Obj. ID: 33504
Memorials Memorial plaque at the entrance to the Small Ghetto in Vilnius, Lithuania, 1993
Who is Commemorated?
Victims of the Small Ghetto in Vilnius
Description:
Two granite plaques are attached to the wall of the building at 3 Gaono St. marking the location of the gate to the Small (or Second) Ghetto of Vilnius. The lower plaque depicts the plan of the Small and Large Ghettos, and the upper plaque contains identical inscriptions in Lithuanian and Yiddish.
Inscription:
The inscription in Lithuanian reads:
Čia 1941.09.06 – 1941.10.29 buvo mažojo
žydų geto vartai, pro kuriuos
išvaryti mirčiai daugiau kaip 11.000 žydų
Translation: Here, from September 6, 1941 - October 29, 1941, was the gate of The Small Jewish Ghetto, through which more than 11,000 Jews were driven to their deaths.
The inscription in Yiddish reads:
אויף דעם אָרט איז געשטאנען דער טויער פון דער קליינער
ווילנער געטאָ. דורך אים האָט מען פון 6-טן
סעפטעמבער 1941 ביזן 29-סטן אָקטאָבער 1941
געטריבן צום טויט מער ווי 11.000 ייּדן
Translation: In this place stood the gate of the Small Ghetto of Vilnius. Through it, from September 6th 1941 to October 29th 1941, more than 11,000 Jews were driven to their deaths.
Lithuanian inscription on the plaque with the ghetto plan:
Vilniaus getų planas
1. Biblioteka (pasipriešinimo centras)
2. Judenratas
3. Didžioji sinagoga
4. Ligoninė
5. Kalėjimas
6. Vartai
Translation: Plan of the Vilnius Ghetto:/ 1. Library (the center of resistance) / 2. Judenrat / 3. Great Synagogue / 4. Hospital / 5. Prison / 6. Gates
Commissioned by
Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum and the Jewish Community of Lithuania, on the initiative of Vilnius Jewish historian Genrikh Agranovsky, and financed by the Vilnius municipality (Agranovskii 1994; Guzenberg 2013).
sub-set tree: 
The Small Ghetto in Vilnius was established on September 6-7, 1941 and contained about 11,000 prisoners. Mass Aktionen took place on October 1st (Yom Kippur), 4th, 15th-16th, and 21st. After the murder of the inmates of the Small Ghetto on October 21, old people and the people without documents were brought there from the Large Ghetto. They were killed on October 28, 1941.
The plaque was established in 1993 on the initiative of Vilnius Jewish historian Genrikh Agranovsky and financed by the municipality (Guzenberg 2013). As a photograph of a similar plaque at the entrance to the Large Ghetto made by the expedition of the Center for Jewish Art in 1993 testifies, the plaque with the plan of the ghettos was added at a later date.
Agranovskii, Genrikh, "Vekhi istorii," in Žydų muziejus. Evreiskii muzei. The Jewish Museum, ed. Evsey Ceitlin (Vilnius: Lietuvos valstybinis žydų muziejus, 1994), 268-270.
Agranovskii, Genrikh. Oni zdes’ zhili... Zametki o evreiskom nasledii Vilniusa (Vilnius: Versus Aureus, 2014)., 166-167.
Agranovskii, Genrikh and Irina Guzenberg. Vilnius: Po sledam Litovskogo Ierusalima. Pamiatnye mesta ereiskoi istorii i kul’tury, 2nd ed. (Vilnius: The Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum, 2016)., 102-105.
Guzenberg, Irina. Vilnius: Pamiatnye mesta evreiskoi istorii i kul'tury (Vilnius: Pavilniai, 2013)., 51.
Levinson, Yosif, Skausmo knyga. The Book of Sorrow. Dos bukh fun veytik. Sefer ha-keev (Vilnius: VAGA Publishers, 1997)., 54.