Pasvalys (Posvol, Posvohl) | Panevėžys

/ The former synagogue of Pasvalys. Today, the building has been partially rebuilt and is used as a timber supply store.  ©Markel Redondo/Yahad - In Unum Inside the former synagogue building, original pillars and bricked-up windows can still be seen. ©Markel Redondo/Yahad - In Unum The former location of the Pasvalys ghetto on Polivan Street. A few old Jewish wooden houses remain. ©Markel Redondo/Yahad - In Unum Jadvyga P., born in 1932, showing to the Yahad team the former Jewish bath house in Paslavys. During the war, it was situated on the ghetto’s territory. ©Markel Redondo/Yahad - In Unum Pasvalys Jewish cemetery. Almost no gravestones remain today, but a monument marks the cemetery’s location.   ©Markel Redondo/Yahad - In Unum Genovaitė P., born in 1923: "One day, a Jewish man came to our house asking for shelter. My mother and I hid him in our house cellar. Fearing reprisals, I then asked our local priest for help, who hid him in the church.” ©Markel Redondo/Yahad - In Unum Genovaitė P. showing the book where the story of the Jewish man’s rescue is told. For helping him to survive the war, Genovaitė P. was honored with a medal from the country’s president. ©Markel Redondo/Yahad - In Unum Jadvyga P., born in 1932: "I saw the column of Jews being escorted by armed Lithuanian nationalists to the execution site. There were over 200 people in the column.” ©Markel Redondo/Yahad - In Unum Ona B., born in 1931: "I heard shots coming from the execution site in Žadeikiai forest, where the Jews from the Pasvalys area were murdered. The next day I went to see the place.” ©Markel Redondo/Yahad - In Unum Vladislavas V., born in 1923: "I saw the mass grave of the Jews in the Žadeikiai forest. There were many documents strewn about, including a passport of the Jewish man I used to sell apples to.” ©Markel Redondo/Yahad - In Unum The Yahad team during an interview with Ona B. at the execution site in Žadeikiai forest. ©Markel Redondo/Yahad - In Unum Execution site N°1, located in the Žadeikiai forest, where 1,349 Jews from Pasvalys and the surrounding area were killed in August 1941. ©Markel Redondo/Yahad - In Unum Execution site N°2, located in the Žadeikiai forest, about 300 meters from execution site N°1. The Jews of the Pasvalys area, as well as those who survived the first mass shooting, were executed here some time later. ©Markel Redondo/Yahad - In Unum Inscriptions on both monuments are similar and dedicated to 5000 Soviet citizens of Pasvalys, Vabalninkas, Joniskélis, Daujénai and Krincinas, killed in August 1941 by the Hitlerites and Lithuanian nationalist bourgeoisie. ©Markel Redondo/Yahad - In Unum

Execution of Jews from Pasvalys area in Žadeikiai

2 Execution site(s)

Kind of place before:
Žadeikiai forest
Memorials:
Yes
Period of occupation:
1941-1944
Number of victims:
At least 1,349

Witness interview

Genovaitė P., born in 1923: "Sometime after the mass shooting of Jews in the Žadeikiai forest, I saw a group of Jews gathered in the courtyard of Pasvalys prison. The place was surrounded by a fence. I believe the detainees stayed there for about a night. When I saw them, they were being forced into a truck that was taking them to the execution site. There was a lot of shouting. A Jewish woman with a baby approached me, asking for directions to another village. I showed her the way. She managed to escape from the prison yard and survived the war with her child." (Testimony N°YIU169LT, interviewed in Pasvalys, on July 2, 2015)

Soviet archives

"[…] We started the shooting in the evening. Together with local nationalists and policemen we took Jewish men, women and children outside the town. I don’t remember that place clearly, but it was 3 km away from the town, beside the forest; I don’t remember its name. Before that the victims were kept in the synagogue and were brought to the shooting place from there.
[…] The shooting was carried out in a usual way. Local nationalists and policemen undressed the Jews and placed them beside the pit in groups of 20 to 30 people with their backs turned to us, the shooters. We shot after the command given by officers. Several local nationalists joined us during the shooting, but I didn’t know them. The shooting lasted for about an hour and we shot about 200 Jews then.
The whole group of the 3rd company carried out the shooting […].
As far as I remember, we didn‘t shoot anywhere else during that trip to Pasvalys which lasted three days." [Deposition of Petras Z., born in 1917, a Lithuanian farmer tried for participation in mass shootings, taken on September 14, 1961; Lithuanian Special Archives, KGB criminal files; Fund K–1, Inventory No. 58, File No. 47588/3, Vol. 1, p. 27-29]

