{{About||the city in Iran|Varamin|the ''frazione'' in Italy|Varena, Trentino|the plebeian family of ancient Rome|Varena gens}} {{Infobox settlement <!--more fields are available for this Infobox--See Template:Infobox Settlement--> |name = Varėna |settlement_type= City |image_shield = Varėna COA.svg |image_flag = Varėnos vėliava.svg |image_blank_emblem = Varėna logo.svg |blank_emblem_type = Brandmark |image_skyline = {{multiple image | border = infobox | total_width = 260 | image_style = border:1; | perrow = 1/2/2 |image1 = Central street in Varėna, Lithuania.jpg |caption1 = Central street with a clock |image2 = Varėna District Municipality Building.jpg |caption2 = Varėna District Municipality Building |image3 = Varėnos bažnyčia 2025b.jpg |caption3 = Church of St. Michael the Archangel |image4 = Varėna Railway Station.jpg |caption4 = Varėna Railway Station |image5 = Varėna Public Library with a M. K. Čiurlionis painting.jpg |caption5 = Varėna Public Library with a M. K. Čiurlionis painting }} |image_caption = Town clock |pushpin_map =Lithuania |pushpin_label_position = <!-- the position of the pushpin label: left, right, top, bottom, none --> |pushpin_map_caption =Location of Varėna |coordinates = {{coord|54|12|40|N|24|34|20|E|region:LT|display=inline,title}} |subdivision_type =Country |subdivision_name ={{LTU}} |subdivision_type1=Ethnographic region| |subdivision_name1=Dzūkija |subdivision_type2=County| |subdivision_name2=17px Alytus County |subdivision_type3=Municipality| |subdivision_name3=Varėna district municipality |subdivision_name4= |subdivision_type6=Capital of| |subdivision_name6=Varėna district municipality<br> Varėna eldership |established_date =1377 |established_title=First mentioned| |established_date2=1946 |established_title2=Granted town rights| |area_total_km2 = 12 |population_total = 7794 |population_as_of = 2024<ref>{{cite web |url=https://osp.stat.gov.lt/lt/statistiniu-rodikliu-analize?hash=12281496-bf90-48e1-a846-9ee85f863265 | date=2024-07-19 |title=Resident population on 1 July |website=osp.stat.gov.lt}}</ref> |population_density_km2 = auto |timezone=EET |utc_offset=+2 |timezone_DST=EEST |utc_offset_DST=+3 }}
'''Varėna''' ({{pronunciation|Varena.ogg}}) is a city in Dzūkija, southern Lithuania.<ref name="Vle">{{cite web |title=Varėna |url=https://www.vle.lt/straipsnis/varena/ |website=Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija |access-date=6 June 2025 |language=lt}}</ref> It is the capital of the district of Varėna.<ref name="Vle"/> Currently, there are 7,794 residents. The Varėna district is the largest and most forested municipality of Lithuania as more than 50% of the district's territory is covered with forests.<ref name="VRS">{{cite web |title=Varėnos seniūnija |url=https://varena.lt/seniunijos/varenos-seniunija/ |website=Varėnos rajono savivaldybė |language=lt}}</ref>
==Etymology== The name of the town comes from an old village - Senoji Varėna (at the time called simply Varėna), while the new, present Varėna was being established nearby. The place name itself comes from the name of the Varėnė River.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Šimkus |first1=Šarūnas |title=Varėnos krašto vietovardžių etimologinis žodynas |date=2023 |publisher=L. Leščinskas |location=Vilnius |isbn=978-609-8322-09-5 |page=62}}</ref> In other languages, the town is referred to as: {{langx|pl|Orany}};<ref>{{Cite book |title=Urzędowy wykaz polskich nazw geograficznych świata |publisher=Główny Urząd Geodezji i Kartografii |year=2019 |isbn=978-83-254-2578-4 |editor-last=Zych |editor-first=Maciej |edition=2nd |location=Warsaw |pages=165 |language=pl |trans-title=Official List of Polish Geographical Names of the World |editor-last2=Kacprzak |editor-first2=Justyna}}</ref> {{langx|de|Warnen}}; {{langx|yi|אוראַן}} ''Oran''.
==History== thumb|left|Railway station during World War I Varėna was founded in 1862 as a railway town of the Warsaw – Saint Petersburg Railway, {{convert|4|km|mi|abbr=on}} south of Sena Varėna (Old Varėna). The exact date of the town's foundation is considered to be 5 September 1862 according to the Julian calendar, or 17 September according to the current Gregorian calendar: that's when the first train arrived at the Varėna station. At that time, it was a small settlement, but following steady development, it eventually became the center of the district.<ref name="daina">{{cite web |last1=Cibulskienė |first1=Laimutė |title=Varėnos miestas |url=https://www.dainavoskrastas.lt/vietoves/varenos-miestas/ |website=dainavoskrastas.lt |publisher=Public Library of Alytus District Municipality |access-date=1 June 2025}}</ref> In the interwar period, after World War I, the town was in a territorial dispute between Lithuania and Poland.<ref name="vle">{{cite web |title=Varėna |url=https://www.vle.lt/straipsnis/varena/ |website=vle.lt |publisher=Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing Centre |access-date=1 June 2025}}</ref> Following Zeligowski Mutiny, together with the Vilnius Region it was annexed by Poland under its Polish name ''Orany''. It was located near the then Polish-Lithuanian border and incorporated into the Wilno and Troki County of the Wilno Voivodeship. The Lithuanian-majority residents of the town persistently opposed the Polish authorities, particularly in regard to the ban on church services in Lithuanian.<ref name="daina"/><ref name="vle"/>
thumb|left|150px|Church of St. Michael the Archangel In 1939, following the German-Soviet Invasion of Poland, Varėna was briefly returned to Lithuania, but soon, from 1940, it was occupied by the Soviet Union, and from 1941 it was occupied by Nazi Germany. In 1941, the Germans operated the Dulag 112 prisoner-of-war camp in the town, before its relocation to Mołodeczno.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Megargee|first1=Geoffrey P.|last2=Overmans|first2=Rüdiger|last3=Vogt|first3=Wolfgang|year=2022|title=The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV|publisher=Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum|page=73|isbn=978-0-253-06089-1}}</ref> On September 9, 1942, all the Jews of the town of Varėna were collected in the local synagogue. On that day, even though the Germans had tried to prevent him from doing so, the Lithuanian priest Jonas Gylys entered the synagogue and encouraged the Jews to be brave in their last hours rather than convert to Christianity.
