within the Wilno Voivodeship, in the
Wilno–Troki District of the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, Nazi
Germany attacked Poland in unison with the Soviet Union. The town was taken
over on September 19, 1939. Polish soldiers, who fought in the September
Campaign, were interned in the neighboring town of Kretinga by the Lithuanians.
Between 1942 and 1943 a Jewish partisan unit headed by Abba Kovner operated in
the vicinity and blew up a train near the Lentvaris station on the railroad
from Vilnius to Grodno. Twenty one cars carrying troops and supplies were
derailed. The train had been on its way from Warsaw to Vilnius
