1 Killing site(s)
Albina G., born in 1932: "On a warm day, the women were taken away in simple open trucks. Initially, they were happy to get in, as they had been told they were being taken to join their husbands in Viduklė. However, shortly after, the sound of gunshots began to echo around, and the remaining women became terrified and refused to board the trucks. The police began beating them with sticks. The only man left with the women was the rabbi, who pleaded with them to remain calm, telling them the end was near. Some of the women desperately begged Lithuanian families to take their babies. The shootings took place in an open field, which, within a few years, had turned into a forest." (Testimony N°YIU387LT, interviewed in Skaudvilė, on October 4, 2018)
"We, the undersigned police chief of Nemakščiai volost of Raseiniai Uyezd, lieutenant Shalayev and chief of executive committee of Nemakščiai, Volost Shimkus, compiled this report about the following: according to eye-witness testimonies, during the German occupation of Lithuanian SSR between 1941 and 1944 German fascist criminals killed 568 civilians in Nemakščiai volost, Raseiniai Uyezd." [Report on atrocities performed by German invaders in Nemakščiai volost; Extraordinary State Commission to investigate German-Fascist Crimes Committed on Soviet Territory, Reel#19 Part 5, p. 19]
Nemakščiai is located approximately 100 km (62 mi) northwest of Kaunas. The town was first mentioned in written records in 1386. Jewish settlement in Nemakščiai began in the 17th century, during its time as part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. After 1795, the town became part of the Russian Empire. According to the 1847 census, Nemakščiai had 255 Jewish residents. By 1897, the Jewish population had grown to 954, making up 81% of the town’s total population. Zionist movements began to emerge in Nemakščiai at the end of the 19th century.
In 1917, during the First World War, a large fire destroyed many Jewish homes. By 1918, Nemakščiai had become part of independent Lithuania. According to the 1923 census, the town had 704 Jewish residents, comprising 69% of the population. Over the following years, due to economic difficulties, some Jews emigrated, reducing the Jewish population. The local Jewish community was mainly involved in commerce and artisanal work, and a few engaged in agriculture, including three Jewish farm owners. Most businesses in the town were run by Jews, with several Jewish-owned stores and small enterprises, including a sawmill and two flour mills. Jewish artisans offered various services such as butchery, baking, shoemaking, barbering, and tinsmithing.
Nemakščiai was home to the old Beit Midrash, a cultural center, a Hebrew Tarbuth school, the Jewish Popular Bank, and a library with books in Hebrew and Yiddish.
When Lithuania was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, Nemakščiai’s economic situation worsened as Jewish shops and businesses were nationalized, leading to shortages and rising prices. Community institutions, including Zionist movements, youth groups, and the Hebrew school, were disbanded. On the eve of the German invasion, around 70 Jewish families were living in Nemakščiai.
Nemakščiai was occupied by German troops on June 23, 1941. The new authorities, including local Lithuanians known as "White Armbanders," established a new administration and a police force. In July 1941, Jewish men from Nemakščiai, aged 14 and older, were taken to the nearby town of Viduklė. Alongside local Jews, they were forced into labor at the railway station, where they were made to load wagons, weed the railway tracks, and perform other tasks. In mid-July 1941, likely on July 14, these men were executed near the railway station.
The Jewish women and children who remained in Nemakščiai continued living in their homes for a time before being confined to a ghetto. The ghetto, set up in several Jewish houses, was guarded by the "White Armbanders." On August 22, 1941, the ghetto was liquidated. Its inhabitants were transported by truck to a nearby pine forest, located between Nemakščiai and Viduklė, where they were executed by the Germans and the "White Armbanders" in pits that had been previously dug. To deceive the victims and ease transportation, the first group of Jewish women were told they would be taken to see their husbands at the railway station. The remaining ghetto prisoners only realized the truth after hearing gunshots from the execution site.
The massacre lasted until around 3 p.m., with trucks making several trips to transport all the victims. Local witnesses reported that the rabbi of Nemakščiai was among those killed, along with Jewish women and children, totaling 340 people. After the war, a grave containing 543 bodies was discovered in the forest, and a monument was erected at the site. The monument is dedicated to the 543 Jewish men, women, and children murdered between July and October 1941.
For more information about the killings of Nemakščiai Jews in Viduklė, please refer to the corresponding profile.
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