Leipalingis

The first Jews settled in Leipalingis in the first half of the 19th century. In 1847, a Jewish agricultural colony was founded at the Leipalingis estate. In 1897, this colony was home to twenty-five Jewish families, or 134 people. The events of World War I, including the expulsion of Jews by the Russian military authorities in 1915, dealt a blow to Jewish agriculture in the area. After 1918, despite the efforts of Jewish relief organizations, only eighteen families remained in the colony. Nevertheless, in the 1920s, under Lithuanian rule, the Jewish community of Leipalingis experienced some growth. However, only a minority of its Jews continued to work on the land; toward the end of the 1930s, most of them were shopkeepers and artisans.

In 1939, World War II began, and in 1940 Lithuania was annexed by the Soviet Union. In June 1941, the Soviet-German War broke out, and Leipalingis was occupied by the German army. On September 11 that year, 155 Jews were killed in the area of the Catholic cemetery southwest of the town, near the Seira River. On September 21, 1941, the Jews who had survived the earlier massacre were resettled to Ejszyszki. There, they were killed on September 24, together with Jews from nearby Olkieniki, Deksznie, and Salo.

Leipalingis was liberated by the Red Army in July 1944.