Talk:Druskininkai

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[edit] name of city

to Halibutt mainly Why do you use Polish name of the city? It is situated in nowadays Lithuania, and ethnically it is Belarusian, so it should be logical to choose between Lithuanian and Belarusian names, I think. --Monkbel 21:07, 28 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] History

To Lysy: The sentence After the World War I the town became part of the restored Poland implies understanding that the city (region) of Druskininkai were somehow retored to be a part of Poland, which is not true.

I would offer changing the sentence into After the World War I the town became part of Poland or After the World War I the town was under rule of Poland, leaving the link to Polish-Lithuanian_conflict. --UmR 05:29:48, 2005-08-26 (UTC)

All right, I removed the "restored" wording that troubled you. The sentence however did not imply what you thought, as it only stated that the town was part of the restored Poland and not that the town was restored to Poland. That is something completely different. I would also like to avoid any suggestions whether or not Poland had any grounds to claim the city and whether these claims were justified or not. I only wanted to state the fact that it was in Poland if you look at the map of Europe between the wars and that this period also contributed somehow to the town's history. --Lysy ^(talk) 05:55, 26 August 2005 (UTC)

Dear Lysy, I dare to say that it did imply what I thought, being somewhat instinctive manipulation, popular in polish written articles in wiki. By writing this, I want to draw your attention to prejudices, that, although are often tried to be consciously overran, are typical to the Poles and should not be present here. Do not interpret this as an insult; I do not have intentions like that.

If memory serves me right, the town was a part of the Kingdom of Poland before the partitions and then the Congress Kingdom between the partitions and its' annexation by Russia after the January Uprising. If so, then in 1918-1920 it was simply restored to Poland, as it used to belong to that state before. Or am I wrong? Halibutt 09:18, August 26, 2005 (UTC)

Personally, I would prefer to avoid this discussion, as it seems that Polish and Lithuanian views on history differ, especially for the interbellum period. I believe it's pretty neutral as it is now. We do not say that the town was "liberated" or "occupied" or "controlled by", only state the simple fact that it was in Poland at this particular time. It belongs to Lithuania now, and similarly we don't claim that it is "occupied" etc. --Lysy ^(talk) 11:03, 26 August 2005 (UTC)

I would agree to Lysy on the fact that current version is quite neutral, providing any reader with a good overall picture of history of Druskininkai. If we don't want to get into specific details within this article, it should be left as it is.

However I'd like to hear from Halibutt a more specific explanation of his version of history, which is interesting to me personally for two reasons: knowing something more about the city and in order to obtain a better view of what is going on here in wiki --UmR 12:17:31, 2005-08-26 (UTC)

[edit] Castle

What exactly castle is meant in the sentence "A small castle was built in the area as a part of the defence system against the Teutonic Order. The castle was conquered by Teutonic Knights and destroyed in 1308 and the area was soon depopulated." I know two possible places near Druskininkai - Liškiava (Liszków in Polish; its a small city 8 km from Druskininkai, featuring a mound of a castle, church and ex. jacobin monastery) and Merkinė (Merecz). So which one of them, or maybe smth. else? --UmR 06:11:07, 2005-08-29 (UTC)

I don't know about the castle in Druskininkai, but the stone castle in Liškiava supposedly was build by Vytautas in the end of 14th century. Apparently there was a wooden Slavic castle on the mound in 11th century. The mound itself was inhabitated since the 3rd century B.C. Liszkiava is on the other side of Neman and few kolimetres north of Druskininkai. As for Merkine, it's even further north, there indeed was castle that was taken by Teuronic Knights but not in 1308 but in 1393 (or 1403 according to other sources) so it woudn't be that one, either. I don't think there was any castle in Druskininkai, as the area there is quite flat. Halibutt, could you check your sources, where did it come from ? --Lysy ^(talk) 07:18, 1 September 2005 (UTC)