Auce

Auce (Aukė; Alt-Autz) is a town in southern Latvia, in the Dobele Municipality situated near the Lithuanian border.

History
Before the 13th century, the territory of Auce was a part of a Semigallian Spārnene county. After the partition of Semigallia in 1254, the territory was granted to the Archbishopric of Riga. Auce is first mentioned in written sources in 1426 as Owcze. In 1616, the Old Auce (Alt-Autz) manor is mentioned for the first time when there was a regional assembly that was held (landtag) of the Duchy of Courland. In 1667, the first Lutheran church was erected in Auce. From 1768 until the Latvian agrarian reforms in the 1920s, the Old Auce manor was property of the Baltic German von Medem family.

Auce village started rapid development after the construction of the Jelgava-Mažeikiai railway in 1889. During the World War I, Auce was occupied by the Imperial German army. The Germans established an aviation school and airfield (Artillerie-Fliegerschule Ost I) nearby.

After the Latvian War of Independence, Auce became part of the Republic of Latvia. In 1920, Old Auce manor was nationalised, and it became the property of the University of Latvia, to be used as a teaching farm for students of agriculture. In 1924, Auce received town rights. Auce has been the centre of the Auce municipality. But in 2021, Auce Municipality was merged with the Dobele Municipality.

Notable people

 * Signe Baumane (born 1964), animator, fine artist, illustrator and writer
 * Ramona Petraviča (born 1967), politician
 * Aivars Polis (born 1972), luger
 * Ingus Bankevics (born 1985), basketball player