On the following day (or, according to another source, on the 9th itself) all of the Jews were taken from the synagogue to Ežeriekai - a grove of trees near the village of Druckūnai, {{convert|1.5|km|mi|1|abbr=off}} from the town, on the side of the road leading to the village. Two large pits had been dug there {{convert|25|m|ft|abbr=off}} apart, one for the men and one for the women. Germans forced the victims in groups toward the pits and shot them there.
According to the report of Karl Jaeger, commander of Einsatzkommando 3A, 831 Jews from Varėna (and the surrounding areas) – 541 men, 149 women, and 141 children – were killed on that day.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.yadvashem.org/untoldstories/database/murderSite.asp?site_id=846 |title = The Untold Stories. The Murder Sites of the Jews in the Occupied Territories of the Former USSR}}</ref>
In 1944, the town was re-occupied by the Soviet Union, eventually annexed from Poland in 1945 and once again returned to Lithuania. The town became a center of Varėna County (''Varėnos apskritis''). In 1946 around 2,000 Poles were repatriated to Poland.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hist.uni.wroc.pl/pl/polwew/pracownicy/srebrakowski/lit-art1.html |title=Stanisław Ciesielski, Aleksander Srebrakowski |access-date=2007-03-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021017041029/http://www.hist.uni.wroc.pl/pl/polwew/pracownicy/srebrakowski/lit-art1.html |archive-date=2002-10-17 }}</ref>
In the aftermath of World War II, Lithuanian partisans of the Dainava military district were operating in the area. In 1946, Varėna was granted city rights. Following industrialization in the 1970s, the town grew rapidly. In 1995, the coat of arms of Varėna was formally adopted through a decree from the President of Lithuania.<ref name="vle"/>
==Climate== {{Weather box |location = Varėna (1991–2020 normals) |single line = Yes |metric first = Yes |Jan high C = -0.9 |Feb high C = 0.4 |Mar high C = 5.5 |Apr high C = 13.5 |May high C = 19.3 |Jun high C = 22.6 |Jul high C = 24.6 |Aug high C = 23.9 |Sep high C = 18.3 |Oct high C = 11.1 |Nov high C = 4.7 |Dec high C = 0.5 |year high C = |Jan mean C = -3.4 |Feb mean C = -2.7 |Mar mean C = 0.9 |Apr mean C = 7.3 |May mean C = 12.7 |Jun mean C = 16.3 |Jul mean C = 18.4 |Aug mean C = 17.4 |Sep mean C = 12.3 |Oct mean C = 6.9 |Nov mean C = 2.3 |Dec mean C = -1.7 |year mean C = |Jan low C = −6.1 |Feb low C = −5.7 |Mar low C = −3.3 |Apr low C = 1.2 |May low C = 5.8 |Jun low C = 9.8 |Jul low C = 12.3 |Aug low C = 11.1 |Sep low C = 7.1 |Oct low C = 3.1 |Nov low C = 0.0 |Dec low C = -4.0 |year low C = |precipitation colour = green |Jan precipitation mm = 51 |Feb precipitation mm = 43 |Mar precipitation mm = 41 |Apr precipitation mm = 42 |May precipitation mm = 61 |Jun precipitation mm = 65 |Jul precipitation mm = 88 |Aug precipitation mm = 80 |Sep precipitation mm = 54 |Oct precipitation mm = 59 |Nov precipitation mm = 49 |Dec precipitation mm = 54 |year precipitation mm = | Jan humidity = 87 | Feb humidity = 84 | Mar humidity = 78 | Apr humidity = 70 | May humidity = 70 | Jun humidity = 72 | Jul humidity = 75 | Aug humidity = 76 | Sep humidity = 81 | Oct humidity = 84 | Nov humidity = 88 | Dec humidity = 89 | year humidity = 79 |source 1 = Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service<ref>{{cite web |title=Klimato duomenys 1991-2020|url=https://www.meteo.lt/klimatas/lietuvos-klimatas/klimato-duomenys/ |website=Lietuvos hidrometeorologijos tarnyba |language=lt}}</ref>}}
==Twin towns== {{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in Lithuania}}
Varėna is twinned with: * {{flagicon|POL}} Mikołajki, Poland
== References == {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Varėna}} * [http://www.yadvashem.org/untoldstories/database/index.asp?cid=665 The murder of the Jews of Varėna] during World War II, at Yad Vashem website.
{{Alytus County}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Varena}} Category:Varėna Category:Cities in Alytus County Category:Cities in Lithuania Category:Municipalities administrative centres of Lithuania Category:Holocaust locations in Lithuania