[2] In other languages, the town is referred to as: Polish: Orany;[3] German: Warnen; Yiddish: אוראַן Oran.

In the interbellum period, following World War I, the town was annexed by Poland, and renamed Orany.

It was located near the then Polish-Lithuanian border, in the Wilno-Troki County (Powiat wileńsko-trocki) of the Wilno Voivodeship.

On that day, even though the Germans had tried to prevent him from doing so, the priest Jonas Gylys entered the synagogue and encouraged the Jews to be brave in their last hours rather than convert to Christianity.

According to the report of Karl Jaeger, commander of Einsatzkommando 3A, 831 Jews from Varėna (and the surrounding areas) – 541 men, 149 women, and 141 children – were killed on that day.