2 Execution site(s)
Genovaitė P., born in 1923: "Sometime after the mass shooting of Jews in the Žadeikiai forest, I saw a group of Jews gathered in the courtyard of Pasvalys prison. The place was surrounded by a fence. I believe the detainees stayed there for about a night. When I saw them, they were being forced into a truck that was taking them to the execution site. There was a lot of shouting. A Jewish woman with a baby approached me, asking for directions to another village. I showed her the way. She managed to escape from the prison yard and survived the war with her child." (Testimony N°YIU169LT, interviewed in Pasvalys, on July 2, 2015)
"[…] We started the shooting in the evening. Together with local nationalists and policemen we took Jewish men, women and children outside the town. I don’t remember that place clearly, but it was 3 km away from the town, beside the forest; I don’t remember its name. Before that the victims were kept in the synagogue and were brought to the shooting place from there.
[…] The shooting was carried out in a usual way. Local nationalists and policemen undressed the Jews and placed them beside the pit in groups of 20 to 30 people with their backs turned to us, the shooters. We shot after the command given by officers. Several local nationalists joined us during the shooting, but I didn’t know them. The shooting lasted for about an hour and we shot about 200 Jews then.
The whole group of the 3rd company carried out the shooting […].
As far as I remember, we didn‘t shoot anywhere else during that trip to Pasvalys which lasted three days." [Deposition of Petras Z., born in 1917, a Lithuanian farmer tried for participation in mass shootings, taken on September 14, 1961; Lithuanian Special Archives, KGB criminal files; Fund K–1, Inventory No. 58, File No. 47588/3, Vol. 1, p. 27-29]
Pasvalys, a district center in northern Lithuania, is situated approximately 40 km (25 mi) north of Panevėžys. The town was once home to one of the oldest Karaite Jewish communities in Lithuania, first mentioned in historical sources in 1643. By the mid-18th century, the Karaite Jews were replaced by Rabbinic Jews. In 1765, when Pasvalys was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the town had 430 Jewish residents. Over time, Pasvalys became an important commercial center, particularly due to its agricultural lands and its location near the road leading to Riga. The Jewish community continued to grow, and according to the 1897 census conducted by the Russian Empire, there were 1,590 Jews in Pasvalys, making up 52% of the total population. However, from the late 19th century onwards, many began to emigrate abroad, notably to South Africa and the United States.
In 1915, during the First World War, local Jews were forced into exile in Russia. During the interwar period, when Pasvalys became part of an independent Lithuania, some of these Jewish refugees returned home. By 1923, the town had 748 Jewish residents, comprising 34% of the total population. The local Jews were primarily engaged in commerce, including the trade of agricultural products, as well as in the service sector and artisanal work. Most of the town’s businesses were owned by Jews, including two flour mills, a chocolate and candy factory, a leather factory, and others. Jewish artisans offered services as tailors, shoemakers, butchers, photographers, and more. During this period, local Jews became more active in the social and cultural life of the town. Pasvalys housed a synagogue, a Jewish cemetery, a Hebrew school, and a Jewish popular bank.
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. On the eve of the German invasion, there were 700 Jewish residents in Pasvalys.
Pasvalys was occupied by German troops on June 26, 1941. Lithuanian activists, known as "White Armbanders", quickly established a new administration. Shortly thereafter, the new authorities began persecuting anyone suspected of loyalty to the Soviet regime, including a number of Jews. These Jews were arrested and transferred to Šiauliai, where they were subsequently murdered.
From mid-July 1941, all the Jews in Pasvalys were forced to relocate to a designated area, which included parts of Biržai Street and Polivan Street. This area was eventually enclosed by a barbed wire fence. Non-Jewish residents who had lived on these streets were required to move to houses outside the ghetto’s territory. Starting in the latter part of July 1941, the Pasvalys ghetto was expanded as Jewish detainees from nearby villages such as Joniškėlis, Pumpėnai, Vaškiai, Krinčinas, Daujėnai, Saločiai, and Vabalninkas were transferred there. This influx included at least 40 Jewish converts to Catholicism. Living conditions in the overcrowded ghetto were particularly harsh, with around 1,500 people crammed into the area, subjected to systematic abuse and robbery by Lithuanian guards.
The Pasvalys ghetto was liquidated around August 26, 1941. The Aktion was carried out by the 3rd Company, Lithuanian Auxiliary Battalion 1 (later Schutzmannschafts-Bataillon 13), assisted by Lithuanian "White Armbanders" and policemen. Jewish inmates were rounded up in the synagogue, where men were separated from women and children before being escorted by "White Armbanders" to the execution site in the nearby Žadeikiai forest. Some Jews were killed on the way to the execution site. Upon arrival, the victims were lined up and shot in groups into two separate pits, which had been previously dug by requisitioned locals, about 300 meters apart. According to the Jäger Report, 402 men, 738 women, and 209 children—a total of 1,349 Jews—were executed in the Žadeikiai forest on August 26, 1941.
Local witnesses reported that Jews in hiding were progressively caught and rounded up in the Pasvalys prison, from where they were taken by truck to the Žadeikiai forest to be executed in one of the two pits.
After the Aktion, the victims’ belongings were looted by locals, notably by the "White Armbanders".
A number of Pasvalys Jews managed to survive the war, particularly due to the help of local residents.
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