Lithuania
Altogether, around 140 000 people were killed on Lithuania territory. It is assumed that 80% of the Lithuanian Jews were killed before 1942, only a few thousand survived.
Vilnius ghetto
Locations:
There were two Ghettos formed in part of the old town: a "Big Ghetto" and "Little Ghetto".
The "Big Ghetto" was on the Rūdninkų, Mėsinių, Ašmenos, Žemaitijos, Dysnos, Šiaulių and Ligoninės (Hospital) streets. The prisoners of the Big Ghetto were around 30 000 people.
The "Small Ghetto" borders were on the Gaono-Stiklių, Antokolskio and Žydų (Jewish) streets. The prisoners of the "Little Ghetto" were 10 000 people.
Ponary forest – mass shootings of civilians. Total amount of the victims of massacre: around 100 000 people, among them Jews, Romani, anti-Nazi activists, Polish intelligentsia, as well as Soviet prisoners of war.
Memorial:
A memorial plaque on a building on Gaono street 3 points to the place where the Small Ghetto gates were between 6 September and 29 October 1931. More than 11 000 Jews passed through these gates, sent to their deaths. The lower plaque shows a plan of the two Vilnius Ghettos.
There were two Ghettos formed in part of the old town: a "Big Ghetto" and "Little Ghetto".
The "Big Ghetto" was on the Rūdninkų, Mėsinių, Ašmenos, Žemaitijos, Dysnos, Šiaulių and Ligoninės (Hospital) streets. The prisoners of the Big Ghetto were around 30 000 people.
The "Small Ghetto" borders were on the Gaono-Stiklių, Antokolskio and Žydų (Jewish) streets. The prisoners of the "Little Ghetto" were 10 000 people.
Ponary forest – mass shootings of civilians. Total amount of the victims of massacre: around 100 000 people, among them Jews, Romani, anti-Nazi activists, Polish intelligentsia, as well as Soviet prisoners of war.
Memorial:
A memorial plaque on a building on Gaono street 3 points to the place where the Small Ghetto gates were between 6 September and 29 October 1931. More than 11 000 Jews passed through these gates, sent to their deaths. The lower plaque shows a plan of the two Vilnius Ghettos.
A group of activists set up a memorial stone in Ponary forest in 1945. In 1952, it was removed. In 1959, a black granite obelisk was set up at the site of the killings, with a sign "To the victims of Nazi terror."
The Paneriai Memorial Museum was established in 1960. The museum and memorial park have been ran by the Jewish Museum since 1990.
In 1991, a separate monument with Judaism symbolism was erected with help of the Lithuanian Jewish community and foreign Jewish organizations, it resembled the first monument that was established by the Jewish community in Ponary in 1945.
The Paneriai Memorial Museum was established in 1960. The museum and memorial park have been ran by the Jewish Museum since 1990.
In 1991, a separate monument with Judaism symbolism was erected with help of the Lithuanian Jewish community and foreign Jewish organizations, it resembled the first monument that was established by the Jewish community in Ponary in 1945.
Chronology (press to read)
24 June 1941 - Vilnius was occupied by Nazi forces who issued rules and bans concerning the Jewish population. Jews were forbidden from: entering many common buildings, using the sidewalks, using community transports, buying anything on the market before 11 am, going to school. They were forced to wear yellow bands with the letter "J" on their sleeves, as well as handing in any money, jewelry and gold in their possession. They were only allowed to keep thirty marks in their possession.
Armed brigades of Lithuanian collaborationists organized night patrols who would capture Jews on a whim and throw them into the Lukiškės Prison. In some cases, punitive squadrons would invade houses and arrest people.
2 July 1941 - the German Einsatzgruppen A arrives in Vilnius. This group conducted most of the atrocities against the Jewish population (intimidation, confiscation of property, searches, imprisonment). The Germans were assisted by the Lithuanian punitive squads, who the Jews referred to as "scroungers."
✡ The first mass shootings happen. During the first two weeks of Nazi occupation, around 4 000 people were shot in the suburbs of Vilnius, near the Ponary railway station. The shootings were perpetrated around the cemented trenches which were made in 1940 in order to build oil sites. Among the executioners were around a hundred Lithuanian collaborationists, who regularly took watch in the Ponary forest.
During June and July 1941 - Squads of the Lithuanian auxiliary police and groups of local pro-Nazi activists, both guided by German leadership, killed around 30 000 Jews even before the official creation of the ghetto.
The Judenrat. A pro-Nazi Jewish administrative agency was created soon after the occupation. Through it, the Nazi administration relayed the order for the Jews to gather contribution of five million rubles in order to avoid execution by firing squad.
