Obj. ID: 48667
Jewish Funerary Art  Site of the Old Jewish cemetery in Pakruojis, Lithuania

According to ESJF European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative, the first and the oldest cemetery was on the town-side bank of the river Kruoja. Iit was used until the early 1800’s. The testimony of the community’s Rabbi in 1932 claims that one of the ancient headstones that was here had an inscription dating from 1761. It is impossible to check it now because this cemetery does not exist anymore. During the Nazi occupation, the Germans destroyed the cemetery by taking the gravestones to the local mill where they were pulverized. After the war, the cemetery was used by the Soviets to bury their fallen soldiers, who had died in battle against the Germans in 1944. There is a monument to the Soviet soldiers at the entrance of the former Jewish cemetery. A small plaque in Yiddish next to the cemetery indicates that this was the site of a Jewish cemetery. The area of this cemetery is about 20 meters square.

One side of the fence bounding the cemetery's territory belongs to private property, another side of the fence belongs to the Soviet Union Soldier's cemetery. No tombstones preserved. 

The cemetery is located on S. Dariaus and S. Girėno street in Pakruojis opposite No.55, on the right hand side of the Soviet Union Soldier’s cemetery, (54, S. Dariaus and S. Girėno street).