Historical note

Pasvalys, a district center in northern Lithuania, is situated approximately 40 km (25 mi) north of Panevėžys. The town was once home to one of the oldest Karaite Jewish communities in Lithuania, first mentioned in historical sources in 1643. By the mid-18th century, the Karaite Jews were replaced by Rabbinic Jews. In 1765, when Pasvalys was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the town had 430 Jewish residents. Over time, Pasvalys became an important commercial center, particularly due to its agricultural lands and its location near the road leading to Riga. The Jewish community continued to grow, and according to the 1897 census conducted by the Russian Empire, there were 1,590 Jews in Pasvalys, making up 52% of the total population. However, from the late 19th century onwards, many began to emigrate abroad, notably to South Africa and the United States.

In 1915, during the First World War, local Jews were forced into exile in Russia. During the interwar period, when Pasvalys became part of an independent Lithuania, some of these Jewish refugees returned home. By 1923, the town had 748 Jewish residents, comprising 34% of the total population. The local Jews were primarily engaged in commerce, including the trade of agricultural products, as well as in the service sector and artisanal work. Most of the town’s businesses were owned by Jews, including two flour mills, a chocolate and candy factory, a leather factory, and others. Jewish artisans offered services as tailors, shoemakers, butchers, photographers, and more. During this period, local Jews became more active in the social and cultural life of the town. Pasvalys housed a synagogue, a Jewish cemetery, a Hebrew school, and a Jewish popular bank.

When Lithuania was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, the economic situation deteriorated as the nationalization of Jewish shops and businesses led to a shortage of goods and rising prices. Community institutions, including Zionist movements, were disbanded. On the eve of the German invasion, there were 700 Jewish residents in Pasvalys.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Pasvalys was occupied by German troops on June 26, 1941. Lithuanian activists, known as "White Armbanders", quickly established a new administration. Shortly thereafter, the new authorities began persecuting anyone suspected of loyalty to the Soviet regime, including a number of Jews. These Jews were arrested and transferred to Šiauliai, where they were subsequently murdered.

From mid-July 1941, all the Jews in Pasvalys were forced to relocate to a designated area, which included parts of Biržai Street and Polivan Street. This area was eventually enclosed by a barbed wire fence. Non-Jewish residents who had lived on these streets were required to move to houses outside the ghetto’s territory. Starting in the latter part of July 1941, the Pasvalys ghetto was expanded as Jewish detainees from nearby villages such as Joniškėlis, Pumpėnai, Vaškiai, Krinčinas, Daujėnai, Saločiai, and Vabalninkas were transferred there. This influx included at least 40 Jewish converts to Catholicism. Living conditions in the overcrowded ghetto were particularly harsh, with around 1,500 people crammed into the area, subjected to systematic abuse and robbery by Lithuanian guards.

The Pasvalys ghetto was liquidated around August 26, 1941. The Aktion was carried out by the 3rd Company, Lithuanian Auxiliary Battalion 1 (later Schutzmannschafts-Bataillon 13), assisted by Lithuanian "White Armbanders" and policemen. Jewish inmates were rounded up in the synagogue, where men were separated from women and children before being escorted by "White Armbanders" to the execution site in the nearby Žadeikiai forest. Some Jews were killed on the way to the execution site. Upon arrival, the victims were lined up and shot in groups into two separate pits, which had been previously dug by requisitioned locals, about 300 meters apart. According to the Jäger Report, 402 men, 738 women, and 209 children—a total of 1,349 Jews—were executed in the Žadeikiai forest on August 26, 1941.

Local witnesses reported that Jews in hiding were progressively caught and rounded up in the Pasvalys prison, from where they were taken by truck to the Žadeikiai forest to be executed in one of the two pits.

After the Aktion, the victims’ belongings were looted by locals, notably by the "White Armbanders".

A number of Pasvalys Jews managed to survive the war, particularly due to the help of local residents.

Jewishgen

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