Obj. ID: 58579 Holocaust memorial near Girkalnis, Lithuania
Memorial Name
Žydų žudynių vieta ir kapas
Who/What is Commemorated?
Jews of Raseiniai, Betygala, Girkalnis, Šiluva, victims of the Holocaust
Description:
The monument stands in a small grove. The area is surrounded by a decorative green metal fence, with sections connected by black metal posts. On the inner side of the fence, the edges are lined with a hedge (not continuous).
In the central part, the grave site is bordered by a concrete curb. The monument stands at the nearest edge, with the text facing away from the grave. The monument is made of black granite and stands on a tall concrete base. Engraved at the top center of the monument is the Star of David, and at the bottom is a menorah. Between them is an inscription in Yiddish and Lithuanian.
Inscription:
In Yiddish:
דא איז פארגאסן געווארן
דאס בלוט פון 1650 בערך יידן -
קינדער, פרויען, מענער,
וועלכע די נאצי-רוצחים און
זייערע מיטהעלפער
האבן גרויזאם דערמארדעט
אין 1941
Translation: Here was spilt the blood of about 1,650 Jews - children, women and men, whom Nazi murderers and their helpers brutally murdered in 1941.
In Lithuanian:
Čia buvo pralietas apie 1650 žydų
– vaikų, moterų, vyrų kraujas. Juos
1941 m. 08 mėn žiauriai nužudė hitleriniai
budeliai ir vietiniai talkininkai.
Tebūna šventas nekaltai žuvusiųjų atminimas
Translation: The blood of approximately 1,650 Jews – children, women, men was shed here in August 1941, when they were brutally murdered by Hitlerite executioners and their local helpers. May the blood of the innocent victims remain sacred.
Commissioned by
109x57x10 cm
Stone: 124x36x176 cm
The first shooting of Jews in Girkalnis were carried out on July 8, 1941. According to the Jäger report, 6 Communist activists were shot. Around August 13, 1941, policemen and white armbanders from Girkalnis arrested 7 Jews from the town and shot them. In the late afternoon of August 21, 1941, 2 trucks came to Girkalnis from Raseiniai. One hundred and twenty-eight Jewish men, women, children and elderly people were taken to the murder site. On August 23, 1941, Jews from Betygala were shot at the same place and a few days later, Jews from Raseiniai. From August 29 to September 6, 1941, the remaining Jews of Raseiniai were murdered in the village of Kurpiškė. Within a week, 843 people were killed.
Unique Site Code 2091
Status Protected by the state since 1996-12-23
Jakulytė-Vasil, Milda. Lithuanian Holocaust Atlas (Vilnius: VIlna Gaon State Jewish Museum, 2011), http://holocaustatlas.lt/LT/#a_atlas/search//page/8/item/147/.
Kultūros vertybių registras (Register of the Cultural Heritage), https://kvr.kpd.lt/#/heritage-detail/a8bb7025-7759-4cfa-aad5-4b22e9f9b2a5.
Levinson, Yosif, Skausmo knyga. The Book of Sorrow. Dos bukh fun veytik. Sefer ha-keev (Vilnius: VAGA Publishers, 1997)., 146.