At the end of June 1941, on orders from the German occupiers, the Lithuanian police arrested 300 Jewish men and 25 non-Jewish Communist Party members, some of whom were released. On July 2 the prisoners were taken to the vicinity of the village of Vižbutai, where there was an anti-tank trench. The Jewish men were ordered to deepen the ditch and, after everything they had was taken from them, they were forced to their knees at the edge of the ditch. Then they were shot by members of the Gestapo and their Lithuanian accomplices.

More information: Yad Vashem

Between July 3 and July 10, 1941 122 Jewish men who lived in Tauragē were killed near the Tauragē-Šilalė Road. The mass murder was carried out by Einsatzkommando Tilsit headed by Hans Joachim Boehme. On September 13, 1941 the Jews in the Tauragē ghetto were told that they were to be moved to a location with better conditions. On September 16 they were taken from the ghetto and loaded onto trucks that took them to a forest near the village of Antšunijia, six kilometers northwest of Tauragē and 100-150 meters from the Tauragē-Šilalė Road. There members of the Lithuanian auxiliary police brutally murdered these old people, women, and children. According to Soviet sources, approximately 3,000 victims were buried in mass graves.

More information: Yad Vashem