Viduklė

Jews began to settle in Viduklė in the mid-17th century. In 1923 the village had 221 Jews, who comprised 32 percent of the total population.

Local Jews worked in trade, crafts, and small industry. Many Jews in the town identified with the Zionist movement and established a Hebrew-language school affiliated with the Tarbut network. Vidulkė also had Jewish health and welfare organizations.

In 1940 (when there were about 160 Jews in Viduklė), following the annexation of Lithuania to the USSR, shops and factories, both of which were largely owned by Jews, were nationalized. Jewish political activity and educational and cultural activities in Hebrew were banned.

German forces entered Viduklė on June 24, 1941, and set up headquarters in the railway station there. At about this time Lithuanian nationalists gained control of local institutions and began to attack Jews and to make them perform forced labor.

Starting on July 24, 1941, the Germans and their Lithuanian accomplices began to murder the local Jews. This continued, off and on, until August 22, 1941, when all the remaining Jewish women and children were murdered.

Viduklė was liberated by the Red Army in August 1944.