Coordinates	37°46′45.48″N122°25′9.12″N
{{infobox river | river name	Neman | image_name Nemunas-en.png | caption Map highlighting Neman | origin Belarus, 45 km south of Minsk | mouth Curonian Lagoon (Baltic Sea) | basin_countries Belarus, Lithuania, Russia | length 937 km (582 mi) | elevation 176 m (577 ft) | discharge 616 m³/s (21 757 ft³/s) | watershed 98 000 km² (37 838 mi²) }}

Neman or Niemen or Nemunas, (German: ''Memel'') is a major Eastern European river rising in Belarus and flowing through Lithuania before draining into the Curonian Lagoon and then into the Baltic Sea at Klaipėda. It is the northern border between Lithuania and Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast in its lower reaches. It also very briefly forms part of the border between Lithuania and Belarus. The 14th largest river in Europe, the largest in Lithuania and the 3rd largest in Belarus, it is navigable for most of its 900-kilometer length.

The Neman River basin was formed during the Quaternary period, and is located roughly along the edge of the last glacial sheet, dating from about 25, 000 – 22 ,000 years BP (Before Present). Its depth varies from one meter in its upper courses to five meters in the lower basin.

The largest settlements on the river

Klaipėda/Memel, Sovetsk/Tilsit, Masty, Hrodna/Grodno, Druskininkai, Alytus, Kaunas/Kovno, Neman/Ragnit.

The Neman by numbers

The total length of the Neman is 937  kilometers (582  miles). It is the 14th largest river in Europe and the 4th largest in the Baltic Sea basin. Over its entire length, 459  km (285  miles) flows in Belarus and 359 km (223 miles) in Lithuania. A 116 - kilometer stretch is the border between Lithuania and Russia's Kaliningrad oblast.

Its greatest depth is five meters (16.4 ft), and at its widest it extends about 500 meters (1640 feet).

The Neman is a slow river; it flows at about one to two meters/second.

During floods, water discharge can increase up to 11-fold, to more than 6,800 m³/s. Severe floods occur on the lower reaches of the river about every 12 – 15 years, which sometimes wash out bridges.

The Neman is an old river, dating back to the last glacial period. Its valley is now up to 60 meters deep and five kilometers broad.

The Neman has about 105 first-class tributaries, the largest being the rivers Neris (Viliya) (510 km/317 miles), the Shchara (325 km/202 miles), and the Šešupė (298 km/185 miles). Fifteen of the tributaries are longer than 100 km (62 miles).

In the Neman basin there are tributaries extending to the 11th order.

The Neman basin in Lithuania drains more than 20,000 rivers and rivulets and covers 72% of Lithuania's territory.

The total area of the Neman basin is 97,863 square kilometers; the Lithuanian portion of this basin is 46,695 square kilometers.

Importance of the river in culture

The river has lent its name to a Neolithic subculture; originally based on hunting, fishing, and gathering, its inhabitants gradually adopted domesticated plants and animals.

In German, the river has been called ''die Memel'' at least since about 1250, when Teutonic Knights erected ''Memelburg'' castle and the town of ''Memel'' at the mouth of the Curonian Lagoon, baptizing it after the indigenous name of the river, Memel. The city of Memel, now in Lithuania, is known today as Klaipėda. On German road maps and in German lexika, only the 112 km section within Prussia (starting at Schmalleningken ) was named Memel ; the part outside Germany was labelled Niemen .

The border between the Teutonic Order state and Lithuania was fixed in 1422 by the Treaty of Lake Melno and remained stable for centuries. The Treaty of Tilsit between Napoleon and Czar Alexander I was signed on a raft in the river in 1807. Napoleon's crossing at the outset of the 1812 French invasion of Russia is described in War and Peace. In 1919, the Treaty of Versailles made the river the border separating the Memel Territory from German East Prussia as of 1920. At that time, Germany's Weimar Republic adopted the ''Deutschlandlied'' as its official national anthem. In the first stanza of the song, written in 1841, the river is mentioned as the eastern border of a (then politically yet-to-be united) Germany:

{| |width=250px| German lyrics || Approximate English translation |- |''Von der Maas bis an die Memel,
Von der Etsch bis an den Belt'' |From the Meuse to the Memel,
From the Adige to the Belt |}

Lithuanians refer to the Neman as "the father of rivers" (''Nemunas'' is a masculine noun in Lithuania). Countless companies and organizations in Lithuania have "Nemunas" in their name, including a folklore ensemble, a weekly magazine about art and culture, a sanatorium, and numerous guest houses and hotels. Lithuanian and Polish literature often mention the Nemunas. One of the most famous poems by Maironis starts:

{| |width=250px|Lithuanian lyrics||Approximate English translation |- |''Kur bėga Šešupė, kur Nemunas teka''||Where the Šešupė runs, where the Neman flows |- |''Tai mūsų tėvynė, graži Lietuva''||That's our homeland, beautiful Lithuania |}

Almost every Lithuanian can recite these words from heart. It is so well known that it is sometimes thought to be an unofficial national anthem.