31 August 1941 - The order to create the Ghetto in Old Vilnius was given. The excuse for the containment of all of the Jews within that small territory was a "big provocation," during which they declared that the "Jews shot at German soldiers."
1-3 September 1941 – Mass arrests of the Jewish population, after they were accused of attempting to attack the German army. "Civil activists" were promised a reward of 10 rubles for each captured Jew.
During September 1941 - around 40 000 people were evicted from their homes and forcefully relocated into the ghetto. The so-called "Big Ghetto" and "Little Ghetto" were formed in part of the Old Town.
Between September 1941 and September 1943 - Regular "actions" (Akzionen) by the punitive squads which consist of moving Jewish prisoners from the ghettos into the Ponary Forest, where the mass shootings would happen. The remaining prisoners were told that everyone transported away would be moved to a different camp.
23 September 1943 – The ghetto is considered liquidated. The last prisoners were killed in the Ponary Forest, the survivors were moved to the Vaivara Concentration Camp (under the administration of the Generalbezirk Estland) and Death Camps in Poland.
Armed brigades of Lithuanian collaborationists organized night patrols who would capture Jews on a whim and throw them into the Lukiškės Prison. In some cases, punitive squadrons would invade houses and arrest people.
2 July 1941 - the German Einsatzgruppen A arrives in Vilnius. This group conducted most of the atrocities against the Jewish population (intimidation, confiscation of property, searches, imprisonment). The Germans were assisted by the Lithuanian punitive squads, who the Jews referred to as "scroungers."
✡ The first mass shootings happen. During the first two weeks of Nazi occupation, around 4 000 people were shot in the suburbs of Vilnius, near the Ponary railway station. The shootings were perpetrated around the cemented trenches which were made in 1940 in order to build oil sites. Among the executioners were around a hundred Lithuanian collaborationists, who regularly took watch in the Ponary forest.
During June and July 1941 - Squads of the Lithuanian auxiliary police and groups of local pro-Nazi activists, both guided by German leadership, killed around 30 000 Jews even before the official creation of the ghetto.
The Judenrat. A pro-Nazi Jewish administrative agency was created soon after the occupation. Through it, the Nazi administration relayed the order for the Jews to gather contribution of five million rubles in order to avoid execution by firing squad.
31 August 1941 - The order to create the Ghetto in Old Vilnius was given. The excuse for the containment of all of the Jews within that small territory was a "big provocation," during which they declared that the "Jews shot at German soldiers."
1-3 September 1941 – Mass arrests of the Jewish population, after they were accused of attempting to attack the German army. "Civil activists" were promised a reward of 10 rubles for each captured Jew.
During September 1941 - around 40 000 people were evicted from their homes and forcefully relocated into the ghetto. The so-called "Big Ghetto" and "Little Ghetto" were formed in part of the Old Town.
Between September 1941 and September 1943 - Regular "actions" (Akzionen) by the punitive squads which consist of moving Jewish prisoners from the ghettos into the Ponary Forest, where the mass shootings would happen. The remaining prisoners were told that everyone transported away would be moved to a different camp.
23 September 1943 – The ghetto is considered liquidated. The last prisoners were killed in the Ponary Forest, the survivors were moved to the Vaivara Concentration Camp (under the administration of the Generalbezirk Estland) and Death Camps in Poland.
Recollections
Maria Grigorievna Rolnik
One of the survivors of the Vilnius Ghetto was a teenage girl Macha Rolnikas (also as Marija Rolnikaitė and Maria Grigorievna Rolnik) (1927-2016) who kept her memories of the Nazi occupation of Vilnius and published them in her book I Must Tell (1965).
On the first days of the occupation:
"The Nazis ordered that all restaurants and cafes be opened, but a 'Fűr Juden Eintritt verboten' sign would be mandatory. 'Juden' was what they called us, and the Nazis consider us worse than all of the rest: "Entry Forbidden for Jews." I should go, break the glass and rip up that miserable shred of paper! It's scary to leave home. Obviously, not just to us. The streets are covered by Nazis and youngsters with white bands."
On the actions of Einsatzgruppen A:
"Armed Gestapos barge into the hallway. They spread out to the rooms. One remains to keep watch on us. He orders us not to move or he will shoot. They dig through the closets, go through the chests. They are questioning where my father is. My mom says that he was taken on the first days, immediately after the hostages.
"Lies!" screamed out the angriest ones, obviously the chief, "He probably fled with the Bolsheviks! You are all Bolsheviks and soon you will all be finished!"
And they start looking again, throwing everything about. My mother is shaking and silently tells to look out for them planting weapons or propaganda into our house. They would pretend they found it and shoot us. But how can we watch out for that if we are forbidden to even move?
