Panemunė
Panemunė is the smallest settlement with city status in Lithuania. It is situated on the banks of the Nemunas River opposite Sovetsk, [Kaliningrad Oblast|Sovetsk], south from Pagėgiai, in Tauragė County. It is a border checkpoint for traffic to and from Russia.
The Queen Louise Bridge originally built in 1907 links Panemunė to the city of Sovetsk (Tilsit until 1946) just south across the river. The landmark arch now lies on the Russian side.
The city is known as the smallest official city in Lithuania, despite its tiny population.
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. 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 restored 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, was returned to then Soviet-occupied Lithuania. The town's German minority was expelled.