The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945

Pre-1940: Marijampolė (Yiddish: Mariampol), town and apskritis center, Lithuania; 1940–1941: Marijampolė/Mariiampole, uezd center, Lithuanian SSR; 1941–1944: Mariampol, Kreis center, Gebiet Kauen-Land, Generalkommissariat Litauen; post-1991: Marijampolė, rajonas and apskritis center, Republic of Lithuania

Marijampolė is located about 54 kilometers (34 miles) southwest of Kaunas. According to the 1923 census, there were 2,545 Jews living in the town. By 1940, it is estimated that the [End Page 1088] Jewish population had increased to some 2,900, out of a total population of 15,700. This number included about 200 Jewish refugees from the Suwałki region.

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Flowers and wreaths cover the base of a memorial to Jewish victims in Marijampolė, 1946.

USHMM WS #14816, COURTESY OF SARA TROZKI KOPER

After a heavy bombardment, which caused several casualties, German armed forces captured the town on June 23, 1941. The rapid German advance forced most Jews who attempted to flee to turn back to Marijampolė. As recorded by the Kommandant des rückwärtigen Armeegebietes 584, Generalleutnant von Speman, on June 28, 1941: “In Marijampolė the inhabitants formed a local self-defense and police force. Its measures were directed primarily against the Jews.”¹ Many Jews were arrested in these first days, and they were subsequently shot in a forest about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) outside the town in the direction of Vilkaviškis. Before July 18, five mass shootings were recorded in German reports, shootings that claimed the lives of at least 174 Jewish men, 14 Jewish women, and 15 Communists.²

On July 11, the Kreischef (regional head) ordered the establishment of a Jewish Council (Judenrat), headed by Rabbi Abrom Geleris, which had six members. By mid-July the Kreischef in Marijampolė had instituted a series of anti-Jewish measures. Jews had to wear six-pointed Star of David patches on the front and back of their clothing, and they were required to perform various kinds of hard labor, which included clearing up bomb damage for the men and domestic service for the women. Jews were banned from most public places, including parks, restaurants, and libraries, and could only visit stores at certain restricted times.³

One day, the Jews were forced to burn the Torah scrolls from the synagogue, and later in July, the Jews were ordered to abandon their homes and gather in the synagogue and several adjacent houses. In this improvised ghetto, the Jews were subjected to robbery, forced labor, and the abuse of women at night. Some men, who were taken out for forced labor, were simply murdered on the outskirts of town.⁴ According to an Einsatzgruppen report, on July 25, 1941, another 90 Jewish men and 13 Jewish women were shot.⁵

In August, the Germans forced Jewish youths to dig trenches behind the barracks near the Šešupė River. At the end of August, the Jewish Council was informed by the Lithuanian administration that a large ghetto was going to be established in the cavalry barracks and that the surrounding area would be handed over to the Jews. The German authorities also informed the Jews that they would be permitted to organize the social and economic aspects of their lives as they saw fit in the ghetto, as long as the war continued. This information was designed to allay fears and spreading rumors that the Jews would soon be shot. At the end of August, all the Jews of Marijampolė packed up their belongings and moved into the barracks. On arrival, the men were separated from the women and children and were crammed into the horse stables. Over the next days the men were subjected to physical abuse. Additional Jews were also brought into the barracks ghetto from Kazlų Rūda, Liudvinavas, and other nearby places at this time.⁶

Then on August 30, 1941, the remaining Jews in Kalvarija, probably in excess of 1,000 people, were told they would be transferred to the Marijampolė ghetto. They loaded all their belongings onto wagons, but these were only taken to the local synagogue. Then the Kalvarija Jews were also taken to the cavalry barracks in Marijampolė, which became extremely overcrowded, holding some 5,000 people by now.⁷

The mass shooting of the Jews concentrated in the Marijampolė ghetto was conducted between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on September 1, 1941. The men were shot first, followed by the women, children, and the elderly and infirm. About 40 German officers and men organized the Aktion at the barracks, while the shooting at the trenches was conducted by 10 to 15 Germans, assisted by 20 to 30 Lithuanian policemen. According to the report of SS-Standartenführer Karl Jäger, in charge of Einsatzkommando 3, 1,763 Jewish men, 1,812 Jewish women, and 1,404 Jewish children were shot together with 109 mentally ill patients, a German citizen who was married to a Jew, and one Russian. The victims were stripped down to their [End Page 1089] underwear, forced to lie down in the trench in groups, and then shot with machine guns from the side. Many of them were only wounded and buried alive. Three men of Einsatzkommando 3 prevented an escape attempt by killing 38 people who tried to flee down a forest path. Some infants were clubbed or trampled to death. Many of the killers were drunk during the Aktion.⁸

After the war, almost no trace of the former Jewish population remained in the town.