Zalavas (, ) is a small village in Švenčionys district municipality, Lithuania. It is located on the Mera river near the Lithuanian state border with Belarus. According to the Lithuanian census of 2011, it had 140 residents. It is the birthplace of Marshal Józef Piłsudski, who later became Chief of State of Poland. In 1920–1922 the village was located in the Republic of Central Lithuania, and then in Poland until 1939. History Grand Duchy of Lithuania The village's earliest known name is Mieciany. At some later point, the name was changed to Zalavas (). The village was first mentioned in the late 17th century as the private property of Aleksander Wojna-Jasieniecki, a Castellan of Navahrudak. It then passed to the Giedraičiai princely family, and in the 18th century the village was bought by the Rurikid Ogiński family, one of the notable magnate clans of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Russian Empire In the early 19th century the village was inherited by the Michałowskis. As part of the dowry of Helena Michałowska, it passed to her husband, Antoni Billewicz, who then bequeathed it to their daughter, Maria Billewiczówna. In 1863, after marrying Józef Wincenty Piłsudski, the village became the property of the Piłsudski family. It was there that both their sons were born, Bronisław Piłsudski, on November 2, 1866, and Józef Piłsudski, on December 5, 1867. In July 1874, the local manor burned down and the family moved to Vilnius. Soon afterward the family was forced to sell most of their property in Lithuania including Zalavas and nineteen other villages, in order to pay for legal expenses and fines for Bronisław, who was involved in an assassination attempt on the life of tsar Alexander III of Russia. In 1882 the village was bought by Michał Ogiński, an heir to the Ogiński family who had owned it in the 18th century. However, as the policies of Russification of former lands in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth forbade Poles to purchase any real estate, he was forced to sell it to a Russian merchant from Riga named Klim. The latter sold the village to a certain imperial officer named Kuronosov, who divided the property, sold most of the forests and was forced to abandon the area in 1915, during World War I. German Empire The Germans occupied the area in 1916, and most of the remaining forests were cut down. Second Polish Republic In 1920