# Bezdonys > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Bezdonys > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Bezdonys.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bezdonys > Source revision: 1351366390 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}} {{Infobox settlement |name = Bezdonys |image_skyline =Bezdonys,_Lithuania_-_panoramio_(23).jpg |image_caption =Panoramic view of Bezdonys from the north |settlement_type =Town |pushpin_map =Lithuania |pushpin_label_position = |pushpin_map_caption =Location of Bezdonys |image_shield = Newly_established_Coat_of_Arms_for_Bezdonys.png |image_flag = The_flag_of_Bezdonys.png |coordinates = {{coord|54|48|16|N|25|31|09|E|region:LT_type:city(2000)|display=inline,title}} | |subdivision_type = [Country](/source/Countries_of_the_world) |subdivision_name = {{flag|Lithuania}} |subdivision_type2 = [County](/source/Counties_of_Lithuania) |subdivision_name2 = 20px [Vilnius County](/source/Vilnius_County) |subdivision_type3 = [Municipality](/source/List_of_municipalities_of_Lithuania) |subdivision_name3 = [Vilnius district municipality](/source/Vilnius_district_municipality) |subdivision_type4 = [Eldership](/source/Elderships_of_Lithuania) |subdivision_name4 = Bezdonys eldership |subdivision_type6 = [Capital of](/source/Capital_(political)) |subdivision_name6 = Bezdonys eldership |established_date = |established_title = |population_total = 636 |population_as_of = 2021 |timezone=[EET](/source/Eastern_European_Time) |utc_offset=+2 |timezone_DST=[EEST](/source/Eastern_European_Summer_Time) |utc_offset_DST=+3 }} '''Bezdonys''' is a town in [Lithuania](/source/Lithuania), located to the north of [Vilnius](/source/Vilnius), within the [Vilnius district municipality](/source/Vilnius_district_municipality). It is best known for the 1908 [Bezdany raid](/source/Bezdany_raid), one of the most daring and successful [train robberies](/source/train_robbery) in history.{{in lang|pl}} [Bohdan Urbankowski](/source/Bohdan_Urbankowski), ''Józef Piłsudski: marzyciel i strateg'' (Józef Piłsudski: Dreamer and Strategist), Wydawnictwo ALFA, Warsaw, 1997, {{ISBN|83-7001-914-5}}, p. 133-141{{in lang|pl}} Exceprts from [W. Pobóg-Malinowski](/source/W._Pob%C3%B3g-Malinowski), [http://archiwum99.tripod.com/446/bezdan.html "Akcja bojowa pod Bezdanami, 26 IX 1908"]. Quoted from ''Nasza Gazeta'' 10 (446). Last accessed on 30 May 2006. According to the Lithuanian census of 2011, the town had 743 inhabitants.{{cite web|url=http://statistics.bookdesign.lt/table_125_06.htm?lang=en|title=2011 census|publisher=Statistikos Departamentas (Lithuania)|access-date=August 16, 2017}} ==History== [[File:Bezdonys,_Lithuania_-_panoramio_(12).jpg|left|thumb|Bezdonys [secondary school](/source/secondary_school)]] 300px|thumb|The Catholic church in Bezdonys, built in 1937 The site of the modern village has been inhabited at least since early Middle Ages. Local dense forests were a hunting resort of the [Grand Dukes](/source/Grand_Duke_of_Lithuania). [Jan Długosz](/source/Jan_D%C5%82ugosz) mentions, that the local hunting manor was visited by the [Grand Duke of Lithuania](/source/Grand_Duke_of_Lithuania) [Jogaila](/source/Jogaila). In 1516 a hunting manor and surrounding land was granted by Grand Duke of Lithuania [Sigismund I the Old](/source/Sigismund_I_the_Old) to [Ulrich Hosius](/source/Ulrich_Hosius), better known as father of [Stanislaus Hosius](/source/Stanislaus_Hosius).{{cite book | title =Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich | year =1885 | editor =Filip Sulimierski | editor-link =Filip Sulimierski |editor2=Bronisław Chlebowski |editor3=Władysław Walewski | pages =960 | volume=I | publisher =Wł. Walewski | location =Warsaw | url =http://dir.icm.edu.pl/pl/Slownik_geograficzny/Tom_I/162 | access-date =2008-08-28 |language=pl}} The area donated to the Hosius family consisted of roughly 7000 [hectare](/source/hectare)s of forests, with a single [mill](/source/gristmill) and three villages.{{cite journal | author =Mirosław Gajewski | title =Z historii Bezdan | journal =Nasza Gazeta | volume =10 | issue =446 | url =http://members.fortunecity.se/naszagazeta/446/bezdan.html | access-date =2008-08-28 | language =pl | url-status =dead | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20110716075828/http://members.fortunecity.se/naszagazeta/446/bezdan.html | archive-date =2011-07-16 }} On 1 March 1605, [Ulrich Hosius](/source/Ulrich_Hosius)' great-grandson sold the village and the adjoining land for 5000 [złoty](/source/z%C5%82oty) to [canon](/source/Canon_(priest)) of Vilna Wilczopolski, who in turn donated it to the [Jesuits](/source/Society_of_Jesus) in 1609. The village remained administered by the Jesuits until the [suppression of the Society of Jesus](/source/suppression_of_the_Society_of_Jesus) in 1774. The area was taken over by the royal treasury, but already on July 12 of that year [Grand Duke of Lithuania](/source/Grand_Duke_of_Lithuania) [Stanislaus Augustus](/source/Stanis%C5%82aw_August_Poniatowski) donated it to [Mikołaj Łopaciński](/source/Miko%C5%82aj_%C5%81opaci%C5%84ski) in exchange for a yearly donation for the [Commission of National Education](/source/Commission_of_National_Education).Specifically Łopaciński and his heirs were to pay 4,5% of the value of the village, estimated at 72222 [złoty](/source/z%C5%82oty) 6{{fraction|2|3}} grosz