# Vilnius <table class="place-meta"> <tr><td>Hebrew</td><td dir="rtl">וילנה</td></tr> <tr><td>Yiddish</td><td dir="rtl">ווילנע</td></tr> <tr><td>Local name(s)</td><td>Vilnius (Lithuanian), Wilno (Polish), Vilnyus (Russian), Vilnia (Belarusian), Wilna (German)</td></tr> <tr><td>Region (today)</td><td>Vilnius County, Lithuania</td></tr> <tr><td>Coordinates</td><td>54.6872 25.2800</td></tr> </table> <table class="place-meta place-eras"> <tr><th>Era</th><th>Town name</th><th>Country / jurisdiction</th></tr> <tr><td>1323–1569</td><td>Vilna</td><td>Grand Duchy of Lithuania</td></tr> <tr><td>1569–1795</td><td>Wilno</td><td>Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth</td></tr> <tr><td>1795–1915</td><td>Vilna</td><td>Russian Empire (Vilna Governorate)</td></tr> <tr><td>1922–1939</td><td>Wilno</td><td>Second Polish Republic</td></tr> <tr><td>1940–1990</td><td>Vilnius</td><td>Soviet Union (Lithuanian SSR); German occupation 1941–1944</td></tr> <tr><td>1990–present</td><td>Vilnius</td><td>Lithuania</td></tr> </table> ## Overview Jews began settling in Vilna from German-speaking lands by the mid-15th century, forming roughly a quarter of the population by the mid-1600s. The city became the preeminent center of Lithuanian Jewish religious and intellectual life — home of the Vilna Gaon and, from 1925, of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research — earning the name 'Jerusalem of Lithuania' (Yerushalayim de-Lita). On the eve of the Holocaust in 1941 about 60,000 Jews (some estimates up to 80,000) lived there, roughly 30% of the population. The Vilna Ghetto was established 6 September 1941 and liquidated 23–24 September 1943; tens of thousands were murdered at the Ponary (Paneriai) killing site. Only several hundred of Vilna's prewar Jews survived. <small>Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilnius, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilna_Ghetto, https://encyclopedia.yivo.org/article.aspx/vilnius</small> ## People with events here | Person | Event | | --- | --- | | [[Yehoshua Heschel Charif (b.1593)]] | Born ~1593 | | [[Efraim Fischel Fisheles (b.1594)]] | Born 1594 | | [[Menachem Manes Chajes (b.1560)]] | Died 05/03/1636 | | [[Shlomo Zalman Kramer (d.1758)]] | Died 12/25/1758 | | [[Eliyahu Kramer (b.1720)]] | Died 10/09/1797 | | [[Shlomo Zalman Horowitz (Taker) (b.1825)]] | Born ~1825 | | [[Isser Fisher (b.1937)]] | Born 10/20/1937 |