Panevėžys

Jews began settling in Panevėžys at the beginning of the eighteenth century. By 1923, Panevėžys, the fourth largest town in Lithuania, had a Jewish population of 6,845, accounting for 36 percent of the total population. Panevėžys was renowned for its many Jewish communal institutions, notably the Great Yeshiva founded by Rabbi Josef Kahaneman, the town’s chief rabbi. The Great Yeshiva was set up on the grounds of the Kibbutz Haponevezhi Yeshiva, which had been founded in 1909 by Rabbi Yitzhak Yaakov Rabinovich (Rabbi Izale Ponevezer). Following the Soviet annexation of Lithuania in 1940, all shops and factories in Panevėžys, many of them Jewish owned, were nationalized. Most Jewish educational and cultural institutions were closed. The German army occupied Panevėžys on June 26, 1941. Local nationalists immediately launched an assault on the local Jewish population, and dozens were murdered. On July 7, 1941, the Jews of Panevėžys were forced into a ghetto along with Jews from Naujamiestis, Krekenava, Raguva and Ramygala. The ghetto area was confined to several of the town’s streets. The entire population of the ghetto was murdered in August 1941. The Red Army liberated Panevėžys in the summer of 1944. In early July 1941, the Jews of Panevezys were ordered to gather in a ghetto. On July 11, 1941, the transfer of the Jews to the ghetto was completed. Jews from nearby towns were likewise concentrated in the ghetto’s grounds, which occupied a number of streets. The ghetto was encircled by barbed wire, with Lithuanian guards posted to watch over it. While the Jews of the city were transferred to the ghetto, seventy of the community’s most distinguished members were arrested as hostages and taken to Pajuoste, where they were executed. The ghetto was headed by Avraham Rikels and Moshe Levit. The inhabitants of the ghetto soon became the targets of robbery, abuse and murder perpetrated by the Lithuanians.In early August 1941, a Gestapo officer in charge of the ghetto suggested to the representatives of the Jews that they move to the barracks near Pajuoste, with the promise of improved living conditions. The community representatives visited the barracks and determined that they were unfit for human habitation. Despite their objections, however, in mid-August a large group of Jews was taken from the ghetto ostensibly to the new place of residence. In reality, these Jews were taken in groups to previously prepared pits near Pajuoste, where they were murdered by armed Lithuanians.The remaining Jews were removed from the ghetto on August 24-26, 1941. They were taken in groups to the killing site and murdered. The last group of people driven out of the ghetto included the patients of the hospital and its entire staff. Dr. T. Gutman, one of the doctors, addressed the patients and staff to bolster their spirits; he called upon them to die with their heads held high. According to German and Soviet sources, over 8,000 people were murdered at this killing site.