The city has been known by other names: Kiejdany in Polish, Keidan in Yiddish, and Kedahnen in German. Kėdainiai other alternate forms include Kidan, Kaidan, Keidany, Keydan, Kiedamjzeÿ , Kuidany, and Kidainiai.
History
The area was the site of several battles during "The Deluge", the 17th century war between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden. In 1655 a short-lived treaty with Sweden, the Union of Kėdainiai, was signed by two members of Radziwiłł family in their Kėdainiai castle. While little remains of the Radziwiłł castle, the crypt of the Calvinist church houses the family mausoleum, including the tombs of Krzysztof Radziwiłł and his son Janusz. ScottishProtestants arrived in the late 16th and 17th centuries, encouraged by the conversion of Anna Radziwill; the community exerted considerable influence in the city and persisted until the mid-19th century. A local custom called on all visitors to bring a stone to be used in the town's construction.
World War II
During Operation Barbarossa, Kėdainiai was occupied by the German Armyin the summer of 1941. On August 28, 1941, the entire Jewish community of Kėdainiai, a community which had been there for 500 years, were killed under the direction of German Special Police Battalions, with the aid of the local Lithuanian population. The Jewish population prior to the Holocaust was 3000.
Soviet period
During the Cold War it was home to Kėdainiai air base, a major Soviet military airlift facility. For many years, Kėdainiai was known for its chemical and food processing industries. The Kėdainiai chemical plant, Lifosa began operations in January 1963. Publicized as a milestone in the industrialization of Lithuania, it emitted significant quantities of sulfuric acid and was the subject of ecological protests in the 1980s.
Independent Lithuania
Following years of stagnation, old enterprises have come back to life, and new ones have been established, contributing to its status as an economic stronghold.
The Kėdainiai Regional Museum, established in 1922, now operates four branches: a Multicultural Centre, the Mausoleum of the Dukes Radziwill, the House of Juozas Paukštelis, and the Museum of Wooden Sculptures of V.Ulevičius. Since the city is known as the cucumber capital of Lithuania, it sponsors an annual cucumber festival. In 2013, the bandBastille shot a music video for their single "Things We Lost in the Fire" in the location. A small Polish minority of 329 people live in Kėdainiai district municipality, but only 30 people participate in Stowarzyszenie Polaków Kiejdan, the elder people; their cultural activities involve public celebrations of Polish Day of Independence and Day of the Constitution of Third of May, as well as organizing a festival of Polish culture. Since 1994 a School of Polish Language exists.
