support Soviet causes and rallied for their own national state, declared independent on 16 February 1918 by the Council of Lithuania.

Germany had lost World War I and signed the Compiègne Armistice on 11 November 1918. Its military forces then started retreating from the former Ober Ost territories. Two days later, the government of the Soviet Russia renounced the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which had assured Lithuania's independence. Soviet forces then launched a westward offensive against Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine in an effort to spread the global proletarian revolution and replace national independence movements with Soviet republics. Their forces followed retreating German troops and reached Lithuania by the end of December 1918.
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