There are many other smaller rivers and rivulets in Lithuania with names that may have been derived from "Nemunas" - Nemunykštis, Nemuniukas, Nemunynas, Nemunėlis, Nemunaitis. The etymology of the name is disputed: some say that "Nemunas" is an old word meaning "a damp place," while other say that "Nemunas" was a god in Baltic mythology. Art critics praised its depiction in the paintings by Michał Kulesza.

The Neman Loops

Since the loops are located in Lithuania, they are often referred to as "The Nemunas loops".

In 1992 Nemunas Loops Regional Park was founded. Its goal is to preserve the spectacular loops (Lithuanian: ''vingis'') that the Neman makes in the Punia forest. Near Prienai, the Neman makes a 17-km long loop (like a teardrop) coming within 1.2 km of completing the loop. The Neman flows along the double bend between Balbieriškis and Birštonas for 48 kilometers and then moves in a northerly direction for only 4.5 kilometers. The loops are not conventional river meanders; they follow underlying tectonic structures. The faults are the source of the mineral springs in the area. The area is historically and culturally significant. Its castles served as the first line of defense against forays by the Teutonic knights.

The Neman Delta

At its delta the Neman splits into a maze of river branches and canals mixing with polders and wetlands and is a very attractive destination for eco-tourism. The four main distributaries are Atmata, Pakalnė, Skirvytė and Gilija. The river plays a crucial part in the ecosystem of the Curonian Lagoon. It provides the main water inflow to the lagoon and keeps the water almost fresh. This allows both fresh water and mixed water animals to survive there. As the Neman's delta expands, the lagoon shrinks. Since the delta is located in Lithuania, it is often referred to as ''Nemunas Delta''. Nemunas Delta Regional Park was created in the delta in 1992.

The Neman tributaries

The Neman tributaries are: the rivers Neris (Viliya), the Shchara, and the Šešupė, Svisloch, Nevėžis River, Dubysa, Jūra, Minija, Western Berezina, Zelvyanka, Molchad, Roś, Servech, Losha, Gorodnichanka and others.

Economic significance

The Neman River is used for a variety of purposes such as fishing, hydropower generation, water supply, industry, and agriculture, as well as recreation, tourism, and water transport. There have been proposals to deepen its watercourse below Kaunas to make it more consistently usable.

The largest cities on the Neman are Hrodna in Belarus, Alytus and Kaunas in Lithuania, and Sovetsk in the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia. The river basin has a population of 5.4 million inhabitants. Industrial activities in the Belarusian section include metal processing, chemical industries, pulp and paper production, and manufacturing of building materials, as well as food-processing plants. In Lithuania the city of Kaunas, with about 400,000 inhabitants, is the country's principal user of the river; the local industries that impact the river are hydropower generation, machinery, chemical, wood processing and paper production, furniture production, textile and food-processing. In Kaliningrad, industrial centres near the river include Sovetsk and Neman, which have large pulp and paper production facilities.

Above Kaunas a dam was built in 1959 to serve the Kaunas Hydroelectric Power Plant. The resulting Kaunas Reservoir () is the largest such lake in Lithuania. It occupies 63.5 km² (24.5 square miles); its length is 93 km (58 miles); its greatest depth is 22 m (72 feet). The reservoir is a popular destination for Lithuanian yachting.

The Augustów Canal, built in the 19th century, connects the Neman to the Vistula River.

Biological communities

The following fish have been found in the Neman: perch, pike, zander, roach, tench, bream, rudd, ruffe, and bleak. Its tribitaries also contain stone loach, the three-spined stickleback, minnows, trout, sculpins, gudgeon, dace and chub.

Atlantic salmon formerly migrated upstream to spawn; the dam constructions on the river, most of which took place during the 20th century, reduced their numbers considerably. The dam at Kaunas does not provide fish ladders. The spawning season took place in the fall; ethnographic studies of the time report that night fishing, using torches and harpoons, was a common technique.

Environmental issues

A report by the Swedish EPA (Environmental Protection Administration) rates the quality of the Neman in Lithuania as moderately polluted or polluted. High concentrations of organic pollutants, nitrates and phosphates occur in different parts of the river. Environmental issues include water quality (eutrophication and pollutants), changes in the hydrological regime, and flooding control. The environmental problems in each of the countries that make up the basin are slightly different. In Belarus the main problems are oil products as well as nitrogen and BOD (biological oxygen demand). The environmental issues in the Kaliningrad section include high concentrations of BOD, lignosulphates, and nitrogen. In Lithuania, the operations of the Kaunas Hydroelectric Power Plant cause changes of the water level that affect the riparian ecosystem. Old wastewater treatment facilities along the entire river also contribute to pollution.

