Vilkaviškis was occupied by the Germans on June 22, 1941. During the period between the retreat of the Soviets and the entry of the Germans Lithuanian nationalist groups initiated attacks against the Jews and sent Jewish men to forced labor, including the clearing away of rubble from bombed buildings. When the Germans entered the town, they ordered the Jews to wear a yellow badge and banned them from walking on the sidewalks. After a few weeks a majority of the Jews of Vilkaviškis were sent to dig pits in the training area of the military barracks. On the next day, the 28th of July, approximately 800 men, mostly Jews but also 65 non-Jews who were suspected of being Communists, were ordered to undress. They were then shot and buried in one of the pits they had dug. On September 24, 1941 all the women and children who lived in the town were murdered on the barracks’ exercise grounds and buried in another pit. Some of them tried to flee but only a few succeeded in escaping. Soviet sources report that 3,056 people were killed in Vilkaviškis between June and September 1941.

More information: Yad Vashem