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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.
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