Theatre square in Klaipeda

Once we came to Klaipeda (historically Memel), the centre of town is still dominated by the Dramatic Theatre. Klaipeda has a history sort of separate from much of the rest of Lithuania, with probably a must closer relation with Kaliningrad (historically Köningsberg), including also the Curonian spit, not very far to the south. Klaipeda was conquered by Lithuania in 1923 (after it's independence) but later taken back by Germany in 1939 (?) and was German during much of the Second World War.

From the centre balcony in this building however, Adolf Hitler once spoke to the local masses (filling the square, out of a town of approx 50 000) against a background of a photo of himself during a 1939 visit - you see the location best in the top photo. (We found this documentary partly depicting the event on youtube.) Out of this German-speaking population, only a handful (6 or 7, reputedly) at all survived the war, and the current population are native Lithuanians from other parts of the country.



This is a sort of modernist (Soviet-era?) wing of the theatre to the left of the main building.

The main theatre building, from 2 different angles.