Finding nothing and threatening us once again, that we will be finished soon, the Gestapos leave."
"Lies!" screamed out the angriest ones, obviously the chief, "He probably fled with the Bolsheviks! You are all Bolsheviks and soon you will all be finished!"
And they start looking again, throwing everything about. My mother is shaking and silently tells to look out for them planting weapons or propaganda into our house. They would pretend they found it and shoot us. But how can we watch out for that if we are forbidden to even move?
Finding nothing and threatening us once again, that we will be finished soon, the Gestapos leave."
On the provocation that led to the creation of the ghetto:
"A hot August Sunday. Around noon, we heard some noise. We ran to the window. Drunk Nazis were beating up a black haired lad. They ran him to the Town Hall, where they make him face the wall and keep beating him. And he is probably expecting to be shot, because he jumps up in a strange way each time.
A crowd gathers. One Nazi explains that this Jude just shot at one of noble soldiers of Wehrmacht on Gediminas street. And all of the Juden will pay for it. One soldier of the great Reich is worth more than thousands of those like him, he says. And let anyone who wants to go over and beat this criminal up and with that join in on exterminating the enemies of the German people.
Some have joyful smirks, others pass by, almost not hiding their resentment of this.
The Nazis stop a passing car, push their bloodied victim and leave. Shocked, we stand frozen by the window. Night…"
A crowd gathers. One Nazi explains that this Jude just shot at one of noble soldiers of Wehrmacht on Gediminas street. And all of the Juden will pay for it. One soldier of the great Reich is worth more than thousands of those like him, he says. And let anyone who wants to go over and beat this criminal up and with that join in on exterminating the enemies of the German people.
Some have joyful smirks, others pass by, almost not hiding their resentment of this.
The Nazis stop a passing car, push their bloodied victim and leave. Shocked, we stand frozen by the window. Night…"
Alytus Death Camp
Location:
Death Camp in city of Alytus, 105 km from Vilnius.
Victims:
For 14 months of the Alytus Death Camp's existence, according to some sources, around 60 000 people were killed, which is supported by documents and statements from the surviving prisoners.
Discussions are still ongoing on the exact number of victims during the camp's full operation time (from July 1941 to July 1944). However, according to different sources, the number of victims could surpass 100 000.
Altogether, around 400 000 people were processed in the Alytus camp (during the Stalag period and "relocation" camps period)
Memorial:
There is a memorial complex with an obelisk in the center in the Alytus City Park, where the mass graves are for the Soviet POWs who died in Stalag-343.
In 1993, a Monument of Pain was erected in the Alytus Forest, dedicated to the civilians who died during Nazi occupation.
Death Camp in city of Alytus, 105 km from Vilnius.
Victims:
For 14 months of the Alytus Death Camp's existence, according to some sources, around 60 000 people were killed, which is supported by documents and statements from the surviving prisoners.
Discussions are still ongoing on the exact number of victims during the camp's full operation time (from July 1941 to July 1944). However, according to different sources, the number of victims could surpass 100 000.
Altogether, around 400 000 people were processed in the Alytus camp (during the Stalag period and "relocation" camps period)
Memorial:
There is a memorial complex with an obelisk in the center in the Alytus City Park, where the mass graves are for the Soviet POWs who died in Stalag-343.
In 1993, a Monument of Pain was erected in the Alytus Forest, dedicated to the civilians who died during Nazi occupation.
Chronology (press to read)
July 1941 – The POW Camp Stalag-343 was set up within city limits, on site of an old army town. It existed in that status until April 1943
Conditions of the POWs:
The camp had a schedule: waking up at 5 am, breakfast from 5:00 to 6:00, work at 8:00, lunch from 11:30 to 12:30, workday ends at 17:00 pm, dinner from 17:00 to 18:00. Retiring for sleep at 21:00.
Every POW was given a personal number, sent to forced labour (construction work and lumber work). On some occasions, the Stalag prisoners were sent to the wealthy Lithuanian farms, where they would do their mandated labour.
May 1943 – Stalag-343 in Alytus changed its functions and was requalified into a camp for the "relocated," which primarily housed people from Western Russia and Belarus, bordering with the Baltics (Nazi official documents called them "evacuated Soviet citizens")
By Order of the Nazi occupation administration, after temporary internment at the camps, the adult prisoners were to be sent to farms for forced labour. The children would remain in camp for experiments and to collect their blood for the Germans.
The reason for this function of the camp in Alytus was that in the Winter and Spring of 1943, suffering substantial losses from the Red Army, the Nazi occupation forces were left with a distinct lack of workers, including in farming. Due to the geographic proximity of the camp to Nazi-occupied Baltics, which had the Ostland Concentration Camps, the ones sent to Alytus would be primarily be civilians from Pskov region, as well as Orlov, Smolensk, Vytebsk, Brest, Leningrad and Kaluga regions.
