Regions of Lithuania

The country now known as Lithuania existed since the 13th Century. In 1569 the country was merged with Poland to for the Polis-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which was partitioned in 1795, with the area now Lithuania falling to the Russian Empire.
On 16 February 1918, Lithuania became an independent nation.
After 1945, Lithuania became part of the Soviet Union. It reachieved independence in 1991.

Klaipėda

The city of Memel (Klaipėda) was founded by Teutonic knights in the 15th Century. In 1910 it had 45% of Lithuanian speakers. It remained in Prussian, then German hands until 1918, when the allies needed to decide which country would take Memel. This was resolved in 1923 when Lithuania annexed it.
In 1939, Hitler demanded Memel back from Lithuania, and he received it. It was the last German annexation before the War.
After 1945, the territory was annexed by the Soviet Union and included in Lithuania, with which it became independent in 1991.

Olympian born between 1939 and 1945 in Memel (then German):

Representing Germany:
  1. (500) Werner Ulrich (GER/CAS/1960)

Vilnius

Vilnius was traditionally a city with a large Polish population. It was part of the Russian empire until 1917, and of the Soviet Union after that.
At the end of WWI, the Polish army had occupied the city of Vilnius (Wilno in Polish). Poland annexed that sity in 1923. The city was captured by the Soviet Union at the end of WWII, and returned to Lithuania. It is now the capital of independent Lithuania.

Olympians born before 1923 in Wilno (then Russia):

Representing Poland:
  1. (492.0) Andrzej Osiecimski-Czapski (POL/ROW/1924)
  2. (25.02) Ludomir Slendziński (POL/ART/1928)
  3. (7.078) Aleksander Szniolis (POL/ART/1936)
  4. (204.0) Włodzimierz Zawadzki (POL/ROW/1936)
  5. (2400) Mieczysław Łomowski (POL/ATH/1948)

Olympians born between 1923 and 1945 in Wilno (then Polish):

Representing Poland:
  1. (2.400) Marek Petrusewicz (POL/SWI/1952)
  2. (960.6) Zenon Ważny (POL/ATH/1952-56)
  3. (65.00) Stanisław Wieśniak (POL/ROW/1952)
  4. (7047) Elwira Seroczyńska (POL/SSK/1960-64)
  5. (200.0) Jerzy Młynarczyk (POL/BAS/1960)
  6. (51.00) Antoni Rosołowicz (POL/ROW/1960)
  7. (38.40) Stefan Masztak (POL/SHO/1960)
  8. (1.500) Jan Kuczyński (POL/WRF/1960)
  9. (14.50) Lech Boguszewicz (POL/ATH/1964)
  10. (640.0) Bohdan Likszo (POL/BAS/1964-68)
  11. (3588) Władysław Szuszkiewicz (POL/KAY/1964-72)
  12. (792.0) Izabella Antonowicz-Szuszkiewicz (POL/KAY/1964-72)
  13. (500.0) Romuald Paszkiewicz (POL/VOL/1968)
  14. (320.0) Krzysztof Birula-Białynicki (POL/ICH/1972)
  15. (1.000) Lech Poklewski (POL/SAI/1972)
Written 2020-05-23 - last modified 2022-01-27

This page is part of the site "Full Olympians" by Herman De Wael. See here for a full Introduction.