Murder Story of Jurbarkas Jews at the Jurbarkas Jewish Cemetery

… A few people knew that they brought men to fix the Aleksot [Aleksotas] Bridge. The following day, witnesses said they saw – heard – how they had shot every last one. Until then, these had been only rumors, guesswork. But later, the Lithuanian murderers themselves began to boast about the event, and provide details of how they brought 550 men to the cemetery, forced them to dig a large pit and then ordered them to kill each other with the shovels they were holding. A father was made to kill his son, a brother his own brother. Among this group of men were the best and finest of the town ....

Mrs. Babuda-Polarevicz of 17 Kiryat Meir, Tel Aviv, received a letter from the town of her birth, Jurburg [Jurbarkas], sent by the local postal service. The postman writes: “Madam! I have found in our post office letters that you wrote to your parents. I feel it is my duty to return them to you. The Germans wiped out Jurburg. We have now been liberated by the Red Army. But not everyone survived. Many of the town’s citizens became victims of the German occupiers. Jurburg’s darkest hour was July 3, 1941. That day, the Germans and their collaborators carried out a massacre in the local Jewish cemetery. They murdered Jews and Lithuanians as one. They killed 350 people, among them 35 Lithuanians, and the rest – Jews. I personally witnessed this spectacle, for I was also among those condemned to die. But I was saved, at great risk, from the claws of death. Who else fled with me – I do not know. Your father, Motel, was also counted among the victims of this tragedy.”