Panemunė


Panemunė is a town in Lithuania. It is situated on the banks of the Nemunas River opposite Sovetsk, south from Pagėgiai, in Tauragė County. It is a border checkpoint for traffic to and from Russia.
The magnificent Queen Louise Bridge links Panemunė to the city of Sovetsk just south across the river. The landmark arch now lies on the Russian side.

History

The area comprising today's Panemunė used to be the northern trans-Memel suburb of Tilsit, then a Prussian and later also German town. Then Tilsit sat close to the border between Germany and Russia.
After Germany's defeat in World War I, the trans-Memel suburb was disentangled from Tilsit in 1920. The suburb was given the name Übermemel, which means over the Memel river in German.
French administered the area pursuant to the Treaty of Versailles, establishing the League of Nations mandate of Memel/Klaipėda. In 1923 the newly emerged nation of Lithuania annexed the Memelland after the Klaipėda Revolt and Übermemel was given the name Panemunė. Germany re-acquired Panemunė on 23 March 1939 - its last peaceful territorial gain before the Second World War. So Panemunė was reintegrated into the city of Tilsit.
Following World War II, the whole area was seized by the Soviet Union and in 1947 Übermemel, renamed as Panemunė became part of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. The town's German speaking population was expelled.

Border Crossing

A joint project between Lithuania and Russia is currently underway to construct a new modern border crossing route for vehicles to bypass both Panemunė and the Russian city of Sovetsk. The goal is to relieve both towns of the congestion and to bring the crossing up to modern standards. The bypass involves a new bridge over the Neman river and new bypass roads around the towns. Once complete the existing border crossing over the historic Queen Louise Bridge will be for pedestrian use only.