The camp wardens, members of the punitive squadrons conducted mass executions of the prisoners for the smallest of offenses. The camp guards also frequently beat up the prisoners with rubber batons and set the dogs out on them, with no regard for the victim's gender or age.
Conditions of the POWs:
The camp had a schedule: waking up at 5 am, breakfast from 5:00 to 6:00, work at 8:00, lunch from 11:30 to 12:30, workday ends at 17:00 pm, dinner from 17:00 to 18:00. Retiring for sleep at 21:00.
Every POW was given a personal number, sent to forced labour (construction work and lumber work). On some occasions, the Stalag prisoners were sent to the wealthy Lithuanian farms, where they would do their mandated labour.
May 1943 – Stalag-343 in Alytus changed its functions and was requalified into a camp for the "relocated," which primarily housed people from Western Russia and Belarus, bordering with the Baltics (Nazi official documents called them "evacuated Soviet citizens")
By Order of the Nazi occupation administration, after temporary internment at the camps, the adult prisoners were to be sent to farms for forced labour. The children would remain in camp for experiments and to collect their blood for the Germans.
The reason for this function of the camp in Alytus was that in the Winter and Spring of 1943, suffering substantial losses from the Red Army, the Nazi occupation forces were left with a distinct lack of workers, including in farming. Due to the geographic proximity of the camp to Nazi-occupied Baltics, which had the Ostland Concentration Camps, the ones sent to Alytus would be primarily be civilians from Pskov region, as well as Orlov, Smolensk, Vytebsk, Brest, Leningrad and Kaluga regions.
The camp wardens, members of the punitive squadrons conducted mass executions of the prisoners for the smallest of offenses. The camp guards also frequently beat up the prisoners with rubber batons and set the dogs out on them, with no regard for the victim's gender or age.
Overview on Old Alytus
Recollection
From the Report of the Extraordinary State Commission on atrocities in Lithuania (chapter Extermination of Soviet POWs):
"Even on the way, the POWs were driven to starvation and many of them were dead on arrival or in a state of strong emaciation. As stated by the witnesses Lithuanian resistance fighter Margialis and residents of Alitus, during the unloading of POWs from the train cars, the Germans would just shoot those unable to move forward. The POWs were stationed in the stables, where they would frequently freeze to death, because all of their uniforms were taken. The Nazis opened fire on the POW with machineguns and submachineguns. No less than 35 thousand people died in camp #133. The most cruelty was shown by the camp's warden Major Rozencrantz, his aide Evert, SS Doctor Ganke, Sonderführer Mamat."
From the statement of former labourer Anton Novakovsky:
"Fiends, in order to halt the spread of an epidemic caused by hunger and infection, on Christmas of 1942, they locked all of the rooms with POWs, they only opened them in late March 1943. The death rates were colossal. They threw in food, as if they were cattle."
From the interview of Barnaul resident Galina Petukhova, originally from Pskov to the Altai.aif.ru site:
"In March 1943, the Politzeis (local Nazi collaborationists – t.n.) barged into our home. They threw us outside and led us to the railway station. Hundreds of people were loaded into cracked dirty train cars which were used to transport cattle. No one knew where they were being taken to or why. No one was fed on the road, no water was given. There was no stove in the train car, no bathroom either."
For the memories of Ada Rodina:
"I think our echelon arrived in Altys at night, probably, because that's how long we were not released from the train cars. Then a lot of soldiers with dogs appeared. They ordered everyone out of the train cars and to just wait. At this point you could be waiting for anything. We knew that sometimes they would bring people in and immediately destroy them. But we were led to some kind of sheds and told that to avoid "disease" there would be a decontamination. This torture (and I can't call it anything else) was prepared for all of the new arrivals.
The people were stripped naked, coated with an acidic liquid and left waiting for a long time for their clothing to be returned. There was no striped camp clothing for us so, freezing in the middle of the night, the people were looking for something resembling clothing in a pile of materials. My whole body hurt. The hunger was so bad I was falling over, but no one was getting food, not the adults, nor the children. We were all expecting to get at least something to eat. But the people were lined and led along, flanked by guards and dogs. Leading us further to the concentration camp."
The people were stripped naked, coated with an acidic liquid and left waiting for a long time for their clothing to be returned. There was no striped camp clothing for us so, freezing in the middle of the night, the people were looking for something resembling clothing in a pile of materials. My whole body hurt. The hunger was so bad I was falling over, but no one was getting food, not the adults, nor the children. We were all expecting to get at least something to eat. But the people were lined and led along, flanked by guards and dogs. Leading us further to the concentration camp."
