Morkakalnis

part 4

At the conference, “Pakruojis during the German Occupation 1941-1944”, held on the 19th of August 2005 in Pakruojis, the following was revealed by dr. Alfredas Ruksjenas:
 
The massacre of the Jews of Lithuania was organised and executed by the so- called Gruppe A, whose leader was Brigadenfuehrer SS Walter Stahlecker.
A sub division of Gruppe A was Gruppe 3A, led by Standartenfuehrer SS Karl Jaeger.
In the beginning of July 1941, division 8-10 belonging to Gruppe 3 A, was selected to form a special division under the leadership of Obersturmfuehrer SS Joachim Hamman. The latter was co-operating with the Lithuanian Partisan Organisation. They had as task to eliminate the Jews of Lithuania.
The killing of the Jews in the Siauliai district took place in the summer and autumn of 1941. A special force, called Restkommand, division 2 from Gruppe A, executed the murdering on the Jews of the Siauliai district. They were under the command of Hauptscharffuehrer SS Gotschalk.
The Jews of Pakruojis belonged to the Siauliai district.
 
From 23 July 1941 on, the Germans introduced all kinds of measures and laws against the Jewish population of Lithuania, e.g., from 25 July 1941, the Jews were forced to wear the Star of David and they were forbidden to enter public places from 6 in the morning till 8 in the evening.
On 25 July 1941, the Jews of Pakruojis were forced to leave their houses and to live in a newly formed ghetto in and around the synagogue. The ghetto lasted for about 3 weeks.
From August 1941 on, started the systematic killing of the Lithuanian Jews.

As for the Siauliai district: According to the historian Arunas Bubnis, about 400 Jews were shot in the forest of Morkakalnis.
 
In the midst of July 1941, the First Aktion in Pakruojis took place: Some German officers and about 50 -60 German soldiers entered the small town and ordained, that the Jews of Pakruojis were not allowed to work anymore. Hairdresser Katz ignored the prohibition and continued working. Immediately, Katz was taken from his house and transported to Germany to do forced labour.
The German soldiers, assisted by local policemen and partisans from the neighbouring villages, started to arrest the Jewish men of Pakruojis and forced them to stay in a small courtyard, near a house ,this all belonging to a Jewish owner.
From there, they were forced to get into trucks and the Jewish men were transported to Morkakalnis, where they were shot. Amongst them was the rabbi of Pakruojis.
 
In August 1941, the Second Aktion in Pakruojis took place: At that time, German officers entered the ghetto of Pakruojis. They were accompanied by German soldiers, local policemen, local partisans and partisans of Linkuva. The Jewish women, children, and elderly men were ordained to form rows and to march as one group.
They were told, they had to do labour elsewhere.
The very large group of Jewish women, children and elderly men, finally, arrived at Morkakalnis, where already was dug a trench. At Morkakalnis, a group of Jews was waiting for them. This group had been transported to Morkakalnis in trucks.
It was nine o’clock in the morning.
 
From about 5 o’clock till 9 o’clock that morning, citizens, farmers of Pakruojis had been forced to dug the trench.
This trench had a length of 20 meters, a depth of 2 meters and a width of 2-3 meters.
 
The Jewish women, children and elderly men had to undress, only underwear was allowed. They had to sit on the mud, next to the trench.
Then, 10 executioners took 5 people out of the crowd, had them stand at the trench and shot them in the head. They were especially skilled in killing the children while they were in the arms of their mother.
Before they were killed, 8-9 Jewish men of Pakruojis were forced to go back to their houses and to give the murderers their valuables. Then, they were forced to return to Morkakalnis and were shot.
Amongst the elderly Jewish men who were killed, was Grinjavitsjus, the chairman of the Union of Pakruojis.
 
The whole Jewish population was killed by German officers, by partisans of Pakruojis and Linkuva and by local policemen. ( I have to remark that dr. Alfredas Ruksjenas is talking about partisans, whereas I always refer to these men as “white banders”). German officers , regularly, verified the trench and when they saw a Jew still alive, they killed, shot him. The Germans photographed the whole execution at Morkakalnis. The execution which started at 9 o’clock, ended 4 hours later, at 1 o’clock .
 
After the killings, in the house where Pozela lived at that time, ( the blue housenr. 154 on the map), there was held a big party. A German officer told the killers, they didn’t have to feel any remorse or pity for the Jews who were shot at Morkakalnis, because the Jews and only the Jews were to blame for this war. The Jews were the guilty ones and no-one else and therefore, ALL the Jews had to be exterminated.
For the killings, the killers got 90-100 rubles each.


Dr. Alfredas Ruksjenas, again:
Kostas Vaitkus, a citizen of Pakruojis, tried to hide three Jews in his house. Unfortunately, he didn’t succeed and all of them were arrested by the Gestapo and shot.


 

to part 5

 

Copyright © 2008 Dora Boom

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