ONUŠKIS
Pre-1939: Onuškis (Yiddish: Hanashishok), town, Alytus apskritis, Lithuania; 1940–1941: Onuškis/Onushkis, Trakai uezd, Lithuanian SSR; 1941–1944: Onuschkis, Kreis Traken, Gebiet Wilna-Land, Generalkommissariat Litauen; post-1991: Onuškis, Trakai rajonas, Vilnius apskritis, Republic of Lithuania
Onuškis is located 27 kilometers (17 miles) southwest of Troki (Trakai). According to the 1923 population census, 342 Jews were living in the small town, comprising 56 percent of the total population. At the time of the German invasion, there were about 300 Jews living in Onuškis.
German armed forces occupied Onuškis on June 23, 1941. Immediately, Lithuanian nationalists seized control of the town [End Page 1096] and formed an auxiliary police force mainly composed of former members of the riflemen’s organization (Šaulys). The Lithuanian policemen broke into Jewish homes and stole their property. Many Jews were arrested on the pretext that family members had collaborated with the Soviet regime or for the possession of firearms. Some of the prisoners were tortured and killed locally, and others were taken to Trakai to be jailed and subsequently killed. Other sources indicate that the local Catholic priest, Nikodemas Švogžlys-Milžinas, intervened with the German local military commandant (Ortskommandant), Major V. Finger, and obtained the release of at least two of the local Jews, who had been arrested as suspected Communists.1
During the first weeks of the occupation, a series of anti-Jewish measures were introduced. Jews were marked with the Star of David, and they were forbidden to associate in any way with Lithuanians. All the Jews were then assembled in the synagogue, from which they were taken to perform forced labor.
In the second half of July 1941, the head of Kreis Traken, Petras Mašinskas, issued orders for Jews to be registered, for Jewish Councils to be established, and for the Jews of the Kreis to be isolated in ghettos. The aim was to prevent Jews from moving about freely from village to village. The local authorities were instructed to make suggestions for places where the Jews could be isolated.2
On September 1, 1941, the head of Kreis Traken reported to the Gebietskommissar Wilna-Land concerning ghettoization that the Jews of Onuškis, which had been heavily damaged during the German invasion, had all been resettled in the nearby villages of Panošiškis and Žydkaimis. The Jews of the villages of Kęstutis, Pasamavės, and Žilinis would also soon be brought there too, when space could be found for them.3 This report indicates that a form of rural ghetto may have been established in Panošiškis and Žydkaimis for the Jews of Onuškis and its surrounding villages.
The account in Pinkas ha-kehilot, however, only partially corroborates this report. This version indicates that most of the Jews remained in Onuškis until the eve of Rosh Hashanah (September 21, 1941). At this time, the men were rounded up by the Lithuanian police while praying, and the other Jews were collected from their homes. During the roundup, much Jewish property was looted. The Jews of Onuškis were then taken along with other Jews from Aukštadvaris to the village of Panošiškis, where they were held for more than one week. According to this version, the village of Panošiškis served only as a temporary concentration point for Jews, just prior to their extermination.
On September 30, 1941, the Jews of Onuškis, together with the other Jews concentrated in Panošiškis and Žydkaimis, were all escorted to the Worniki (now Varnikų) Forest, about 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) outside Troki. The younger Jews were escorted on foot, suffering blows from their Lithuanian guards, and the children and elderly were transported on carts. On arrival, they were shot by a detachment of Einsatzkommando 3, commanded by Martin Weiss and the Ypatingas Burys (Lithuanian execution squad), which had arrived from Wilno.4 They were killed alongside other Jews brought there from Rudziszki, Landwarów, and Troki. The shooting started in the early morning and lasted until midday. The total number of victims was 1,446: 366 men, 483 women, and 597 children.5
Only a few Jews managed to evade the roundups and find refuge with local farmers. Most of these people were subsequently captured and killed by the Lithuanian police.
SOURCES
Information about the persecution and murder of the Jews of Onuškis can be found in the following publications: “Onuskis,” in Dov Levin and Yosef Rosin, eds., Pinkas ha-kehilot. Encyclopaedia of Jewish Communities: Lithuania (Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1996), pp. 147–149; Neringa Latvytė-Gustaitienė, Holokaustas Trakų apskrityje (Vilnius: Valstybinis Vilniaus Gaono žydų muziejus, 2002); and Christoph Dieckmann, “Deutsche Besatzungspolitik in Litauen 1941–1944” (Ph.D. diss., Universität Freiburg, 2002), section F.1.2.6.
Relevant documentation can be found in these archives: GARF; LCVA (e.g., R 617-1-24); LYA (e.g., K 1-58-P14950); RGVA (500-1-25); and YVA.
NOTES
1. Latvytė-Gustaitienė, Holokaustas Trakų apskrityje, p. 43.
2. LCVA, R 617-1-24, pp. 535–536, protocol of a meeting organized by Kreischef Traken, July 23, 1941, as cited by Dieckmann, “Deutsche Besatzungspolitik,” section F.1.2.6; Latvytė-Gustaitienė, Holokaustas Trakų apskrityje, pp. 100–101.
3. Report of the head of Kreis Traken to Gebietskommissar Wilna-Land, September 1, 1941, published in Latvytė-Gustaitienė, Holokaustas Trakų apskrityje, p. 109.
4. LYA, K 1-58-P14950, p. 52.
5. RGVA, 500-1-25, report of Einsatzkommando 3, December 1, 1941.