For the memories of Ada Rodina:
"They soon took a few children from our barracks, a few girls and a few boys. No one knew what for. Then they got to me. They took me to a different barrack, where there were only kids, no adults. They did not give us any food. Then they led us to yet another different barrack which had a surprising amount of various equipment in it, especially a lot of tubes. They let us drink some white fizzy thing from a bottle, put us down on a bed or bunk. And then I don't remember anything else. And then, when I woke up, they gave me more pills and again to that barrack. And they would lead me there multiple times.
Once when I was in the donor barrack again, I saw that after a few kids were lifted away from the bunks, they opened some kind of side door and the kids were taken there, I didn't see them afterwards. I don't know if they were returned to their barracks."
Once when I was in the donor barrack again, I saw that after a few kids were lifted away from the bunks, they opened some kind of side door and the kids were taken there, I didn't see them afterwards. I don't know if they were returned to their barracks."
From the interview of Barnaul resident Galina Petukhova, originally from Pskov to the Altai.aif.ru site:
"They fed us poorly: spoiled thin broth and a piece of sticky bread that felt like clay. It was terribly cold: there were no stoves in the barracks, we could only keep warm by pressing really close to each other. The adults were taken for labour in the morning, the kids would wait for them to return while bundled up on the bunks. Sometimes the German doctors would come in and give some kind of shots, then they would take our blood for analysis. They were probably conducting experiments.
Mom was cleaning in the neighboring barracks. Father was digging trenches where they would drop the corpses. There was a lot of corpses. They would starve or die after their beatings. Many were killed while attempting to escape."
Mom was cleaning in the neighboring barracks. Father was digging trenches where they would drop the corpses. There was a lot of corpses. They would starve or die after their beatings. Many were killed while attempting to escape."
Kaunas Ghetto
Location:
The ghetto was organized in the Vilijampolė (previously called Slobodka) suburb of Kaunas. The shootings would happen in the Kaunas Castle forts.
Out of 37 000 Jews who lived in Kaunas before the war only 3 000 managed to survive.
Memorial:
A Museum in the 9th Fort of the Kaunas Castle was established in 1958.
A movie called Footsteps in the Night (Žingsniai naktį) came out in 1962 and was directed by Raimondas Vabalas. The movie depicts Ivan Vasilenko (Veselnizky) group's escape from the Kaunas ghetto.
A memorial dedicated to the victims of the mass shootings of the Jewish population (a sculpture by Alfonsas Ambraziunas) was constructed in 1984.
The ghetto was organized in the Vilijampolė (previously called Slobodka) suburb of Kaunas. The shootings would happen in the Kaunas Castle forts.
Out of 37 000 Jews who lived in Kaunas before the war only 3 000 managed to survive.
Memorial:
A Museum in the 9th Fort of the Kaunas Castle was established in 1958.
A movie called Footsteps in the Night (Žingsniai naktį) came out in 1962 and was directed by Raimondas Vabalas. The movie depicts Ivan Vasilenko (Veselnizky) group's escape from the Kaunas ghetto.
A memorial dedicated to the victims of the mass shootings of the Jewish population (a sculpture by Alfonsas Ambraziunas) was constructed in 1984.
Photo: 9th Fort Memorial
In 1991, a small wooden memorial was set up on the mass graves of Holocaust victims in Kaunas. There is a sign on the memorial that reads "On this place, the Nazis and their accomplices killed more than 30 000 Jews from Lithuania and other countries of Europe."
Photo: 9th Fort Memorial, Sculpture.
Chronology (press to read)
Evening of 24 June 1941 – Before the city was captured by the Nazi military contingent, anti-Soviet groups formed their own "transitional" local administration (Provisional Government of Lithuania). Members of one of those, the Lithuanian Activist Front, conducted the first mass massacres of the local population.
25 June – Einsatzgruppen A commander SS-Brigadeführer Walter Stahlecker arrived in Kaunas and expressed his support of the Lithuanian nationalists' punitive actions.
From 25 to 27 June 1941 – A massive Jewish Pogrom. Armed squads under the command of collaborationist Algirdas Klimaitis went out to catch Jews in the streets, publicly torture them, then, regardless of the victim's age, they would either send them to prison or viciously execute them. The total number of victims of this first punitive action was around four thousand people.
1 August 1941 - A special order for all Jews of occupied Lithuania to live only on the specifically designated territories – the ghettos. Such a ghetto was formed in a Kaunas' suburb of Vilijampolė (previously called Slobodka)
August 1941 – the relocation of Kaunas Jews into the ghetto by the Lithuanian auxiliary police. The amount of prisoners was around 30 000.
