Pilviškiai

Pilviškiai
Town
View of Pilviškiai
View of Pilviškiai
Coat of arms of Pilviškiai
Pilviškiai is located in Lithuania
Pilviškiai
Pilviškiai
Location in Lithuania
Coordinates: 54°43′20″N 23°13′20″E / 54.72222°N 23.22222°E / 54.72222; 23.22222
Country Lithuania
County Marijampolė County
MunicipalityVilkaviškis district municipality
Population
 (2011)
 • Total
2,305
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)

Pilviškiai (Polish: Pilwiszki, Yiddish: פילווישאָק Pilveshok) is a town in Vilkaviškis district municipality and in Marijampolė County

History

In the Jewish world, it was notable for being the first rabbinic post held by Rabbi Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg, who married and soon after divorced the daughter of the town's previous rabbi.

On 28–29 August 1941, the Jewish men of Pilviškiai district were shot in fields near Baltrušiai. The mass murder was perpetrated by an Einsatzgruppe of Germans and Pilviškiai self-defence police unit. The victims were about 300 to 350 Jewish men and several dozen Soviet activists (including a group of girls from the Communist Youth organization).[1]

On 15 September 1941, approximately 700–800 women, children and elderly, were taken from Pilviškiai to the same execution site and murdered; some sources give a larger cumulative toll for Pilviškiai and nearby communities (up to ~1,800).[2]

References

  1. ↑ "Holocaust Atlas of Lithuania".
  2. ↑ "Buchaveckas, S. (2011). The Holocaust in Vilkaviškis County: the Fate of Pilviškiai Jewish Community in 1941. Genocidas Ir Rezistencija, 2(30), 7–39".