in detail
Gargzdai, a small town on the former East Prussian-Lithuanian border, lies approximately 17 kilometres to the east of the port city of Klaipeda. On 23 March 1939 the Klaipeda Region (Memelland), which had been occupied by Lithuania in 1923, was returned to the province of East Prussia following a German ultimatum. Many Jews from Klaipeda fled to the nearby town of Gargzdai. In 1940 Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union in accordance with a secret German-Soviet agreement. Following the German attack on the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 Jews were systematically murdered in the former border area between the German Reich and Soviet Lithuania. The first mass shooting of Jews took place in Gargzdai. On 24 June 1941, two days after hostilities began, members of the Gestapo and policemen from the »Tilsit« Task Force shot 200 men in Gargzdai, including many Jews from Klaipeda, including one woman. One memorial stone is engraved with the words: »In this place in July 1941 (sic!) National Socialists shot hundreds of Jews from Gargzdai and the surrounding area« commemorating this massacre. During two days in mid September 1941 the German occupiers took the remaining Jewish women and children from Gargzdai to a forest near Vezaiciai not far from Gargzdai. There they were brutally murdered by Lithuanian nationalists. Today memorial stones mark both places of execution.
The first mass shooting of Jews following the attack on the Soviet Union took place in Gargzdai on 24 June 1941. There is a large number of memorials and commemorative stones today in the Lithuanian border area, which was overrun by the »Tilsit« Task Force in 1941. Three of the memorial stones can be found in Gargzdai and Vezaiciai, east of Klaipeda (Memel).
23 March 1939
Following a German ultimatum the Memel (Klaipeda) Region which had been occupied by Lithuania in 1923 reverted to the province of East Prussia; Many of the Jews from Klaipeda fled to Gargzdai.
1940
Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union in accordance with a secret German-Soviet agreement.
22 June 1941
Germany attacked the Soviet Union.
24 June 1941
The first mass shooting of approximately 200 Jews in Gargzdai; the prelude to mass shootings throughout the border area.
mid September 1941
Execution of the remaining Jewish women and children from Gargzdai in a forest near Vėžaičiai not far from Gargzdai by Lithuanian nationalists.
Today memorial stones mark both places of execution.
Gargzdai, Historical photograph taken in July 1940.
Gargždai, 2004, View today of the town, which was completely destroyed in the Second World War, SDJE.
Gargždai, 2004, Memorial stone for the victims of the mass shooting on 24 June 1941, SDJE.
Vėžaičiai, 2004, Memorial stone in the Vėžaičiai Forest, SDJE.