Following that, a large part of Kaunas' Jewish population was imprisoned in the Kaunas Castle and then shot in the various forts. The majority of the victims died during the shootings in the 7th and 9th forts of the castle.
18 August 1941 – A public intimidation event, 534 people are executed by firing squad.
During September and October 1941 – Regular raids of Lithuanian collaborationists, lynching of the Jewish ghetto prisoners for breaking the rules, such as walking on the sidewalk or bringing food from work.
4 October 1941 – Shootings of the Small ghetto prisoners. At the same time, the Nazi punitive squads burned a hospital along with the doctors and patients.
The night of 28 to 29 October 1941 – 10 000 people were shot in the 9th Fort of Kaunas Castle.
At 6:00 in the morning, the Jewish prisoners were rounded up "for a checkup" on the Democrats' Square (Currently the Constitution Square)
At 9:00, the Nazi officials arrived. As the people arrived, they would decide who of the "checked" would be allowed to return to their homes in the "Big Ghetto" and who would be confined to the "Small Ghetto." This made up 9 200 people. At dawn of the next day, they were shot at the 9th Fort.
November 1941 – A resistance and self-defense HQ is established. The Jewish resistance contact the Communist underground of Lithuania.
Late December 1941 – Another shooting at the 9th Fort of an echelon of Jews from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia (around 500 people).
January 1942 – A new resistance group is formed. The first coordinator communist writer Haim Elin (Yellin) was killed. After that the group was now led by Dmitry Gelpern (Gelpernas).
Since March 1942 - Jewish workers were more frequently taken to forced labour and not just to Nazi infrastructure in Kaunas (in Aleksotas and Šančiai) but also out of the city limits to places including Marijampolė, Jonava, Riga, Kaišiadorys and Palemonas. This forced labour was treated as penal labour. When returning to the Ghetto, the prisoners would be beaten and searched.
21 June 1943 - The SS Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler ordered that all Jewish Ghettos on Soviet territory must be transformed into Concentration Camps.
With the Ghetto now falling under SS jurisdiction, Jews from all of the nearby prisons are moved to Vilijampolė (Slobodka).
Summer 1943 – Active actions of the Jewish Combat Organization (around 600 fighters). The resistance managed to get in contact with the Belarus partisans who operated near the Narach lake. Some time later, the Narach partisans were bolstered by 350 members from organization from Kaunas, who fled during forced labour and later formed the backbone of three resistance squads. Part of the escapees died after clashing with Nazi police squads.
In September-October 1943 – Due to all of the Ostland Ghettos being reorganized, new mass executions of the remaining Jews were started. In order to destroy the remaining prisoners, SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer Wilhelm Goecke was sent to Kaunas, after previously being in charge of the Warsaw ghetto.
26 October 1943 – Part of the Jews (mainly children and the elderly) were transported to Auschwitz
The Resistance managed to reroute a number of the surviving children from the Ghetto. Around 300 children were brought through by the partisan group of future Lithuanian SSR party member Motiejus Šumauskas.
Night of 25 to 26 December 1943 – a group of 64 resistance members under the leadership of captain Ivan (Israel) Vasilenko (Veselnizky) escaped from the 9th Fort of the Kaunas prison Castle. Most of the escapees joined the anti-Nazi movement.
27-28 March 1944 – Massacre of the children and elderly of the ghetto.
March 1944 – The killing of the Jewish police of the Ghetto, which were suspected of supporting disruptive actions and preparing an escape.
During this period, control of the Ghetto prisoners got even more strict, escape became nearly impossible. The Nazi police started terrorizing the ghetto prisoners individually.
8 July 1944 – Movement of the remaining prisoners to Stutthoff and Dahau.
1 500 prisoners of the Kaunas ghetto refused to evacuate and hid. Members of the Nazi police threw grenades into each house of the Small Ghetto. As part of this action, almost everyone who hid had died with only around 90 people surviving.
Around 700 of Kaunas Jews managed to survive thanks to local farmers or being part of the Soviet partisan movements.
31 July 1944 – Kaunas was liberated by the forced of the 3rd Belarussian Front along with parts of the 1st Baltic Front and 2nd Belarussian Front as part of the Kaunas Offensive operation. Around 90 Jews remained in the town when it was liberated.
25 June – Einsatzgruppen A commander SS-Brigadeführer Walter Stahlecker arrived in Kaunas and expressed his support of the Lithuanian nationalists' punitive actions.
From 25 to 27 June 1941 – A massive Jewish Pogrom. Armed squads under the command of collaborationist Algirdas Klimaitis went out to catch Jews in the streets, publicly torture them, then, regardless of the victim's age, they would either send them to prison or viciously execute them. The total number of victims of this first punitive action was around four thousand people.
