Zapyškis

Jews apparently settled in Zapyškis at the beginning of the 19th century. They originally earned their living by selling wood from timber floated down the Nieman River. In 1923 293 Jews lived in the village, comprising half of the total population. In 1940, when Lithuania was annexed to the Soviet Union, businesses, which were mostly owned by Jews, were nationalized. The local Hebrew-language school was replaced by a Soviet-oriented Yiddish one and all Zionist activity was banned. When the village was occupied by the Germans at the end of June 1941, Lithuanian nationalists began to persecute the local Jews. On August 7, 1941 the Jews of Zapyškis were forced into a ghetto. In the middle of the same month the mass killing of the local Jews began. When it concluded on September 4, 1941, approximately 250 Jews had been murdered. The Red Army liberated Zapyškis in the summer of 1944.