Telšiai

Telšiai (, ) is a city in Lithuania, with about 35,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of Telšiai County, and it is located on Lake Mastis. This lake is mentioned in various legends and myths. The city was named after the very small rivulet, Telšė, that flows into Lake Mastis. A legend has it, that a Knight named, Džiugas, founded the city. Telšiai was first mentioned in written sources around 1450.

Betwen the years of Lithuanian independence, 1918 to 1940, Telšiai grew rapidly. Several girls’ and boys’ high schools, a crafts school and a teacher’s seminary were founded. The Alka museum was built, and several cultural societies were operated.^*

During the first Soviet occupation, as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Telšiai became infamous for the Rainiai massacre, the mass murder of 79 Lithuanian political prisoners perpetrated by the Red Army in a nearby forest, during the night of June 24-25 1941.

Under the subsequent Nazi German occupation in World War II, Telšiai's large Jewish population was almost completely annihilated. The Jewish community boasted a renowned yeshiva, or rabbinical college. In 1941, the Rabbinical College of Telshe was resettled in Cleveland, Ohio by a group of faculty members who escaped the holocaust. The original yeshiva building still stands in Telšiai.

Present day architectural monuments include Telsiai Cathedral. Satrija hill (227 m), is a nature preserve.^*

The city is the birthplace of Rolandas Paksas, the former president of Lithuania and Gabriel Narutowicz, the first President of Poland.

Twin city

Krnov, Bruntál District, North Moravian Region, Czech Republic

External links

Cities in Lithuania | Towns in Telšiai County | Lithuanian county capitals

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Twin city

External links