"The Jewish community of Ukmerge is first mentioned in a document of 1685. In the census of 1766, 716 Jews were counted there, and by 1847 their number had risen to 3758, the majority of them engaged in commerce and crafts including tanning.The community of Ukmerge was renowed for its conservatism. M.L. Lienblum lived there during the 1860's and it was there that he began his public career and literary activity. The community continued to develop and by the 1880's the number of Jews reached 10,000. A period of decline followed, however, when the town was bypassed by the railroads which were built at that time.In May 1915 the Jews were expelled from Ukmerge, together with those in Kovno. After the war many Jews returned. A yeshivah ketannah(preparatory yeshivah) was established as well as two secondary schools for Hebrew and Yiddish. R. Joseph Zussmanowitz, born in Palestine and ranked as the most prominent Lithuanian Rabbi, was the last Rabbi in Ukmerge.
With the annexation of Lithuania to the Soviet Union in 1940, religious and nationalist Jewish life was systematically destroyed. A year later, Ukmerge fell into the hands of the Germans.
On September 18,1941, the remaining Jews in Ukmerge, together with those of the neighboring towns, were assembled in the nearby forest and massacred."2