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Klaipeda

 
Dictionary: Klai·pe·da   (klī'pĭ-də, -pĕ-dä) pronunciation

A city of western Lithuania on the Baltic Sea. Founded as a fortress in 1252 by Teutonic Knights, it was an important trading town of the Hanseatic League and was later held by Sweden, Prussia, and Russia before becoming (1924) part of an autonomous region within Lithuania. It was occupied by Germany in World War II and captured by Soviet forces in 1945. It is the chief port and industrial city of Lithuania. Population: 186,000.

 

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City (pop., 2001: 192,954) and port, Lithuania. It lies on the channel that connects the Neman River with the Baltic Sea. A fortress built on the site in the early 13th century was destroyed in 1252 by the Teutonic Order, who built a new fortress called Memelburg. It came under Prussian control in the 17th century, and the town (Memel) was settled by Germans. In 1923 Memel became part of Lithuania and was renamed Klaipeda. Seized by Germany in 1939, it passed to the Soviet Union in 1945. Klaipeda became part of the newly independent Lithuania in 1991. The modern city has major shipbuilding yards and is the base for a large deep-sea fishing fleet.

For more information on Klaipeda, visit Britannica.com.

Holocaust: Memel
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(in Lithuanian, Klaipeda), port city on the Baltic Sea. Until 1919 Memel belonged to Germany. After World War I the city was taken away from Germany, and in 1923 it was annexed to Lithuania. In 1939 there were 9,000 Jews living in Memel, constituting 18 percent of the city's population.

The Jews in Memel were strongly affected by the tension between the Lithuanians, who ran the city's government, and the Germans, who were a majority. After Hitler rose to national power in Germany in 1933, the Nazis began campaigning for the city's return to Germany. This campaign included anti-Jewish riots and other antisemitic actions. In October 1938 the local Nazis called for the implementation of the Nuremberg Laws in Memel; at the end of that year the Nazis won 26 of 29 seats in the city's parliament, effectively making Memel part of Germany.

German troops entered Memel in March 1939. Luckily, many Lithuanians and almost all of the city's Jews had managed to escape to Kovno and other nearby towns before the invasion. However, after the Nazis took over Lithuania in mid-1941, they destroyed those Jews along with the rest of Lithuanian Jewry. When Memel was liberated by the Soviet army in January 1945, not one Jew remained.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Klaipeda
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Klaipeda (klī'pĕdä), formerly Memel ('məl), city (1993 pop. 206,400), W Lithuania, on the Baltic Sea, at the entrance to the Courland Lagoon. An ice-free seaport and an industrial center, it has shipyards and industries producing textiles, fertilizers, and wood products. It is the home of a large fishing fleet. One of the oldest cities of Lithuania, Klaipeda was the site of a settlement as early as the 7th cent. It was conquered and burned in 1252 by the Teutonic Knights, who built a fortress and named it Memelburg. The city was ceded (1629) by Prussia to Sweden but reverted to Prussia in 1635. In the Napoleonic Wars the city was (1807) the refuge and residence of Frederick William III of Prussia, who signed there the edict emancipating the serfs in his kingdom. From 1919 it shared the history of the Memel Territory. The name has also appeared as Klaypeda.


Dialing Code: The telephone dialing code for: Klaipeda, Lithuania
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The country code is: 370
The city code is: 6


 
 
Learn More
Klaipedos Atvadavimas (1923 Film)
Kursky Zaliv (body of water, Lithuania/Russia)
Memel Territory (district, Prussia)

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Is there a seismic code in Klaipeda Lithuania that has to be followed to build a metal building?
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How far from klaipeda to kiev?

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Holocaust. Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. Copyright © H.H. The Jerusalem Publishing House, Ltd. © Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more
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