Country Lithuania County Šiauliai County First mentioned 1527 Local time Monday 4:05 PM | Ethnographic region Samogitia Eldership Užventis eldership Population 844 (2005) | |
 | ||
Capital of Užventis rural eldership Weather 13°C, Wind NW at 11 km/h, 59% Humidity Municipality Kelmė District Municipality | ||
Užventis ( pronunciation , Samogitian: Ožvėntis, Polish: Użwenty, Yiddish: אוזשווענט Uzhvent) is a city in the Kelmė district municipality, Lithuania. It is located 25 km (16 mi) north-west of Kelmė. River Venta flows through the city.
Contents
Map of U%C5%BEventis, Lithuania
History
173 Jews lived in the village in 1923, comprising 22 percent of the total population. The Lithuanian white armband squad formed in Užventis just after the German invasion, and they gathered Jewish residents of the village in the brewery in early July 1941. Jews were humiliated and forced to do various kinds of work for several weeks. At the end of July, the white armbanders dug a large pit in the Želviai forest. The next day, they rounded up the majority of the Jews from the ghetto (about 50-70 people), brought them to the execution place and shot them. Several groups of Jewish men who were fit to work were taken to Šiauliai and Žagarė. About 20 Jews who were left in Užventis were executed in the Želviai forest in December 1941.