Lazdijai

“One day, they dragged the town rabbi, Yaakov Aryeh Hacohen Gerstein out of his home and began beating him with a horsewhip in the street. His family were also beaten as a punishment for watching what was happening to their father. Afterwards the rabbi was placed on a truck and driven away. Fearful for their rabbi’s safety, representatives from the Jewish community contacted the local priest for help but he merely prevaricated. It later transpired that they had taken the rabbi outside town and made him carry sacks of cement all day long. In the evening, they made him return home on foot. On November 3, 1941, Rabbi Gerstein was taken together with his family and the rest of the community to a site outside town and there, naked as the day they were born, they were savagely murdered.”

 Luoke

“The rabbi of the town, Shlomo Efraim Kravitzki was taken to the forest where the Lithuanians savagely tortured him, cut off half his beard and made him endlessly carry water pitchers back and forth. After a few days, the Lithuanians locked him in a barn without food or water. Several days later, after being repeatedly tortured and beaten, they murdered him

 Rietavas

“The Jews were not left alone for a single moment. One blow of a whistle would have them all on their feet on the double. The murderers singled out the local rabbi, Shmuel Ponidler, for special treatment. They cut off part of his beard, marched him to the back yard of the building and there they forced him to burn his prayer shawl, phylacteries and the book he had been studying. They then tethered him to a garbage wagon and forced him to drag it through the streets of town. When his strength finally failed him, he was murdered on the spot. Later, the local shochet, Abba Rabinovitch was also murdered.”

 Seduva

“The carnage continued and the number of casualties kept on rising. One day they grabbed the local rabbi, Mordechai Rabinovitch and took him to the local Jewish cemetery. The criminal selected for the task shot Rabbi Rabinovitch but deliberately avoided killing him, leaving him to writhe in agony throughout the night. The murderer finally returned the following morning and shot him dead.”

 Sirvintos

“As soon as the Germans entered the town, the Lithuanians went on the rampage and began abusing the Jews. First they took all the Torah scrolls out of the synagogue and study hall and unfurled them in the streets for all passers by to trample on at leisure. Then they locked the local Rabbi, Avraham Leib Grossbard and his son, Zundel Krook inside the study center and set it ablaze. Both father and son were burned to death.”

 Taurage

“During the first days of the invasion, armed Lithuanians set upon the local rabbi, Levy Shpitz and demanded he hand over the list of Jewish communists that were hiding in the town. When Rabbi Shpitz insisted he knew nothing about any Jewish communists, they ordered him to start running and then shot him in the back. Fatally wounded, he staggered home but the Lithuanians followed him and dragging him back out into the street, they cut off his beard and tortured him to death.”

 Telsiai

“Bloody Friday, as it became known, took place five days after the start of the German invasion. The Jews of the town were ordered to assemble in the city square.                            They were arranged in rows of five and then ordered to march to the lake outside town with the local rabbi, Avraham Itzhak Bloch, senior teachers at the local yeshiva and other dignitaries leading the way. The rest of the community followed, some reciting psalms while others wept bitterly. Lithuanian guards accompanied them, keeping the lines in formation and pushing the disabled and frail forward with blows from cattle prods and rifle butts. They were led down to the lake and locked in huts where under appalling conditions, they were subjected to continuous torture and abuse.

“Finally on the morning of July 15, 1941, Lithuanian guards burst into the cabin in which Rabbi Bloch and other leaders were being held, shouting “all you rabbis and Jewish parasites outside on the double.” The prisoners knew what lay in store for them but death was a welcome panacea from the torture and torment of the last few days. They all came out in orderly formation and were led two by two to nearby pits. They were ordered to strip and stand on planks that had been laid across each of the pits. Lithuanian guards then shot them dead. Rabbi Bloch was subjected to several hours more torture before he was finally murdered.”

 Tytuvenai

“Local Lithuanian groups sprung into action as soon as the German invasion began. They seized every book they could find, including the entire library of the local rabbi, Avraham Ezriel Medlin, and burned them. Rabbi Medlin himself, was tortured to death but witnesses relate that before he died he cursed his killers and said that God would avenge the blood of the Jews. He promised them that they would never succeed in annihilating the entire Jewish community and those who survived would find a way to avenge those who died.

“The rabbi’s wife managed to escape together with her three children to the ghetto at Shavli. The children surprised local residents with their talents. Her eldest son, aged eight, already knew most of the Talmud and could also solve complex mathematical problems. But they were eventually caught by a local death squad and murdered in the‘children’s action,’ later that year

“As soon as the Germans arrived, local Lithuanians arrested Rabbi Zusmanovitch and after savagely torturing him, they took him and other diginitaries to a suburb called Pivonia where they all locked in a brick oven and burned alive.”

 Utena

“The abuse of the Jews reached its peak on the third day of the German invasion. As evening fell, the Lithuanians went on the rampage in the local synagogue and threw all the Torah scrolls and religious books out into the street. The rabbi of the town, Zvi Yaakov Bleinman was marched into the city square and forced to dance and sing while holding a Torah scroll. Afterwards they set fire to all the books and as the flames were burning, they cut off Rabbi Bleinman’s beard and shot and severely wounded him. He was murdered shortly after together with the rest of the Jewish community of Utena.”

The death of the young rabbi, Leib Kameraz, son of the elderly rabbi, Aharon Naftali Kameraz, was particularly horrifying. The murderer Caponis raped his daughter in front of him and then threw Rabbi Kameraz in jail where he was held without food or water for several days. Caponis and his thugs then took him into the nearby forest and ordered him to dig his own grave. Rabbi Kameraz leapt on Caponis and tried to strangle him but was shot from behind by one of the others. Caponis was critically ill in hospital for several days afterwards. Rabbi Kameraz’s father, Rabbi Aharon Naftali, who was completely paralyzed, was thrown on to the back of a wagon andthen murdered together with the rest of the community

 Zagare

“The morning after the Germans entered town, local Lithuanians ordered the communal rabbi, Israel Reif and several other Jews to march to the market square in the town center. There, under guard by armed Lithuanians, they were given tools and marched to the Graf Grishkin estate where they were put to work cleaning out cowsheds and stables. As evening fell, the group were ordered to return to the town square where a ‘show’ was organized for the enthusiastic audience that had gathered. Each Jewish man was forced to place his tools on the ground and then kneel down in front of them. The Lithuanian guards then walked up and down the rows of prostrate Jews and anyone whose tools were not placed in a straight line was given a severe beating. Afterwards, they took Rabbi Reif who was tall and paired him with someone who was short. They tethered the two men to a wagon and made them drag it around the town center to the cheers and applause of Lithuanian bystanders.

“The murderers had a particularly sadistic custom which they practiced each morning. Each group of Jews selected for forced labor was required to pass in front of Rabbi Reif and spit in his face before going out to work. Many Jews could not bring themselves to degrade the rabbi in such a manner and paid for their bravery with their lives. So Rabbi Reif commanded his community to spit in his face if ordered to do so, before being sent to work.” 

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