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#lithuania #kaunas #catholiscism #church #jesus christ #baltic states #europe

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#lithuania #kaunas #church #cathedral #catholiscism #catholic #baltic states #europe

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#lithuania #kaunas #synagogue #jewish history #baltic states #judaism #europe

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#lithuania #vilnius #sundown #baltic states #europe

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#lithuania #vilnius #church #catholiscism #catholic #europe #baltic states

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#lithuania #vilnius #cat #cats of tumblr #europe

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#lithuania #vilnius #cathedral #catholiscism #church #europe

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The Rudnicki Forest, a vast swampy woodland about twelve miles from the centre of Vilnius, became a refuge for partisan fighters during the Second World War. The first groups, consisting mainly of Russian soldiers and Communist resistance members, arrived in 1942 and established their base around a cluster of lodges that had once served as a hunting camp.

In the days leading up to the liquidation of the Vilna Ghetto, small groups of Jewish partisans escaped through side gates or made their way through the sewers to reach the forest. Among them were Abba Kovner and his resistance group, known as The Avengers. Over time, the number of Jewish partisans in the forest grew to around 300.

They lived in underground bunkers dug into the earth, each sheltering up to one hundred fighters who slept side by side on wooden platforms. The camp included a communal washroom, a makeshift hospital, and a commissary. Food shortages, primitive living conditions, and harsh weather took a heavy toll. The partisans suffered from gum disease, influenza, scurvy, lice infestations, scabies, rickets, pneumonia, and chronic hunger.

From their forest base, they set out almost daily on dangerous sabotage missions or ventured into the surrounding countryside to obtain weapons and food from local farmers.

In July 1944, Soviet forces recaptured Vilna, and Abba Kovner led his partisan unit back to the city. Today, the remains of these bunkers are slowly sinking back into the earth, gradually being reclaimed by the forest.

#lithuania #baltic states #jewish history #european history #shoah

DK

The German Army captured Vilna (now Vilnius), Lithuania, on June 24, 1941. In the weeks that followed, German Einsatzgruppen units, assisted by Lithuanian collaborators, carried out mass executions of Jewish residents in the Ponary (Paneriai) Forest, located southwest of the city. By the end of 1941, approximately 40,000 Jews had been murdered there. By July 1944, the total number of victims at the site may have reached 75,000, the overwhelming majority of whom were Jewish.

#lithuania #baltic states #jewish history #european history #shoah

DK

The Holocaust remains a tragic chapter in Lithuania’s past. More than 200,000 Lithuanian Jews were murdered, the highest proportion of any country in Europe. The tragedy was caused not only by Nazi persecution but also by local collaboration and a failure to resist.

#lithuania #baltic states #jewish history #european history #shoah #kaunas