KehilaLinks/JewishGen

Old Jewish Cemetery of Troškūnai (Trashkun)

Lithuania
Old jewish Cemetery

Old Jewish Cemetery in 2018   (full view) photo by Jolita Kievišienė

Trashkun's Jewish cemetery, known as the Old Jewish Cemetery, is located in Smėlynė, a small village on the outskirts of Troškūnai. The cemetery is about 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) southeast of Troškūnai on Road no. 1215.  (map)


VIDEO  Old Jewish Cemetery in 1989 [1:04] [NOTE]The 1989 video shows a monument built during the Soviet era to mark the mass grave. After Lithuanian independence, this monument was replaced by a new one, shown in the 1993 video. VIDEO  Old Jewish Cemetery in 1993 [1:10]


The inactive cemetery is not land-marked. Access is open to all with no caretaker. The isolated, urban hillside has no gate. Current [size] is one acre. The limestone tombstones date from 19th century. 20-100 gravestones are in original location with 75% of surviving stones toppled or broken. . . . Inscriptions are in [Hebrew]. The present owner of the cemetery property is unknown. The cemetery property is now derelict. Properties adjacent to the cemetery are residential. The cemetery is visited rarely. The cemetery is not known to have been vandalized. No care, maintenance, or structures. Weather erosion is serious threat. The vegetation overgrowth in the cemetery is a seasonal problem preventing access and damaging stones.

International Jewish Cemetery Project,
based on a visit to the cemetery in 1991

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Views of Old Jewish Cemetery in 2018
photos courtesy of Jolita Kievišienė

(click images to enlarge)

cemetery with memorial stone
cemetery, 2018
cemetery, 2018
gravestone
gravestone
cemetery, 2018
cemetery, 2018
cemetery, 2018
cemetery, 2018
cemetery, 2018
cemetery, 2018
cemetery and mass grave

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Old jewish Cemetery

Mass grave and monument (at right) at edge of Old Jewish Cemetery, 2018   (full view) photo by Jolita Kievišienė

Mass Grave • 1941

Mass Grave

VIDEO  Miriam Krakinowski visits the mass grave in 1993 and lists those buried there.  [0:53]
INSCRIPTION

In the summer of 1941, immediately after the German army invaded Lithuania in World War II, Lithuanian Nazi sympathizers captured a group of young Jewish men and ordered them to dig a pit at the edge of the Old Jewish Cemetery. This pit became a mass grave for the men who dug it and for other Jews who were murdered in Trashkun by Lithuanians in an outbreak of anti-Semitic violence. All these murders took place in July, before the mass killings in August which were organized by the Germans.

Among those buried in this mass grave are Chaim and Perl Shumacher, Feyga Krasovsky and possibly her husband Binyomin Krasovsky, Ruvke and Hirshke Itzikovich, Chaimke and Noske and Tevke Klatchko, Asher and Leybe (?) Shmidt, and Mina Pekl, according to Itzhak Konkurovich's testimony, Berl Glezer's memoir (Part I and Part II) and Miriam Krakinowski's video account. After the war, memorials were placed in the cemetery to remember the Jews who were killed and buried here in July 1941.

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Gravestones at the Old Jewish Cemetery

These photos were taken in 2001-02 by Don Ugent. Captions represent my best effort to read gravestone inscriptions. Where information is missing, the inscription is unclear.  (See notes below.) —S.K.

Click photos for larger view.

Mirel

MIREL

Pesha Berk

ELKE YENTE (?)

Chatz (?) Mirel

CHATZ (?) MIREL
Mother
Daughter of Dovid
(Hebrew year) 5611
[1850-51]

Nechama (1878)

NECHAMA
Beloved Mother
Daughter of Eliezer Glezer
Erev Shavuos [5 Sivan] 5638
[6 June 1878]

M. Israel

ISRAEL
Beloved Rabbi
Elul 5642
[September 1882]

Yakov and Mariashe Kushner

YAKOV [Yankel Kushner]
Beloved
Son of Avraham Kushner
Tevet 5689
[12 January 1929]

MARIASHE [Kushner]
Mother
Daughter of Eliezer
Elul 5690
[Aug./Sept. 1930]

Chaim Tzvi

CHAIM TZVI
Beloved Father
Son of Asher Shmidt
16 Elul 5685
[5 September 1925]

Tzvi

TZVI
Beloved Father
Son of Nochum ha-Levi
9 Elul 5620
[27 August 1860]

Tzipke (?)