1 August 1941 - A special order for all Jews of occupied Lithuania to live only on the specifically designated territories – the ghettos. Such a ghetto was formed in a Kaunas' suburb of Vilijampolė (previously called Slobodka)
August 1941 – the relocation of Kaunas Jews into the ghetto by the Lithuanian auxiliary police. The amount of prisoners was around 30 000.
Following that, a large part of Kaunas' Jewish population was imprisoned in the Kaunas Castle and then shot in the various forts. The majority of the victims died during the shootings in the 7th and 9th forts of the castle.
18 August 1941 – A public intimidation event, 534 people are executed by firing squad.
During September and October 1941 – Regular raids of Lithuanian collaborationists, lynching of the Jewish ghetto prisoners for breaking the rules, such as walking on the sidewalk or bringing food from work.
4 October 1941 – Shootings of the Small ghetto prisoners. At the same time, the Nazi punitive squads burned a hospital along with the doctors and patients.
The night of 28 to 29 October 1941 – 10 000 people were shot in the 9th Fort of Kaunas Castle.
At 6:00 in the morning, the Jewish prisoners were rounded up "for a checkup" on the Democrats' Square (Currently the Constitution Square)
At 9:00, the Nazi officials arrived. As the people arrived, they would decide who of the "checked" would be allowed to return to their homes in the "Big Ghetto" and who would be confined to the "Small Ghetto." This made up 9 200 people. At dawn of the next day, they were shot at the 9th Fort.
November 1941 – A resistance and self-defense HQ is established. The Jewish resistance contact the Communist underground of Lithuania.
Late December 1941 – Another shooting at the 9th Fort of an echelon of Jews from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia (around 500 people).
January 1942 – A new resistance group is formed. The first coordinator communist writer Haim Elin (Yellin) was killed. After that the group was now led by Dmitry Gelpern (Gelpernas).
Since March 1942 - Jewish workers were more frequently taken to forced labour and not just to Nazi infrastructure in Kaunas (in Aleksotas and Šančiai) but also out of the city limits to places including Marijampolė, Jonava, Riga, Kaišiadorys and Palemonas. This forced labour was treated as penal labour. When returning to the Ghetto, the prisoners would be beaten and searched.
21 June 1943 - The SS Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler ordered that all Jewish Ghettos on Soviet territory must be transformed into Concentration Camps.
With the Ghetto now falling under SS jurisdiction, Jews from all of the nearby prisons are moved to Vilijampolė (Slobodka).
Summer 1943 – Active actions of the Jewish Combat Organization (around 600 fighters). The resistance managed to get in contact with the Belarus partisans who operated near the Narach lake. Some time later, the Narach partisans were bolstered by 350 members from organization from Kaunas, who fled during forced labour and later formed the backbone of three resistance squads. Part of the escapees died after clashing with Nazi police squads.
In September-October 1943 – Due to all of the Ostland Ghettos being reorganized, new mass executions of the remaining Jews were started. In order to destroy the remaining prisoners, SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer Wilhelm Goecke was sent to Kaunas, after previously being in charge of the Warsaw ghetto.
26 October 1943 – Part of the Jews (mainly children and the elderly) were transported to Auschwitz
The Resistance managed to reroute a number of the surviving children from the Ghetto. Around 300 children were brought through by the partisan group of future Lithuanian SSR party member Motiejus Šumauskas.
Night of 25 to 26 December 1943 – a group of 64 resistance members under the leadership of captain Ivan (Israel) Vasilenko (Veselnizky) escaped from the 9th Fort of the Kaunas prison Castle. Most of the escapees joined the anti-Nazi movement.
27-28 March 1944 – Massacre of the children and elderly of the ghetto.
March 1944 – The killing of the Jewish police of the Ghetto, which were suspected of supporting disruptive actions and preparing an escape.
During this period, control of the Ghetto prisoners got even more strict, escape became nearly impossible. The Nazi police started terrorizing the ghetto prisoners individually.
8 July 1944 – Movement of the remaining prisoners to Stutthoff and Dahau.
1 500 prisoners of the Kaunas ghetto refused to evacuate and hid. Members of the Nazi police threw grenades into each house of the Small Ghetto. As part of this action, almost everyone who hid had died with only around 90 people surviving.
Around 700 of Kaunas Jews managed to survive thanks to local farmers or being part of the Soviet partisan movements.
31 July 1944 – Kaunas was liberated by the forced of the 3rd Belarussian Front along with parts of the 1st Baltic Front and 2nd Belarussian Front as part of the Kaunas Offensive operation. Around 90 Jews remained in the town when it was liberated.
