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 | |
.jpg) "Mother of Pirčiupiai" | |
  Pirčiupiai  Pirčiupiai | |
| Coordinates: 54°24′N 24°57′E / 54.400°N 24.950°E | |
| Country |  Lithuania |
| Ethnographic region | Dzūkija |
| County |  Alytus County |
| Municipality | Varėna district municipality |
| Eldership | Valkininkų (Valkininkai) |
| Population (2011 Census)[1] | |
• Total | 75 |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
The village is known since 16th century, when the grand dukes of Lithuania used it as hunting grounds.
Pirčiupiai massacre
editOn the morning of June 3, 1944, near Pirčiupiai, Soviet partisans placed mines in the path of two trucks carrying SS men, then fired on the survivors.[3] Only a few Germans escaped the ambush.[3]
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 be burnt alive.[4] 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
edit- ^ a b "Population by locality". Statistics Lithuania. Archived from the original (XLS) on 22 September 2013. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
- ^ "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.
- ^ a b "Pirčiupiai". Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 2024-06-03.
- ^ Genocid.lt road sign on the site
See also
edit