Sejny

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Sejny (Lithuanian: Seinai) is a town in north-eastern Poland, in Podlasie Voivodeship, close to the border with Lithuania and Belarus. It is located in the eastern part of the Suwałki Lake Area (Pojezierze suwalskie), on the Marycha River, being a tributary of Czarna Hańcza. As of 1999 it had almost 6,500 permanent inhabitants, with many more inhabitating the area in the tourist season, and was the capital of a separate powiat.

Monastery in Sejny

1 History
2 Modern Sejny
3 Notable inhabitants
4 Notable tourist attractions
5 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Early history

In the early Middle Ages the area of modern Sejny was inhabitated by the Yotvingians, one of the Baltic tribes that had arrived in the area in the 1st millennium. After the internal struggles of the 13th century, their areas were subject to expansion from both Masovia and Lithuania. In the effect of the expansion of the Teutonic Order, the area was almost entirely depopulated and only small remnants of the Yotvingian settlements remained to our times. In 14th century the area was a scene of constant struggles between the Lithuanians and the Teutons and indeed the first written mention of the area where the town now lies dates back to 1385 and mentions an armed raid of the German knights from Merecz to Giżycko.

After the Teutonic-Lithuanian border was established in 1422, the forests in the area started to be gradually repopulated. New roads were paved and one of them, leading from Berżniki through what is now Sejny to Merecz, became a notable trade route. In 1510 Michał Pac became the governor of the area and founded the settlement of Berżniki. This started a period of fast settlement of post-Yotvingian lands. According to a legend, the town of Sejny was started by three of the old knights of king Władysław Jagiełło, who after the Battle of Grunwald was to grant them with a land parcel in what is now Sejny. The three were very old and named the settlement accordingly Seni, which is Latin word for Old Men. The name was then allegedly transferred into Sejny. However, there are no archaeological findings or documents that would back this legend up.

On December 22, 1522, king Sigismund I of Poland ordered the voivod of Podlachia Janusz Kostewicz to grant half of a square mile of land at the shores of the river Sejna (now called Marycha) to hetman Iwan Wiśniowiecki. On May 21 of the following year Kostewicz described the parcel in a letter to the king and soon afterwards Wiśniowiecki became the owner of the area. A new wooden manor was built in the place where the Sejna river reached Sejny lake and soon settlement started. Wiśniowiecki, a mighty magnate from Volhynia, never came there personally and instead appointed his governor to rule the hamlet. In 1593 the town was sold by his great granddaughter Anna, wife of voivod of Vitebsk Mikołaj Sapieha, to a local noble Jerzy Grodziński for sixty times the amount of 10.000 grosz in silver. Until 1602 he transferred the unnamed village (sometimes referred to as Sejna) into a town called Juriewo, after its founder. However, the name did not stick and instead it was named Sejny.

The towns market was located on a small hill overlooking the right bank of the river, near the original wooden manor. It was located right on the earlier trade route. South of the town a new road leading to Grodno was created and the new settlement received significant income from trading. The founder of the town financed a Catholic St. George's church and established a new parochy.

[edit] 17th century

Jerzy Grodziński died without heirs and on May 16, 1602, he willed all of his properties to the Dominican monastery in Vilna. He died on January 12 of the following year and on June 4, 1603 king Sigismund III Vasa accepted the testament. In 1610 the monks started the construction of a large monastery there. The construction of the monastery was finished in 1619 and by 1632 a new church was built nearby, devoted to Holy Mary, Saint George and Saint Jacek. The town was developed slowly, mostly due to low traffic on the old trade routes to Grodno. Nevertheless, in the 17th century another church devoted to the Holy Spirit was consecrated, a printing press was started and most probably a hospital. Also the monastery was being constantly expanded and became one of the most notable examples of a fortified monastery in Central Europe.

The city growth was halted by the war with Sweden, known as The Deluge. In 1656, after a major battle took place in the area, the town was captured by the Swedes, looted and then burnt to the ground. Fortunately the monastery survived and, after the war ended, the monks returned to the town and started its reconstruction. On November 8, 1670, king Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki granted the town the privilege of organizing a market and fair once a week. This helped the monks to repopulate the town with new settlers, mostly from over-populated Masovia. However, in the early 18th century the Great Northern War put an end to the prosperity as the town was pillaged by several armies in a row and brought two consecutive plagues to the town.

[edit] Modernisation

At the same time the area was being populated and numerous settlements were founded not far from Sejny. In 1715 the Camedulian monks founded a village and a monastery, that soon evolved into what is now the town of Suwałki. Other towns founded in that period were Puńsk, Augustów, Jeleniewo and Krasnopol. This brought the prosperity back on track and the Dominicans started the reconstruction of Sejny - this time as a town full of notable examples of baroque architecture. The church received a new façade, in 1770 a new town hall was built and in 1778 new marketplace and a wooden synagogue were opened. This paved the way of Jewish settlement in the area.