The co-operation necessary to ensure the health of the river is complicated by the political divisions in the basin - its territory is shared among Russia, Belarus and the European Union country of Lithuania. Several co-operation initiatives are underway to address the environmental issues of the river.

See also

List of rivers of Europe

Normandie-Niemen

Memelland

East Prussia

References

External links

Map of river basins in Lithuania Map of the Neman Delta Niemen (the Neman) in the Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland (1886) Neman River Lithuanian rivers The Baltic Coast Project History of the Neman Glaciation in Lithuania Fishing in Lithuania Ministry of Environmental Protection of Lithuania Biotopes in the Neman and its tributaries Atlantic salmon in the Neman River

Category:Neman basin Category:Rivers of Hrodna Voblast Category:Rivers of Minsk Voblast Category:Rivers of Lithuania Category:Rivers of Kaliningrad Oblast Category:International rivers of Europe Category:Lithuania–Russia border Category:Belarus–Lithuania border

ku:Neman

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Coordinates	37°46′45.48″N122°25′9.12″N
name	Czesław Niemen
background	solo_singer
birth name	Czesław Juliusz Wydrzycki
birth date	February 16, 1939
death date	January 17, 2004
origin	Stare Wasiliszki in Grodno county, Poland (now Belarus)
instrument	Multi-instrumentalist (mostly electronic instruments and keyboards)
genre	Rock & roll, psychedelic rock, progressive rock, folk music, avant-garde jazz, electronic music
occupation	Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, poet
years active	1967–2001
associated acts	Niebiesko-Czarni, Andrzej Kurylewicz
website	Niemen at polishmusic.ca F
notable instruments	}}

Czesław Niemen (; February 16, 1939 – January 17, 2004) real name Czesław Juliusz Wydrzycki, was one of the most important and original Polish singer-songwriters and rock balladeers of the last quarter-century, singing mainly in Polish.

Niemen was born in Stare Wasiliszki, Białystok Voivodeship, interwar Poland (now in Grodno Province, Belarus). After World War II it became a part of Byelorussian SSR and in the 1950s he was allowed to move to Poland. He made his debut in the early 1960s, singing Polish rock and soul music. He possessed an unusually wide voice range and equally rich intonation. He was also an ardent composer and a keyboard player. Soon after his first successful concerts in France, he started to use the pseudonym ''Niemen'' instead of his real name, gaining wider notoriety in Poland and making it easier to pronounce by foreigners (Niemen is a Polish pronunciation of the Neman River and this way he wanted to mark his birth country). His song of 1967, "Dziwny jest ten świat" (''Strange Is This World'') is commonly acknowledged to be the most important Polish protest song of that era (in 1972 an English version was also recorded). He was one of the first Polish performers to wear long hair and colourful clothes and introducing the style of psychedelia to communist Poland, which annoyed the officials. The first three LP album's Niemen recorded with his band "Akwarele" (''Watercolours''). Subsequently, he recorded with his other new bands: "Enigmatic", "Grupa Niemen" and "Aerolit". In 1969 he changed musical style to progressive rock while recording the monumental album ''Enigmatic''. The most notable song from it was "Bema pamięci żałobny rapsod" (''A Mournful Rhapsody in Memory of Józef Bem''), based on the 19th century poem by Cyprian Kamil Norwid. The rest of ''Enigmatic'' songs were also in sung poetry form. Niemen played Hammond organ, later mellotron and Moog synthesizer on his records.

In the early 1970s, Niemen recorded three English language albums under the CBS label. In 1974 he recorded ''Mourner's Rhapsody'' with Jan Hammer and Rick Laird from Mahavishnu Orchestra. In the seventies, Niemen turned to jazz-rock fusion and electronic music (''Katharsis'' album). In 1972 he also contributed with a song performed by him in "Wesele" (''The Wedding (1972 film)'') by director Andrzej Wajda, laureate of an honorary Oscar. Later, Niemen also composed film soundtracks and theater music. In the 1990s he showed interest in art painting and computer graphics. He died of cancer in Warsaw.

He won the Sopot International Song Festival in 1979.

In 1964 at Congress Hall, Warsaw, Niemen together with his group played as a support act to Marlene Dietrich in concert. She heard his song ''"Czy mnie jeszcze pamiętasz"'' ("Do you still remember me?") there. She enjoyed it so much and soon recorded her own version of it ''"Mutter, Hast du Mir Vergeben"'' ("Mother, have you forgiven me?") writing her own lyrics for the song.

Niemen's support bands

Niemen cooperated with the following bands: "Akwarele" (Watercolours), "Enigmatic", "Grupa Niemen" (made of the members of Silesian Blues Band), Niebiesko-Czarni, and "Aerolit".

