Soviet occupation

Šalčininkai district was formed in 1950, during the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, from 34 apylinkės of the abolished Vilnius county.^[1] The district's area was 957 km².^[1] In 1950–53, the Šalčininkai district was part of the Vilnius region.^[1] In 1962, Šalčininkai and Eišiškės districts were merged into one and named Eišiškės district, while five neighborhoods were transferred to the Varėna district.^[1] In 1972, Eišiškės district was renamed to Šalčininkai district.^[1] There were two towns (Eišiškės, Šalčininkai) in the district in 1974.^[1]

The Šalčininkai district's official Communist newspaper was called Lenin's Precepts (Russian: Заветы Ленина, romanized: Zavety Lenina; Polish: Przykazania Lenina; Lithuanian: Lenino priesakai) and published in three languages: Russian, Polish and Lithuanian.^[3] Although officially, the absolute majority of the district's residents were Poles, as many as 8,000 of the inhabitants were subscribed to the Russian-language newspaper, while only one and a half thousand - to the Lithuanian and Polish language versions.^[3] The newspaper spread hostile misinformation towards the re-emerging independent Lithuanian state of Lithuania in all language versions of its issues.^[3]

1990s

On 11 March 1990, when the Supreme Council of Lithuania declared the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania, some non-Lithuanians in the Vilnius Region, mostly members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, began actively creating a separatist territorial entity under Moscow's inspiration and guidance.^[3] From 1988 to 21 August 1991, the autonomists of the Šalčininkai and Vilnius districts organized three congresses of the Poles of the Vilnius region.^[3] In order to disrupt the Lithuanian state at that time, both aforementioned district councils adopted dozens of anti-state resolutions.^[3] For example, by the decision of the Šalčininkai district council, as many as 384 of the district's young men were taken into the Soviet army during one and a half years and the work of the Lithuanian border guards was sabotaged in various ways.^[3] During this period, all Lithuanian government decisions were blocked in Vilnius and Šalčininkai districts.^[3] The autonomists acted brazenly, because of Moscow's direct support and because they were aided by the Soviet army, which was still stationed on Lithuanian soil.^[3] The attempts to create a Polish autonomy in the Vilnius Region collapsed when the Moscow-led Soviet leadership, which was the project's main supporter, collapsed in the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt.^[3]

In 1995, the Šalčininkai district municipality was established instead of the Šalčininkai district.^[1]

Climate

The average temperature in January is -4.5 °C, while in July it is 17 °C.^[1] Annual rainfall is 650 mm.^[1]

Ethnicity