At that time the village had roughly 300 inhabitants, including roughly 20 [noble](/source/szlachta) families. After the [Partitions of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth](/source/Partitions_of_Polish-Lithuanian_Commonwealth) the village remained in the hands of the Łopaciński family. The yearly fee however was instead paid to [Saint Petersburg](/source/Saint_Petersburg). Following the [January Uprising](/source/January_Uprising) the peasants living in Bezdany were granted with roughly 400 [hectare](/source/hectare)s (or ''[desiatinas](/source/Desiatina)'') of land. On March 15, 1862, the [Warsaw – Saint Petersburg Railway](/source/Warsaw_%E2%80%93_Saint_Petersburg_Railway) was opened and one of its stations was located in Bezdany (or Безданы in Russian). It was there that the [Bezdany raid](/source/Bezdany_raid) of September 26, 1908 took place. A group of Polish revolutionaries led by [Józef Piłsudski](/source/J%C3%B3zef_Pi%C5%82sudski) stole roughly 200,000 [Russian ruble](/source/Russian_ruble)sRoughly 100,000 contemporary [US Dollar](/source/US_Dollar)s, or almost 10,000,000 in 2007 dollars (using the unskilled wage indicator of relative worth). See: [http://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/uscompare/result.php measuringworth.com] from a passenger train. It is usually being said, that this sum was intended for the construction of an electric tram lines in Vilnius ({{Interlanguage link|Vilniaus arklinis tramvajus|lt}}), that were never built in the aftermath. After the [Polish–Lithuanian War](/source/Polish%E2%80%93Lithuanian_War), the village for the first time appeared was under [Polish rule](/source/Second_Polish_Republic). [Marian Zyndram-Kościałkowski](/source/Marian_Zyndram-Ko%C5%9Bcia%C5%82kowski), the owner of the nearby village of [Arvydai](/source/Arvydai) and future [Prime Minister of Poland](/source/Prime_Minister_of_Poland) financed a new public school in Bezdany. Also, in 1937 a new wooden church was opened in the presence of the [President of Poland](/source/President_of_Poland) [Ignacy Mościcki](/source/Ignacy_Mo%C5%9Bcicki). Until then, the nearest church was located in [Nemenčinė](/source/Nemen%C4%8Din%C4%97), 8 kilometres away. By the end of the 1930s the village grew to almost 500 inhabitants and 70 houses. On 9 July 1943, 350 local Jews are murdered in a forest nearby Bezdonys. The massacre was perpetrated by an [einsatzgruppen](/source/einsatzgruppen) of Germans and local [collaborationist](/source/Collaborationism)s led by [Bruno Kittel](/source/Bruno_Kittel).{{Cite web|url=http://www.holocaustatlas.lt/EN/#a_atlas/search//page/1/item/160/|title = Holocaust Atlas of Lithuania}} Following [World War II](/source/World_War_II) the village was returned to [Lithuania](/source/Lithuania). Roughly half{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}} of pre-war inhabitants were evicted and expelled{{Dubious|date=July 2020}} [to within post-war Poland](/source/Polish_population_transfers_(1944%E2%80%9346)).{{cite journal | author =Czesława Paczkowska |date=February–March 2008 | title =Gminy z dorobkiem w tle – Bezdany | journal =Tygodnik Wileńszczyzny | volume =9 | issue =390 | url =http://www.tygodnik.lt/200809/samorz1.html | access-date =2008-08-28 |language=pl}} In the late 1930s in order to ostensibly honor late [Józef Piłsudski](/source/J%C3%B3zef_Pi%C5%82sudski), a hundred public schools, named after him, were built in the [Vilnius region](/source/Vilnius_Region) to [polonise](/source/Polonisation) the [locals](/source/Tutejszy), while Lithuanian schools were simultaneously closed down{{Cite web |date=2019-03-01 |title=Tarpukario modernizmo ženklai Vilniaus mokyklose ir duoklė funkcionalizmui |url=https://madeinvilnius.lt/vilniaus-istorija/senasis-vilnius/tarpukario-modernizmo-zenklai-vilniaus-mokyklose-ir-duokle-funkcionalizmui/ |access-date=2026-04-27 |website=MadeinVilnius.lt |language=lt-LT}} – one such wooden Polish school was built in Bezdonys too. In 1946 a [Russian language](/source/Russian_language) class was added to the [Polish language](/source/Polish_language) school and in 1957 also Lithuanian language class was opened. In 1968 a new school building was opened and in 1992 a new Lithuanian language only school was built. ==Demographics== According to the 2021 census, out of 2790 inhabitants of [Bezdonys Eldership](/source/Bezdonys_Eldership): * [Lithuanians](/source/Lithuanians) - 1416 (50.75%) * [Poles](/source/Poles_in_Lithuania) - 1008 (36.1%) * [Russians](/source/Russians_in_Lithuania) - 196 (7.1%) * [Belarusians](/source/Belarusians_in_Lithuania) - 81 (2.9%) == Notes == {{Reflist|group=nb}} == References == {{Reflist|2}} == External links == {{commons category|Bezdonys}} * {{in lang|lt}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20081004134555/http://bezdonys.puslapiai.lt/ Pictures] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110721132638/http://www.mapywig.org/m/wig25k/1803_bezdany.jpg 1925 map of Bezdany and its surroundings] {{Vilnius County}} Category:Towns in Vilnius County Category:Vilnius District Municipality Category:Towns in Lithuania --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Bezdonys](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bezdonys) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bezdonys?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.