Šalčininkai

Šalčininkai (Soleczniki; Sassenicken; סאָלעטשניק Solechnik; Салечнікі) is a city in Vilnius County, Lithuania, situated south-east of Vilnius, near the border with Belarus.

The name of the city derives from Šalčia river, šalta meaning cold in Lithuanian.

History
In the medieval period the region around Šalčininkai was dominated by Lithuanians and it was the birthplace of many authors of the earliest Lithuanian-language texts (including Stanislovas Rapalionis, Jurgis Zablockis and Aleksandras Rodūnonis, to name a few). At the late 19 century most of the local inhabitants were assimilated with the neighboring Belarusians and called themselves tutejszy ("the locals"), while staying Catholics, that meant Polish self-identification of many.

The region is known for its uncodified Belarusian vernacular (also known as 'po prostu', meaning 'simply' or 'plainly') and the city itself is considered the provincial centre of Polish culture in Lithuania (the urban centre being Vilnius).

Šalčininkai attained the town status in 1956 and is now a capital of the Šalčininkai district municipality.

Demographics
According to the latest census of 2021, Šalčininkai had 6857 inhabitants and features a multi-ethnic population of 4930 Poles (71.9%), 920 Lithuanians (15.7%), 438 Russians (6.4%), 286 Belarusians (4.2%), 61 Ukrainians (0,9%) and 222 people of other background (3.2%). 12.2% of all inhabitants in Šalčininkai district municipality, according to the 2021 census were born abroad, while 87.8% were born in Lithuania. This was a decrease from 14.3%, recorded by the previous – 2011 census. Out of 34.5 thousand inhabitants in 2011, 3711 or 10.7% of all the inhabitants were born in Belarus, 728 or 2.1% in Russia.

Šalčininkai contains the highest percentage number of self-identified Poles of any city in Lithuania.

The city coat of arms, designed by Arvydas Každailis, shows three hazelnuts symbolizing solidarity.

Notable people

 * Władysław Kozakiewicz (born 1950), Polish pole vaulter and Olympic champion
 * Henoch Leibowitz
 * Aaron Soltz

Twin towns – sister cities
Šalčininkai is twinned with:


 * 🇵🇱 Bełchatów County, Poland
 * 🇩🇪 Hude, Germany
 * 🇵🇱 Kadzidło, Poland
 * 🇵🇱 Kaźmierz, Poland
 * 🇵🇱 Kętrzyn County, Poland
 * 🇵🇱 Łomża, Poland
 * 🇵🇱 Łowicz, Poland
 * 🇵🇱 Nowe Miasto Lubawskie, Poland
 * 🇵🇱 Płońsk, Poland
 * 🇵🇱 Radom County, Poland
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 * 🇵🇱 Świdnik, Poland
 * 🇵🇱 Szczytno, Poland
 * 🇵🇱 Tarnowo Podgórne, Poland
 * 🇵🇱 Warsaw West County, Poland
 * 🇵🇱 Wolsztyn County, Poland
 * 🇵🇱 Wschowa, Poland
 * 🇵🇱 Żnin, Poland