In the effect of the Partitions of Poland, in 1794 Sejny became part of the Kingdom of Prussia and confiscated by the Prussian authorities in 1797. Initially neglected, in 1807 the town became part of the Duchy of Warsaw and a major administrative centre. After the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815 the town was transferred to the Kingdom of Poland and retained its status as a seat of a powiat. In 1818 the bishopric was moved to Sejny from Wigry and the town continued to prosper, despite a major fire that had struck the city earlier that year. The population also grew rapidly. However, in the later part of the 19th century, the prosperity ended. After the November Uprising and the January Uprising, in which the city's inhabitants took part in the struggles against Imperial Russia, the town was again deprived of its privileges and became neglected. Also, lack of railways in Russia prevented the town to develop its industry and Sejny continued to exist as a small provincial town and a local centre of trade and commerce.

Wooden synagogue in Sejny

[edit] 20th century

During World War I, in 1915, the town was captured by Germany. Initially part of the Ober Ost military administration, it was planned as a part of one of the puppet states established by the Germans in Central Europe in accordance with their Mitteleuropa plan. However, with their defeat in the war, the German garrisons started to withdraw from the area. Finally, on May 8, 1919, the administration over the town was passed to newly-born Lithuania. This led to an open conflict between Poland and Lithuania, as both sides claimed the area. Under pressure from the Conference of Ambassadors (later to become the League of Nations), Poland initially backed down on the issue. However, on August 22, 1919, local Poles revolted against the Lithuanian rule in what became known as the Sejny Uprising. Six days later the uprising ended with a Polish success and the town became a part of Poland.

However, only a year later, the town was captured by the Bolshevist Russia in the course of the Polish-Bolshevik War. To ensure the right of passage through Lithuanian territory, on July 12, 1920 the Russian authorities signed a treaty of Moscow with Lithuania, in which it granted the Lithuanians with the rights to the area. On July 19 the Lithuanians attacked the Polish defenders and recaptured the town. The Lithuanian authorities were once again established in the area. After the Battle of Warsaw the Bolshevik forces were defeated and the Polish Army again entered the area under Lithuanian control. As the Paris Peace Conference established the Polish-Lithuanian border on an ethnic basis, roughly correspondent to the status quo ante bellum, the Lithuanian forces were forced to withdraw from the town and on August 31, 1920 the town was yet again attached to Poland. However, the Lithuanian authorities continued to claim the area and on September 2 a Lithuanian offensive started the so-called Polish-Lithuanian War. As the town was located only some 2 kilometres from the Lithuanian border, it was easily captured by Lithuanian forces. However, the assault was repelled with heavy losses on Lithuanian side and the Polish Army recaptured the town on September 9. The following day the last of the Lithuanian units retreated to the other side of the border and on October 7 a cease fire agreement was signed, leaving Sejny on the Polish side of the border.

During the interbellum, the town continued to be claimed by Lithuania and it was not until the 1938 Ultimatum that Lithuania finally agreed for a delimitation of the border. Meanwhile the town developed quite rapidly and was joined with both Suwałki and Grodno with a railroad. In 1925 the bishopric and the powiat status were removed, but the town remained a notable centre of not only trade and commerce, but also wood and furniture production, gaining profits from the nearby forests.

Cavalry parade in Sejny

During the Polish Defensive War of 1939 the town was first captured by the Soviet Union on September 24, 1939. Sejny was severely pillaged and then on October 13, 1939 transferred to Nazi Germany. It remained occupied by the Germans for the rest of World War II, which resulted in almost complete destruction of the local Jewish community in the gas chambers of the German concentration camps. On August 31, 1944 the town was again captured by the Red Army and soon afterwards it was delivered to the new Soviet-controlled communist authorities of Poland.

After the war the local population, largely depleted during the war, started to recuperate. A notable influx of Poles resettled from the Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union allowed for fast reconstruction of the town. In 1956, after the administrative reform of that year, Sejny once again became a seat of a powiat. Although it was cancelled in 1975, the new administrative division of Poland passed in 1999 reinstituted it.

[edit] Modern Sejny

Currently Sejny is a notable centre of trade, production and tourism, with thousands of them visiting the town every year. A milk plant and a cheese factory are located in the town, as well as numerous hotels. Sejny is also a notable centre of cultural life of the Lithuanian minority in Poland. It is the main seat of the Lithuanian Society of Poland and the Aušra bi-weekly. According to some sources, the number of Lithuanians living in the town and the powiat surrounding it is close to 30%. Because of that, there is a Lithuanian consulate there, as well as a Lithuanian school. However, local Lithuanians not seldom notifies receiving a clout on purpose to denationalize them.

[edit] Notable inhabitants

Jerzy Aleksandrowicz, biologist and bothanician
Antoni Baranowski (Lithuanian Antanas Baranauskas), a notable Polish and Lithuanian poet
Antoni Bukaty, writer, philosopher and engineer
Szymon Konarski, a writer and a patriot
Stanisław Kunatt, writer, professor of the Warsaw University and freedom fighter
Jerzy Srzednicki, artist
Walerian Staniszewski, journalist
Anzelm Wojciech Szweykowski, teacher