1 Killing site(s)
Petras V., born in 1929: "At the start of the German occupation, Obeliai’s Jews were able to continue living in their homes. Some time later, they were all herded into a ghetto set up in the Antanašė Manor. On the day the Jews had to move into the ghetto, I saw my Jewish neighbors being chased from their homes by armed white armbanders. The ghetto consisted of the main building and the adjacent barn, all surrounded by a 2.5-meter-high barbed-wire fence. There were two entrances with large doors made of wooden posts. Every day, a group of 20 to 30 Jewish men was taken from the ghetto to the railway station to perform forced labor, such as repairing the tracks. During the work, the inmates were supervised by an armed guard. I remember that the Jewish workers wore yellow Star of David symbols on their backs and chests." (Testimony N°YIU251LT, interviewed in Obeliai, on April 22, 2016)
"I plead guilty of being present at the execution of Jewish women and children in Antanašė […] I was there with Vladas K. and G. We didn‘t take part in the shooting, but guarded the execution site. Staying there, we saw and heard everything. We saw women and children being undressed and shot. While I was guarding the execution site with a rifle, about 1,500 women and children of different age were shot. The shooting of women and children in Antanašė was carried out by Lithuanian squad of volunteers who arrived from Rokiškis. Three German officers were giving the commands. There were also several civilians, but I don‘t know their names." [Deposition of Ivan K., born in 1895, a Russian construction worker, taken on April 26, 1946; Lithuanian Special Archives, KGB criminal files; Fund K–1, Inventory No. 58, File No. 22430/3, p. 11]
Obeliai, a small town near the Latvian border, is situated approximately 100 km (62 mi) northeast of Panevėžys and around 14 km (9 mi) east of Rokiškis, the district center. The first Jews began to settle there in the 16th century, as evidenced by the tombstones in the Jewish cemetery. The town began to develop after the establishment of the railroad track in 1873. According to the 1897 census conducted by the Russian Empire, there were 652 Jews living in Obeliai, making up almost 67% of the total population. Local Jews were primarily engaged in commerce, including the trade of fruits, wood, and flax, the best of which was exported to Prussia, as well as the service sector and artisanal work. Local artisans offered their services as tailors, watchmakers, glaziers, butchers, and others. Obeliai was home to a synagogue and a prayer house; however, hostilities between followers of the Hasidic and Mitnagdim movements often led to conflicts within the Jewish community.
In 1915, the majority of Obeliai’s Jews were forced into exile in Russia since the town was located in the warfront zone. During the interwar period, when Obeliai became part of an independent Lithuania, a number of these Jewish refugees were able to return home despite the mistrust of Lithuanian authorities, who feared communist influence. According to the 1923 census, the town was home to 680 Jewish residents, comprising 51% of the total population. Obeliai consequently housed multiple Jewish stores and small enterprises, a Jewish library, and a Hebrew school. During this period, Jews became more active in the social and cultural life of the town. At the same time, a number of Jewish residents, facing negative attitudes from Lithuanian authorities, emigrated abroad.
When Lithuania was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, the economic situation deteriorated as the nationalization of Jewish shops and businesses led to a shortage of goods and rising prices. Community institutions, including Zionist movements, were disbanded. When Nazi Germany invaded Lithuania on June 22, 1941, many Jews tried to evacuate to the east, but most were forced to return to Obeliai alongside other Jewish refugees since the border with Latvia was closed. Dozens of them were killed on their way home.
Obeliai was occupied by German troops on June 26, 1941. Lithuanian activists, known as "White Armbanders", established a new administration and a police force. The new authorities began persecuting anyone considered loyal to the Soviet regime, including a number of Jewish men who, after being arrested, never returned home. Anti-Jewish policies were implemented in the first days of the German occupation, during which Jewish valuables were looted, and Jewish men and women were subjected to forced labor on surrounding farms. In some cases, Jewish workers managed to leave the farms for other locations or avoid work by paying a bribe, a practice that was, however, severely punished by the local authorities.
In the summer of 1941, Jews from the Obeliai and Rokiškis area, mainly women, children, and the elderly, were forced to relocate to the ghetto in Antanašė Manor. The younger Jewish men had by then been transferred to Rokiškis. The Antanašė ghetto consisted of the main building and the adjacent barn, all surrounded by a 2.5-meter-high barbed wire fence and guarded by "White Armbanders". Wearing distinctive Star of David symbols became compulsory for the ghetto inmates. Every day, small groups of Jews were subjected to forced labor at the railway station and on surrounding farms.
The Antanašė ghetto was liquidated on August 25, 1941. Despite a temporary interruption caused by an attack by Jewish partisans, 1,160 Jews were murdered on the hill at the edge of Degsnė forest. The Aktion was conducted by units of Rollkommando Hamann, subordinated to Einsatzkommando 3, assisted by Lithuanian "White Armbanders". The victims were taken from the ghetto in groups of 50 to 100 people at a time and marched by the guards to the execution site, located around 1.5 km from the ghetto. Once at the site, they were ordered to remove their best clothes and descend, using a slope, into one of two pits dug in advance by Soviet POWs. They were then shot while lying on the ground by 4 to 5 shooters in civilian clothes positioned between the two pits. After the execution, the victims’ gold teeth were removed by the shooters. As soon as one group of Jews was killed and the pit was slightly covered with soil, another group was brought from the ghetto to meet the same fate. A group of elderly Jews interned in the local hospital was the last to be murdered.
According to the Jäger Report, 112 men, 627 women, and 421 children were executed during the Aktion. Photographs were taken by the Germans on this occasion. Isolated shootings of Jews in hiding continued in the surrounding area during this period.
After the Aktion, the victims’ belongings were stored in Antanašė Manor and looted by the locals, particularly the "White Armbanders".
For more information about the killing of Jews from Rokiškis ghetto please follow the corresponding profile.
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