History of Valkininkai

pan class="apple-converted-space"> armies during the French invasion of Russia. Instances of famine, caused by the war, were recorded as late as 1822. Completion of the Warsaw – Saint Petersburg Railway in 1862 and increased demand for local timber helped the town to recover and grow: the population increased from 1516 in 1841 to 2619 (including 1126 Jews) in 1897. However, industrialization was slow: a large paper and cardboard factory, employing some 100 people, was established in the last decade of the 19th century and a turpentine factory (10–14 employees) was established in 1923. The population decreased to 1244 in 1919. Around 400 Jews from Valkininkai were executed in Eišiškės in September 1941 by Rollkommando Hamann and only five Jews (four of them hidden by friendly Lithuanians) survived World War II. After the war the population decreased to 769 in 1959, 410 in 1970, and 277 in 1987