Smalininkai

Smalininkai
—  City  —
Piers on the neman River in Smalininkai
Nickname(s): Smolnis
Smalininkai Location of Smalininkai
Coordinates: 55°5′0″N 22°34′0″E
Country	Lithuania
Ethnographic region	Samogitia
County	Tauragė County
Municipality	Jurbarkas district municipality
Eldership	Smalininkai eldership
Capital of	Smalininkai eldership
First mentioned	15th century
Granted city rights	1945
Population (2007)
• Total	621
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)

Smalininkai ( pronunciation ) is a small city in Lithuania. It is situated in the former samogitian part of Memelland on the right-hand shore of the Neman River, 12 km (7.5 mi) west from Jurbarkas. It was part of German East Prussia and was called Schmalleningken. Between 1923 - 1939 and since the World War II it is part of Lithuania.

Name

The name describes a place of tar and pitch burners ("smala": tar, pitch; -ingken: village).

History

Since 1422 (Treaty of Melno) Schmalleningken was a border-village at the Lithuanian-German customs frontier. 1792 it was appointed to a market town. 1845 the village became a parish and 1878 a church was built. 1902 a light railway was built from Pogegen to Schmalleningken. The village had in 1925 1,741 inhabitants and was incorporated into the Landkreis Tilsit-Ragnit in 1939.

Literature

• Kurschat, Heinrich A.: Das Buch vom Memelland, Siebert Oldenburg 1968