Smalininkai
Smalininkai | |
|---|---|
City | |
 Piers on the Nemunas River in Smalininkai | |
| Nickname: Smolnis | |
| Country |  Lithuania |
| Ethnographic region | Lithuania Minor |
| 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 | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
Smalininkai () 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
