Pagėgiai

Infobox Settlement
name = Pagėgiai
nickname =
settlement_type= City
pushpin_

pushpin_label_position =
pushpin_map_caption =Location of Pagėgiai
image_shield = Pagegiai COA.gif
latd=55|latm=8|lats=0|latNS=N|longd=21|longm=55|longs=0|longEW=E
coordinates_display= inline,title
coordinates_type = region:LT_type:city(2300)
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = LTU
subdivision_type1 = Ethnographic region
subdivision_name1 = Lithuania Minor
subdivision_type2 = County
subdivision_name2 = Tauragė County
subdivision_type3 = Municipality
subdivision_name3 = Pagėgiai municipality
subdivision_type4 = Eldership
subdivision_name4 = Pagėgiai eldership
subdivision_type6 = Capital of
subdivision_name6 = Pagėgiai eldership
established_date =
established_date2 = 1923
established_title2= Granted city rights
population_total = 2,321
population_as_of = 2005
timezone=EET
utc_offset=+2
timezone_DST=EEST
utc_offset_DST=+3
website=http://www.pagegiai.lt

Pagėgiai (pronunciation|Pagegiai.ogg, _de. Pogegen) is a city in the south western Lithuania. It is the capital of Pagėgiai municipality, and as such it is part of Tauragė County.

The name of the town literally means "at Gėgė" and it is believed that the Gėgė river once flowed through the town.

History

Interwar period

When the Treaty of Versailles came in effect in January 1920, the Klaipėda Region located north of the Neman River was separated from Germany.

The parts of "Kreis" Ragnit and both "Landkreis" and "Stadtkreis" Tilsit, which had been established in 1818, as well as "Gutsbezirk" Perwallkischken were combined on 27 January 1920 to the new "Kreis Pogegen", with Pagėgiai as capital.

When Lithuania assumed control of the region in 1923, it was renamed "Pagėgiai Apskritis".On 22 March 1939, the area was annexed to Nazi Germany, and renamed Landkreis Pogegen. It consisted of 164 "Landgemeinden" with less than 2,000 inhabitants, and 34 "Gutsbezirke". The largest community was "Schmalleningken" with a pop. of 1,700. "Pogegen" and the community of "Wischwill" had 1,400 each.

"Landkreis Pogegen" was dissolved on 1 October 1939 in order to re-unite the area with the larger cities south of Neman, and structures similar to pre-1920 were established.

After World War II

When Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union for the second time in 1944 and the Subdivisions of Lithuania were changed into that of districts, Pagėgiai became one of only a few towns that were interwar apskritis capitals which did not become district capitals. When the municipality reform took place in independent Lithuania in 2000, Pagėgiai municipality was carved out of Šilutė district and thus Pagėgiai became the capital of an administrative unit again.

The coat of arms of the town and the municipality depicts a bird with a key, which symbolises the border nature of the area (now with Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia). A Lithuanian border guard unit is stationed in Pagėgiai.

External links

*http://www.territorial.de/memel/pogegen/landkrs.htm#fn2
*http://www.ostpreussenheimat.de/03-datenbanken/03c-Pogegen/03c-PO-001.html
*http://www.tilsit-ragnit.de/ragnit/ra_pogegenkreis.html
*http://www.kartenmeister.com/preview/City.asp?CitNum=2094
*http://www.online-ofb.de/memelland/memelland.gif