In late June 1941, a group of people (estimates of their number vary from 50 to 80, and one source goes as high as 200), most of them Jews, were shot by local policemen on the southern shore of Lake Maruga, less than a kilometer northwest of the center of Widze. This massacre appears to have been an initiative by the newly established local police force, whose members were recruited from among the Polish, Belorussian, and Lithuanian population of the area. However, the Germans approved of this initiative, and may even have encouraged the perpetrators. In early July, the Germans, with the aid of the police, drove a large group of Jewish residents of Widze (possibly numbering as many as 200 people – men, women, and children) to Lake Maruga. The Jews were brutally beaten and tortured both on their way to the lake and on its shore. Then, having subjected their victims to considerable abuse, the perpetrators forced them to undress and drove them into the water. Many people drowned in the lake, while some were beaten and tortured to death.

More information: Yad Vashem