Pirčiupiai

Pirčiupiai is a village in Valkininkų (Valkininkai) eldership, Varėna district municipality, Alytus County, Dzūkija region, Lithuania. According to the 2001 census, the village had a population of 103 people.[2] At the 2011 census, the population was 75.[1]

Pirčiupiai
Village
Pirčiupiai
Location in Varėna district municipality
Location of Varėna district in Lithuania
Coordinates: 54°24′N 24°57′E
Country Lithuania
Ethnographic regionDzūkija
County Alytus County
MunicipalityVarėna district municipality
EldershipValkininkų (Valkininkai)
Population
 (2011 Census)[1]
 • Total75
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)
Monument "Mother of Pirčiupiai"

The village is known since 16th century, when Grand Dukes of Lithuania used it as hunting grounds. On June 3, 1944, a group of Nazi Germans were attacked by Soviet partisans in a nearby forest. The Germans sent a punishment squadron and burned alive almost all inhabitants of Pirčiupiai. On that day 119 people (including 49 children under age of 16) were killed and only 13 escaped from the Pirčiupiai massacre. The SS Commander Walter Titel of the 16th SS Police Regiment ordered that the civilians were burnt alive.[3] The bodies were allowed to be buried only after a week on June 11, 1944. A monument, called "Mother of Pirčiupiai", was erected in 1960 and commemorates the event.

References
  1. "Population by locality". 2011 Population and Housing Census. Statistics Lithuania. Archived from the original (XLS) on 22 September 2013. Retrieved 10 September 2013. External link in |work= (help)
  2. "Lithuanian Population and Housing Census 2001: Alytaus County" (PDF) (in Lithuanian). Statistikos Departamentas (Lithuania). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 September 2013. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
  3. Genocid.lt road sign on the site



This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.