Šešuoliai
Šešuoliai is a small town in central Lithuania. It is located just east of the Lake Šešuoliai. According to the Lithuanian census of 2011, it had 138 residents.[1] The town's central square and street layout is protected as an urban monument.[2] Its alternate names include Šašuoliai, Šešuolių, Shesholi, Sheshuolyay, Sušuoliai, Szeszole, and Szeszole.[3] HistoryThe town was first mentioned in the Chronicle of Hermann von Wartberge when it was attacked by the Livonian Order in 1334.[4] Since the times of Grand Duke Vytautas, there was an estate, which became a property of Kristinas Astikas. Sometime before 1478, Šešuoliai passed to the Bishop of Vilnius. Bishop Walerian Protasewicz sponsored construction of a Catholic church and establishment of a parish.[4] Protasewicz also directed the priests to open a parish school, but it is known only from 1777. The settlement grew into a town and center of a volost. The town burned down in 1656 during the Russo-Polish War.[2] Šešuoliai recovered; the church was reconstructed in 1698 and 1751. The priests sponsored a parish school and a shelter for the poor. Šešuoliai Manor had a library and alcohol distillery.[4] During the interwar years it was briefly owned by Jonas Variakojis. Today it is a school building.[5] The town had 100 residents in 1814, 64 in 1845, 169 in 1890, 317 in 1923, 156 in 1959, 193 in 1970, 123 in 1979.[2] In the summer of 1941, a number of Jews from the town were marched to -they were told Želva. They were murdered by local Lithuanian collaborators on the outskirts of the forest as soon as they left the shtetl.[6] References
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