Birzh, Lithuania

Testimonial Forms

Memorialization for the Holocaust Victims from the Town of Birzh, Lithuania

On August 8, 1941, 2400 Jews living in the town of Birzh were force-marched to the Astrava forest, 3 Km outside of Birzh, and brutally murdered.  The victims lie buried in the forest in two large mass graves.  A fuller description of this horrific event is found at https://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/birzai/Birzh_3.html

A major undertaking to build, at the gravesite, a memorial to the victims is now in process, with the goal of dedicating the memorial in May 2019.   A list of victims has been constructed using data from the Yad Vashem Database of Shoah Victims Names.  However, this list falls well short of identifying a majority of those who died on that fateful day.  The organizers of the memorial project urgently seek people who can contribute names of Jews who were resident in Birzh during WWII or Jews that are known to have perished in the Astrava forest.

If you have such names or other pertinent information to share, please contact Jonathan Dorfan, jdorfan@yahoo.com .  Alternatively, or in addition to, please fill out the attached Testimony Form (one form per victim) to capture, in a standardized format, what information you have.

Many thanks

Jonathan