Recollection
On forced relocation to the ghetto:
"On the 15th of August, the barbed wire gates of the settlement of death Vilijampolė (ghetto) closed with twenty eight thousand people.
A few weeks later there was a demand to gather five hundred young people for field work. Mothers sent out their sons hoping that this work would save them. But instead their found a home in the ground of the 4th Fort. We found out about this only in 1944.
This was followed by a strict order to hand in all of the money, jewelry and clothing. Silently the people handed off their possessions, hoping that when they would be left naked and barefoot, the Nazi bandits would leave them alone"
From the memoirs of Victor Lazerson "Kaunas Ghetto"
A few weeks later there was a demand to gather five hundred young people for field work. Mothers sent out their sons hoping that this work would save them. But instead their found a home in the ground of the 4th Fort. We found out about this only in 1944.
This was followed by a strict order to hand in all of the money, jewelry and clothing. Silently the people handed off their possessions, hoping that when they would be left naked and barefoot, the Nazi bandits would leave them alone"
From the memoirs of Victor Lazerson "Kaunas Ghetto"
On the resistance:
"Because everyone understood that the only place that would help was Moscow, the communists were elected to lead. Sometime later, the Russians dropped them some weapons, ammunition, some rations and instructions on how to make mines.
One of the days, two lads from the self-defense decided to kill themselves, but to go out with a bang. They received approval for an operation.
There was a huge military district in Kaunas – Aleksotas. That's where the pilots' and paratroopers' dorms were, the military airfield and a giant factory for bombs to supply the "North" army group. These boys were among the Jews who worked there.
They assembles the detonator during work and hid under a pile of explosives at the end of the work day. They did not count the workers as they left. The line of workers walked through all of Kaunas until the Ghetto and only then they realized that two were missing. The Nazis sounded the alarm but it was too late. Once they emerged from their hiding place, the workers assembled the mine and blew it up along with the gigantic amount of explosives at the factory.
The Lithuanian districts that were next to the base were completely destroyed and all of the windows in Kaunas shattered. There was only a crater where the giant base was.
The next day the papers said that a paratrooper division dropped on the base, but was destroyed by forces loyal to the Reich, but there were huge losses.
From Eliezer Broer, son of Shlomo Broer
One of the days, two lads from the self-defense decided to kill themselves, but to go out with a bang. They received approval for an operation.
There was a huge military district in Kaunas – Aleksotas. That's where the pilots' and paratroopers' dorms were, the military airfield and a giant factory for bombs to supply the "North" army group. These boys were among the Jews who worked there.
They assembles the detonator during work and hid under a pile of explosives at the end of the work day. They did not count the workers as they left. The line of workers walked through all of Kaunas until the Ghetto and only then they realized that two were missing. The Nazis sounded the alarm but it was too late. Once they emerged from their hiding place, the workers assembled the mine and blew it up along with the gigantic amount of explosives at the factory.
The Lithuanian districts that were next to the base were completely destroyed and all of the windows in Kaunas shattered. There was only a crater where the giant base was.
The next day the papers said that a paratrooper division dropped on the base, but was destroyed by forces loyal to the Reich, but there were huge losses.
From Eliezer Broer, son of Shlomo Broer
On the massacres:
On the massacres conducted with extreme cruelty by the armed Nazi forces, which includes German police structures, Lithuanian volunteer brigades and Vlasov's Russian Liberation Army squadrons in March 1944.
"…the bands of executioners surrounded the ghetto and started picking out children, the elderly and the sick. I saw how a dog was tearing away at a baby at his mother's breast. I saw the eyes of the mother, as a German pulled a child from her hands and brutally hit him against the wall of a truck. This image haunts me to this day, making me forget that I am free. I saw how a German officer growled "You wanted war! Well, have it!" after taking a child from a mother. The mothers begged that they would shoot them and the Germans eagerly obliged. The Jewish ghetto police, rounded up to the fort under the threat of death gave them the location of the shelter where the mothers were with their children."
From the memoirs of Victor Lazerson "Kaunas Ghetto"
"…the bands of executioners surrounded the ghetto and started picking out children, the elderly and the sick. I saw how a dog was tearing away at a baby at his mother's breast. I saw the eyes of the mother, as a German pulled a child from her hands and brutally hit him against the wall of a truck. This image haunts me to this day, making me forget that I am free. I saw how a German officer growled "You wanted war! Well, have it!" after taking a child from a mother. The mothers begged that they would shoot them and the Germans eagerly obliged. The Jewish ghetto police, rounded up to the fort under the threat of death gave them the location of the shelter where the mothers were with their children."
From the memoirs of Victor Lazerson "Kaunas Ghetto"
Gallery of executioners
