Alternate names: Švenčionys [Lith], Sventzion [Yid], Święciany [Pol], Shventsian [Rus], Śvianciany [Bel], Svencionyz, Shvintzion, Shvyentsiani, Shvyetsiani, Svenchan, Sventsian, Sventsiany, Swenziany, Svintzian, Russian: Свенцяны. Belarusian: Сьвянцяны. סווענציאן-Yiddish.  55°09' N, 26°10' E, in NE Lithuania, near the border with Belarus. 47 miles NE of Vilnius (Vilna), 33 miles SE of Utena (Utian), in Svintsyan district with more than 70 Jewish families, the town was surrounded by a thick pine forest. 1900 Jewish population: 3,272. Svencionys had a pre-World-War-II population of approximately 8,000 people, of whom about 50% were Jewish. In 2000, five Jews lived in Svencionys (and one in nearby New Svencionys, or Svencioneliai).

Yizkor: Sefer zikaron le-esrim ve-shalosh kehilot she-nehrevu be-ezor Svintsian (Tel Aviv, 1965).

Town photos. [May 2013]

ShtetLink. Mordecai Kaplan, founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, was born here. In the run up to WWII, many young Jews joined the Soviet Army or Jewish partisan units; some were deported; some fled before the German arrival. Most just remained. Lithuanian police, or Schutzmannschaft ("protective force") battalions, harrassed them even before the German invasion, but after, severe repression began. On August 4, 1941, Jews were ordered into a ghetto. Executions were carried out by Einsatzgruppen, SS "aktion groups", mobile killing squads directed primarily against Poles and Jews. The Jews of Svintsyan and others brought to the ghetto from surrounding communities were taken to Svencioneliai, locked in barracks at the Poligon (former Polish army camp) for several days and then shot  on October 9, 1941, a total of 3726 Jews --1,169 men, 1,840 women, and 717 children. A few hundred Jews, who assisted the German war effort through forced labor, remained in the Ghetto. They were murdered by the SS near Svieciany on January 7, 1942. [March 2009]

Survivor Mitzvah Program.

MASS GRAVE: Sveneioneliai at the river Zeimena; 164-165; pic. # 276-279. Near Cirkligkis settlement; 166; pic. # 281 US Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad

Memorials for over 8,000 Jews. [March 2009]

CEMETERY entrance photo. montage of cemetery photos. [May 2013]