Aknīste

Aknīste (pronunciation ; Lithuanian: Aknysta; Polish: Oknista) is a town in Aknīste Municipality, Selonia, in the southern portion of Latvia, near the Lithuanian border. The town is located near the river Dienvidsusēja. Prior to the 2009 administrative reforms it was part of Jēkabpils District.

"Aknysta" redirects here. For other uses, see Aknysta (disambiguation).

Aknīste
Town
Gates of the Sēļi Park
Coat of arms
Aknīste Location in Latvia
Coordinates: 56°9′N 25°44′E
Country	Latvia
Municipality	Aknīste municipality
Town rights	1991
Area
• Total	3.43 km^2 (1.32 sq mi)
Population  (2020)
• Total	1,006
• Density	290/km^2 (760/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal code	LV-5208
Calling code	+371 652
Website	www.akniste.lv

History

The town name, Aknīste, was first mentioned in 1298. From the 17th century the settlement was a panhandle of Lithuania and after the partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth part of the Kovno Governorate of the Russian Empire. Since 1918, part of Lithuania, but in the 1921, Lithuania exchanged Aknīste for Palanga.

The settlement was the site of a mass killing of Jewish residents, during the Nazi occupation of the Baltic states.[1] After German occupation forces arrived in Aknīste around the 25th of June, they created defence groups (Schutzmänner) mainly composed of Latvians. The Aknīste group was commanded by Latvian War of Independence veteran J. Valdmanis who had fought against bolshevik forces as a partisan during the war. On the 17th (or the 4th depending on the source) of July, 1941, local Jews were rounded up into hotel "Austrija", with O. Baltmanis, the commander of the Ilūkste region SS einsatzgruppe, an unknown SS oberleutnant, and two SS soldiers present, under the premises that the Jews were to be transported to the Daugavpils ghetto. On the 18th of July, under the orders of O. Baltmanis, and disobeying of said order by J. Valdmanis, the Jews were executed in the yard of the hotel by Baltmanis' Schutzmänner gathered from other parts of Ilūkste.[2]

In 1991, Aknīste was granted the town status.

• 
  Aknīste catholic church. Built in the 1930s
• 
  Aknīste town center
• 
  Aknīste secondary school (Built in the 1930s)
• 
  Aknīste local history museum

See also

• List of cities in Latvia
• The Holocaust in Latvia

References

1. Akniste Killings and Graves at Rumbula.org
2. Destruction of the jews in Aknīste at academia.edu