Murder story of Jurbarkas Jews in the Kalnenai Forest

When they arrived at the camp, the women were nowhere to be found. In the courtyards and houses they found abandoned clothes, shoes, furs and gold earrings torn out together with pieces of ear flesh. They also found all kinds of valuables hidden in different corners. It was clear that during the night the women had been taken to their deaths. Lithuanians related that the women were taken to the Kalnenai forest, some five kilometers away in the direction of Smalininkai, to be shot. They marched some seven kilometers into the forest, where a large pit had been prepared for the extermination of the women and children. A command was given for the mothers to throw their small children into the pit, and then to undress completely. The Lithuanian gangs that had volunteered to help did not stop hitting them with sticks, whipping them and butting them with their rifles ...

Mika Liubin hid in Lithuanian homes for a year-and-a-half until she was caught, probably due to informants, and imprisoned in the Jurbarkas prison. At the end of the war, Ghenia, to whom Mika wrote this letter, found Chaika, Mika’s sister, and gave her the letter: March 14, 1943 Dear Ghenia!! I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your visit to the prison ... Did you ever think, Ghenia, that I would ever return to the place where I was born and raised, where the lovely years of my childhood passed by, where I lived happily – that I would return as a dangerous prisoner?! ... Many thanks to you, Ghenia, for the clothing. I don’t need them in prison. From the faces of the awful, almost bestial people surrounding me, I know that my days are numbered. Tell your mother thanks for the food ... Ghenia, if after the dreadful war ends you find my sister Chaika, who may have survived, tell her about the tragedy of our family and about me. My father and brothers are buried in a common grave, my mother and Estherka in a forest, about six to seven kilometers from Jurbarkas. Perhaps there is some indication of the grave?! ... I am going to die without fear ... Send regards to your family, stay well and happy. I kiss you, Mika