Aerolit

Aerolit accompanied Czesław Niemen in 1974–1978. Initially it was formed from young musicians of the rock band Krzak: Jacek Gazda, Jan Błędowski, Maciej Radziejewski, Piotr Dziemski. The word means "aerolite" in Polish.

Discography

1974: ''Niemen Aerolit''

1978: ''Idée Fixe''

2007: ''41 Potencjometrów Pana Jana'' – a live record of a 1974 concert from tapes found in archives of Polish Radio.The record was "cut and mixed" with scotch tape and scissors by Czeslaw Niemen himself and Janusz Kosinski.

Discography

Studio albums

1967 Dziwny jest ten świat ("Strange Is This World")

1968 Sukces ("Success")

1969 Czy mnie jeszcze pamiętasz? ("Do You Still Remember Me?")

1970 Enigmatic

1971 Człowiek jam niewdzięczny – aka "Czerwony Album" ("Ungrateful Human I Am" aka "Red Album")

1972 Strange Is This World (English lyrics, released in West Germany)

1973 Ode to Venus (English lyrics, released in West Germany)

1973 Niemen Vol. 1 and Niemen Vol. 2 – aka "Marionetki" ("Puppets")

1973 Russische Lieder ("Russian Songs", Russian lyrics, released in West Germany)

1974 Mourner's Rhapsody (English lyrics, released in West Germany, UK and USA)

1975 Niemen Aerolit

1976 Katharsis

1978 Idée Fixe

1980 Postscriptum

1982 Przeprowadzka ("Moving")

1989 Terra Deflorata

1991 Terra Deflorata (extended version)

1993 Mouner's Rhapsody (extended version) (USA)

2001 spodchmurykapelusza ("fromunderthecloudofahat")

Live albums

2007 41 Potencjometrów Pana Jana ("41 Mr. John's Potentiometers")

2009 Kattorna/Pamflet na ludzkość ("Kattorna/Lampoon for Mankind")

Compilations

1979 The Best of Niemen

1989 Złote przeboje Czesława Niemena ("Golden hits of Czesław Niemen")

1991 Gwiazdy mocnego uderzenia: Czesław Niemen (first singles)

1995 Sen o Warszawie ("Dream of Warsaw")

2000 Czas jak rzeka: Złota kolekcja ("Time Like River: Golden Collection")

2008 Spiżowy krzyk ("Brass scream")

Box Sets

2002 od początku I ("from beginning I")

2003 od początku II ("from beginning II")

Singles and EPs

1962 – Adieu Tristesse / El Soldado De Levita

1963 – Na swojską nutę (1) (with Niebiesko-Czarni)

1963 – Na swojską nutę (2) (with Niebiesko-Czarni)

1963 – W rytmie Madisona (with Niebiesko-Czarni)

1964 – Les Noir et Blue – Les Idoles de Pologne (with Niebiesko-Czarni)

1964 – Locomotion (EP) (with Niebiesko-Czarni)

1964 – Czas jak rzeka (EP) (with Niebiesko-Czarni)

1964 – Hippy, Hippy Shake (EP) (with Niebiesko-Czarni)

1964 – Jeszcze sen (EP) (with Niebiesko-Czarni)

1966 – A Varsovie (EP)

1966 – Sen o Warszawie (EP)

1967 – Dziwny jest ten świat (EP)

1968 – Obok nas / Baw się w ciuciubabkę

1969 – Io senza lei / Arcobaleno

1969 – Strange is This World (demo)

1969 – Una luce mai accesa / 24 ore spese bene con amore

1969 – Re di cuori

1970 – Oggi forse no / Domani

1971 – Strange is This World (demo 2)

1972 – Romanca Cherubina / Mazurek

1972 – Strange is This World / We've Got The Sun

1975 – Mleczna droga / Dorożką na Księżyc

1979 – Nim przyjdzie wiosna / Pokój

1982 – Witaj przygodo zielona / Przeprowadzka

1986 – High Horse / Pod papugami

2002 – Jagody szaleju

References

External links

Czesław Niemen at ProgArchives.com – photographs, reviews, music, discography

Niemen, partial dyscography incl. singles

Forum

Category:1939 births Category:2004 deaths Category:Sopot International Song Festival winners Category:Polish musicians Category:Polish male singers Category:Sung poetry of Poland Category:Cancer deaths in Poland Category:People from Hrodna Voblast Category:Belarusian people of Polish descent

be:Чэслаў Неман be-x-old:Чэслаў Немэн bg:Чеслав Ниемен cs:Czesław Niemen de:Czesław Niemen es:Czesław Niemen fr:Czesław Niemen it:Czesław Niemen hu:Czesław Niemen nl:Czesław Niemen pl:Czesław Niemen ru:Немен, Чеслав tr:Czesław Niemen