Murder story of Vyžuonos Jews in Šventupys

On June 27, the new authorities, headed by Keblis [sic!] and Stasys Slapšis (a former schoolteacher turned judge), sentenced the Communists and the Jews to death. The latter category included: Yishie and his wife Libe Faynshteyn; Eltshik with his wife Feyge-Rokhl and her elderly father Binyomin, the oldest man in the town; Yishie Kopelansky, my father.… They were shot in the Žalioji Forest [another name for the Šventupys Forest], on a hill overlooking a small river. A machine gun had been placed there in advance, and two bandits in iron helmets, with swastikas on their rolled-up sleeves, were laughing as they carried out their grisly, diabolical work.… The aforementioned families were told that they would be taken to work in the Žalioji Forest… and that they would be back home by evening, having been given some food in the forest. They were loaded onto a horse-drawn cart and taken away… After traveling several kilometers away from the town, [the bandits] ordered the Jews to step down from the carts [and continue on foot]. Yishie Faynshteyn had his hands tied to a piece of wood; Yishie Kopelansky, who was lame, had his walking stick taken from him, even though he was unable to walk without it; old Binyomin could hardly walk. The women were left sitting in the carts. One bandit guarded them, while the other… drove the men back to the cart and spurred on the horses.… Yishie could walk only by holding on to the cart; Eltshik was hit on the head with a rifle butt; with his head bleeding, he barely managed to stumble behind the cart…. All through the march, the Lithuanians kept crying: 'Jews, faster! It will soon be over for you, who have sold yourselves to the Russians, to the Communists!' By that time, the women had no more tears to cry, nor any strength left to shriek. The people walking along were suddenly struck blind, deaf, and dumb…. In this way, they were marched a distance of seven kilometers. When they reached their destination, they were pushed down from the hill and shot there. For several days, their bodies lay unburied near the river. Local farmers covered the bodies with rocks and poured bleach on them.