Tauragė

Infobox Settlement
name = Tauragė
nickname =
settlement_type = City
pushpin_

pushpin_label_position =
pushpin_map_caption =Location of Tauragė
image_shield = Taurage COA.gif
latd=55|latm=15|lats=|latNS=N|longd=22|longm=17|longs=|longEW=E
coordinates_display= inline,title
coordinates_type = region:LT_type:city(28000)
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = LTU
subdivision_type1 = Ethnographic region
subdivision_name1 = Samogitia
subdivision_type2 = County
subdivision_name2 = Tauragė County
subdivision_type3 = Municipality
subdivision_name3 = Tauragė district municipality
subdivision_type4 = Eldership
subdivision_name4 = Tauragė town eldership
subdivision_type6 = Capital of
subdivision_name6 = Tauragė County
Tauragė district municipality
Tauragė town eldership
Tauragė rural eldership
established_date = 16th century
established_title = First mentioned
established_date2 =
population_total = 28,504
population_as_of = 2005
timezone=EET
utc_offset=+2
timezone_DST=EEST
utc_offset_DST=+3
website=http://www.taurage.lt/

Tauragė (pronunciation|Taurage.ogg; known also by alternate foreign names) is an industrial city in Lithuania, and the capital of Tauragė County. In 2005, its population was 28,504. Tauragė is situated on the Jūra River, close to the Russian border of the Kaliningrad Oblast, and not far from the Baltic Sea coast.

Tauragė received its city charter in 1932, and its coat of arms (a silver hunting horn in a red field), in 1997. Notable buildings in the city, include the neo-Gothic Radziwiłł palace - "the castle" (currently housing a school, and the "Santaka" regional museum) and several churches: the Lutheran (built in 1843), the Orthodox (1853), and the Catholic church (1904) . A ceramics manufacturing plant operates in the city.

Etymology

"Tauragė" in Lithuanian is a conjunction of two words: "Tauras" which means "aurochs" and "ragas" which means "horn", hence its coat of arms. Located close to the former Memel Territory, the city is known as "Tauroggen" in German. The city is known in Polish as "Taurogi", mostly for being prominently mentioned [http://www.literatura.zapis.net.pl/trylogia/potop_t3r22.htm] in "The Deluge", a classic historical novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz.

History

One of the major residences of the Radziwiłł family since 1655, the city has been a center of Lutheranism in Lithuania. From 1691 until 1795 Tauragė belonged to Brandenburg-Prussia, after the marriage of Margrave Ludwig of Brandenburg with Princess Ludwika Karolina Radziwiłł. Afterwards, the city became part of the Russian Empire.

Tsar Alexander I of Russia, signed an armistice with Napoleon I in Tauragė on June 21 1807, that was soon to be followed with the Treaties of Tilsit. On December 30 1812, the Prussian General Johann David Ludwig Graf Yorck von Wartenburg, signed the Convention of Tauroggen, declaring his troops neutral, that effectively ended the fragile Franco-Prussian alliance during the French invasion of Russia. In 1836, much of the city was destroyed by a fire. Honoré de Balzac stayed in Tauragė in 1843.

In 1915, a significant part of the city's infrastructure was destroyed by German troops during World War I. On September 9 1927, elements in the town rebelled against the rule of Antanas Smetona, but the revolt was quickly extinguished. After the Soviet annexation of Lithuania in 1940, the "Tauragė Castle" was a place of imprisonment for Lithuanian political dissidents, and Polish POWs. Many local inhabitants, including the parents and relatives of Roman Abramovich, were exiled to Siberia during the Soviet occupation in 1940. This saved the family from the Holocaust. When Operation Barbarossa commenced on June 22 1941, the Soviets retreated, and Tauragė was captured by the German Wehrmacht on the same day. About four thousand Jews were murdered in Tauragė and nearby villages during the Second World War. The Nazis were replaced by the Soviets in the autumn of 1944.

Twin towns

Tauragė is twinned with:
* Bełchatów (Poland)
* Kutno (Poland)
* Riedstadt (Germany)

External links

* [http://www.taurage.lt/ Municipal website] lt icon
* [http://www.randburg.com/li/tauragedi.html Randburg.com]