Alytus

“Ivaskauskas, a former major at the Lithuanian general staff headquarters, arrived on the scene and decided to take the initiative on his own. He asked that a Jewish rabbi be found so that he could kill him with his own bare hands. The rabbi they found was crippled and could barely walk. After dragging him around and savagely beating him, they threw him face up into a pit so that Ivaskauskas could shoot him. He drew and his pistol and shot him between the eyes three times.”

 Anyksciai

“The rest of the participants amused themselves (prior to the murders) by subjecting prisoners to grueling exercise regimes and then beating them savagely. One of those subjected to this was the local rabbi Kalman Kadishevitz, also known as the ‘righteous man of Lotova.’ Wrapped in his prayer shawl (Talit) and phylacteries (Tefilin), he was taken with the first group for execution at dawn and conducted himself with purity and piety right until his final moments.”

 Birzai

“The abuse of the Jews began on the very first day. The local rabbi, Yehudah Lev Bornstein was murdered for ‘daring’ to approach the authorities on behalf of the community. A young man, Mottel Bader, who tried to defend the rabbi was also shot. The local ritual slaughterer (shochet), was singled out for a particularly cruel death. The Lithuanians tied his beard to the tail of a galloping horse. The animal dragged the man through the streets until he finally died.”

 Butrimonys

“They assembled all the Jews in the study center (Beit Midrash) and ordered them to tear up all the Torah scrolls and religious books and burn them in the furnace at the local blacksmith’s workshop. Rabbi Avraham Moseh Vitkind, an ardent Zionist and eminent scholar, was forced to smash the windows of the synagogue. On the night of August 21, local Lithuanians arrested 100 men and 15 women, including the local rabbi. They stripped him of his clothes, tore out his beard and placed a hat on his head back to front. All the prisoners were tied up in pairs with steel wire and marched to Alytus where they were murdered.”

 Girkalnis

“The Lithuanian thugs started off with the synagogue. They removed the Torah scrolls unfurled them through the streets of the town and then danced and trampled on them. They dragged the town Rabbi, Leb Chaim Itzhak Ossovksy into the street and wrenched out his beard together with the skin on his face. When they finally got bored, they left him bloody and beaten on the sidewalk. Rabbi Ossovsky was finally murdered a week later together with the rest of the Jewish community after being held in captivity without food or water.”

 Josvainiai

“The rampage by local Lithuanians started prior to the arrival of German troops. Once the Germans entered the town, attacks by Lithuanians became increased in frequency and savagery. They were continually devising new ways to abuse the Jews. One day, the grabbed the local shochet and his wife and led them into a room full of people. They then cut off his beard and sideburns and forced him to strip down to his underwear. They made him dance the ‘Kazachok’ while all the audience applauded, and kicked and beat him. His wife, in an act of desperation, fell fists flailing on the murderers and few minutes later several gunshots ended the lives of these two poor creatures. The murderers wanted yet more entertainment and turned next on the local rabbi Avraham Dov Tarna. He too was dragged into the same room, stripped and then beaten mercilessly. They did not murder Rabbi Tarna that day but instead waited a month and then killed him together with the rest of the community in August.”

 Kaisiadorys

“The Lithuanians invented all sorts of games and shows to amuse themselves. One day, they dragged the local rabbi David Aaron Yafe through the streets of the town until he finally died. Local Lithuanians looked on with glee.”     

 Kelme

“On July 29, the Lithuanians gathered all the Jews and marched them to the Grosbask estate where they were murdered and buried in pits. Some people were thrown alive into the pits under the pretext that a bullet was too precious to be wasted on a Jew. The last group to be murdered included principals and students from nearby yeshivas, among them Rabbis Daniel Movshovitz, Gershon Maydanik, Shlomo Pianko and Kalman Benishevitz. Rabbi Benishevitz was the last person to be shot and prior to this he was forced to kneel at the edge of the pit and watch his entire community being wiped out.”

 

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