Memorial of the Holocaust Victims in Kaušėnai

WORTH VISITING:

The Memorial of the Holocaust victims in Kaušėnai is dedicated to commemorate Plungė and nearby Jewish communities that were destroyed durring the World War 2. This place was selected because Kaušėnai village was the exact place where these bloody events took place, and this memorial symbolically is built from 1800 bricks, so each brick would remind us of each victim. Bricks that were used for building this memorial was taken from ruins of Plungė synagogue.

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BRIEF HISTORY:

From the 18th century, the Jewish community lived in Plungė and until World War 2, the Jews constituted around 40 percent of the town’s total population. However, when Nazi forces marched into the town, members of the Jewish community were arrested and locked up in the main town’s synagogue. After some time, all of them were sent into despair – around 1800 people were killed in nearby Kaušėnai village. 

CURRENT SITUATION:

In 2011, commemorating the 70th anniversary of the mass murders of Kaušėnai, a memorial wall was built using 2018 bricks taken from the demolished Synagogue of Plunge. Each brick has a written name of a Jew on its surface, who was killed in this place.

Until then, the memory of the Plunge Jewish community was cherished by Jakovas Bunka (1923-2014), a Jewish folk artist, sculptor, who called himself the last Jew of Plungė. In 1986 to commemorate the Plunge Jewish community he built wooden monuments, creating Kaušėnai memorial.

LOOKING AROUND:

Litvak Memorial Garden

Plungė Historical Jewish Quarter

The former Jewish Gymnasium and Library named in honor of Jehuda Leib Peretz (S. Neries str. 6),55.913700,21.848991 

The former house of the Efrosai family and a memorial plaque to dr. B. Efrosas (Vytauto str. 14), 55.913471, 21.841670

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