1 Killing site(s)
Emilija K., born in 1933:
"Witness: There was an important episode. After the Germans arrived, they wanted to show us a "miracle." We had no idea what kind of miracle they had in mind. At the time, the present municipality didn’t exist—there was just a small square, similar to a market. On Fridays, villagers would come to sell their goods there. So, there was this little square. When the Germans arrived, they wanted to placate us after shooting the Jews. They hung a large sheet from one end of the street to the other. The sheet was as long as the current municipal building. They spread out this white sheet and showed us the suffering of Christ in its entirety.
They invited all the inhabitants of Prienai and made them sit in the square, because it was summer. They showed us the full depiction of Christ’s suffering. For us kids, watching this film was like witnessing a miracle. Both the young and the old were crying, because it was horrible to see the suffering of Christ.
YIU: Did the Germans make a speech in German before showing the film? Was it translated?
Witness: Yes, someone was translating the speech. They described how the Jews had done this—how they had tortured Christ, the only son of God." (Testimony N°YIU483LT, interviewed in Prienai, on December 13, 2023)
"On August 27, 1941, all the Jewish men, Jewish women and Jewish children, 1,078 people in all, were liquidated in Prienai." [Report of Karl Jaeger, commander of Einsatzkommando 3a, made in Kauen [today Kaunas], on December 1, 1941; Bundesarchiv Bild 183-B0716-0005-004]
Prienai, located approximately 31 km (19 miles) south of Kaunas, was first mentioned in written records in 1502. Until 1795, it was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, after which it came under Prussian rule. In 1807, Prienai was incorporated into the Duchy of Warsaw and, from 1815, became part of the Russian Empire.
Jews began settling in Prienai as early as the 17th century. By the 1856 census, 1,479 Jews lived there, comprising 64% of the town’s population. The Jewish community established a synagogue, the old Beth-Midrash, two prayer houses, a Jewish cemetery, and a ritual bath. During this period, a well-known beer brewery was also founded. However, the number of Jewish residents began to decline after the famine of 1869-71 and an anti-Jewish pogrom carried out by Polish youths in 1882, which caused some Jews to emigrate abroad.
In 1915, during World War I, most of Prienai’s Jews were exiled to Russia, and only a portion managed to return after the war. In 1923, following Lithuania’s independence, Prienai was home to 954 Jewish residents, who made up 29% of the town’s population. The Jewish community was primarily involved in commerce, the service sector, and artisanal trades. Five Jewish families engaged in agriculture, and the town had multiple Jewish-owned stores, small enterprises, 13 factories, and 3 sawmills. Jewish artisans worked as butchers, bakers, tailors, shoemakers, glaziers, and carpenters. There were also a Hebrew school, a Yiddish school, and a Jewish library.
During the interwar period, Jews became more involved in the social and cultural life of Prienai. However, the town’s difficult economic conditions and increased competition from Lithuanian merchants led many Jews, particularly the younger generation, to emigrate abroad, which contributed to a reduction in the Jewish population.
When Lithuania was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, the economic situation worsened. The nationalization of Jewish-owned businesses and shops led to shortages of goods and rising prices. Community institutions, including Zionist movements and youth organizations, were disbanded.
Prienai was occupied by German troops on June 24, 1941. Shortly afterward, Lithuanian activists known as “White Armbanders” established a new administration and a police force. In the first days of the occupation, the authorities began enforcing anti-Jewish measures. Jews were required to wear Stars of David on their clothing, were forbidden from using sidewalks, and were prohibited from interacting with non-Jews. Jewish property was looted, and the Jewish population was subjected to various forms of forced labor.
The new administration also targeted anyone suspected of being loyal to the Soviet regime, including Jews. The first victims were a group of Jewish intellectuals, followed by another group of Jews who were arrested and transported to Marijampolė, where they were killed.
On August 14, 1941, the remaining Jews in Prienai were forced into a ghetto established in the town’s military barracks, which was fenced off and guarded. By mid-August, the ghetto’s population swelled to over 1,000 due to the arrival of Jews from neighboring towns such as Jieznas, Balbieriškis, Veiveriai, Stakliškės, and others. Conditions in the ghetto were dire, with severe overcrowding, hunger, and unsanitary conditions. Jewish prisoners were forced to dig two long pits in a nearby pine forest, believing they were preparing defensive trenches against Russian attacks. During this time, in an attempt to placate the local Lithuanian population, the Germans organized the screening of a propaganda film, *The Sufferings of Christ*, in which the Jews were blamed for Christ’s death.
On August 27, 1941, the ghetto was liquidated in an Aktion led by Einsatzkommando 3 and local Lithuanian collaborators. The Jews of Prienai were marched in large groups to the execution site in the pine forest, where they were forced to undress and were shot at the edge of the pits using automatic weapons. After each group was killed, their bodies were sprayed with a disinfectant liquid from barrels placed near the pits. Among the victims was a local man of German origin (a Volksdeutsche), who was executed alongside the Jews for translating an elderly Jewish woman’s plea for mercy to a German officer. According to a witness from Yahad-In Unum (YIU), the killings lasted for several days. In total, 1,078 Jews were murdered in Prienai.
Following the liquidation of the ghetto, Jewish belongings were auctioned off in Prienai, and some Jewish homes were taken over by local Lithuanians.
Very few Jews from Prienai survived the war. Among the survivors was a young Jewish girl who was hidden by a local man, despite the risks of persecution for doing so.
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