TZIPKE (?)
Daughter of Baruch
Cheshvan 5623
[Oct./Nov. 1862]

Sholom [Charne]

SHOLOM SHIMON [Charne]
Beloved Father
Son of Aharon z"l
Shvat 5687
[January 1927]

Chana Leah [Charne]

CHANA LEAH [Charne]
Beloved
Daughter of Asher
4 Sivan 5690
[31 May 1930]

Rivke

RIVKE (?)

Elye

ELYE [Beyner]
Beloved Father
Son of Lipman
1 Tevet 5674
[30 December 1913]

Shraga Menach [Fayvish Itzikovich]

SHRAGA MENACH
[Fayvish Itzikovich]
Son of Aharon
10 Sivan 5682
[6 June 1922]
(see also)

(top of stone broken off)

(top of stone broken off)
Erev Sukkot [14 Tishri] 5694
[4 October 1933]

Paya Leah

PAYA LEAH
Beloved Mother
Daughter of Moshe Uriel
[Rapoport]
27 Kislev 5688
[21 December 1927]

Sore Rivke Karpov

SORE RIVKE
Mother
Daughter of Reb Karpov
20 Tevet 5689
[2 January 1929]

(no name) date: Adar Alef

Adar Alef, 5680's
[Feb/Mar. 1920's]

mother

Beloved Mother
(Hebrew year) 5590's
[1830's]

Sore (?) Rivke

SORE (?) RIVKE
Daughter of (?)
11 Tishri 5662
[24 September 1901]

Rachel

RACHEL
Mother
Daughter of Shimon (?)

1910

(Hebrew year) 5670
[1910]

Rachel

RACHEL
Beloved Mother
Daughter of (?)
Pesach (4th day?)

woman

Daughter of Lyov
Tevet 5630
[December 1869]

M. Yakov

YAKOV
Rabbi, Beloved Father
Son of Aharon
4 Elul 5647
[24 August 1887]

Tishri 1884

Tishri 5645
[Sept./Oct. 1884]

son of Yehuda

[YOSEF (?)]
Son of Yehuda [Saltuper]
5692
[1932]

Batsheva Feyge

BATSHEVA FEYGE
Daughter of Yakov
26 Adar 5623
[17 March 1863]

Asher Menachem

ASHER MENACHEM
Reb
Son of Zevach
Kislev (year not visible)

Eliezer

ELIEZER
Reb
Son of Achtriel z"l
13 Sivan 5637
[25 May 1877]

Yakov Yehuda

YAKOV YEHUDA
Son of Moshe
2 Tevet (?) 5623
[24 December (?) 1862]

Itzik Uzent/Yuzent

YITZHAK [Itzik Yuzent]
Beloved Father, Reb
Son of Moshe Yuzint
Adar 5662
[February 1902]
(see also)

mother

Beloved Mother
(Hebrew year) ~5600's
[1800's]

Gitel

GITEL
Daughter of
Yeshiahu Rafael z"l
First day of Pesach
(15 Nisan) 5620
[7 April 1860]

Israel Itzik

ISRAEL ITZIK
Son of Yakov Leyb Rutenberg
[1919]
(see also)

Moshe Rafael

MOSHE RAFAEL
Beloved Father, Reb
Son of Tzvi Dov z"l
Kislev 5681
[Nov./Dec. 1920]

Chana

CHANA

monument

MASS GRAVE
INSCRIPTION

memorial stone

MEMORIAL STONE
INSCRIPTION

NOTES:

z"l = of blessed memory

convert Hebrew dates

how to read Hebrew tombstones

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