Obj. ID: 48789
Jewish Funerary Art Jewish cemetery in Salantai, Lithuania
According to ESJF European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative, it is likely that the Jewish cemetery of Salantai was established at the end of the 18th century and was in use until June 1941. The cemetery was not destroyed under the Nazi’s rule and some local Jews who died locked in the temporary ghetto were buried in this cemetery. After World War II the cemetery was abandoned, and the fate of many gravestones is unknown. In 1967 a small concrete monument was erected in the central part of the cemetery with an inscription: “For the victims of fascist terror in 1941”. In 1991 at the entrance, a memorial cemetery plaque was placed at the initiative of Plungė resident Jakovas Bunka and the Salantai community. On the plaque, there is a Star of David and an inscription in Yiddish and Lithuanian. Not far from this memorial stone there is a wooden totem pole, depicting an old Jew stretching his hands to the sky and a woman kneeling under his feet. Below is an entry in Lithuanian: “For the 405 Jews of Salantai murdered in July 1941”. In 1997 the cemetery was included into the Cultural Property Register of the Republic of Lithuania.
The site is partially fenced. On one side there is a concrete fence 1-1.5m high. The other sides are unfenced. There are two memorials located on the cemetery marking Holocaust mass graves. There are 41 gravestones.