More Killing Fields

It seems as though Rokiskis (probably like Lithuania as a whole) prefers to forget about its Jewish heritage, and I do wonder whether it is due to a sense of guilt. There is very little commemoration of the Jewish population which was decimated. And I mean that there is nothing around, neither in their memory, nor to commemorate their contributions. When it does come to the massacre sites outside of town, without external help, the lack of signage means it would be practically impossible to locate them.

The Bajorai site from the mosquito infested parking spot.

The Bajorai killing site is located around 5km North-East of Rokiskis on Bajorai Gatve - this is the road on which the Count's residence is located. Just past the town of Bajorai there is a fork in the road. Literally, at the place of the fork, there is an offroad track to the right. At the end of this track (around 250m) is the killing site.

The monument at the site is simple. There is a black marble pillar with a magen-david and the words "Holocaust Mass Graves". Unfortunately, it appears as though some vandals have partially destroyed the pillar. Behind this, is a fenced in area which is overgrown with plans, and has a concrete commemoration monument with a plaque on it which reads in languages I don't understand, "In this place Hitlerists and their local helpers on August 15 and 16, 1941 cruelly killed 3207 Jews - children, women, men.  Let the memory of them be blessed." (credit). Not only were they murdered at this site, again, in the forest, where the trees would muffle the screams and the gunshots, but they lay buried there in the blood soaked earth.

There is a second site further north. At the fork in the road just North of Bajorai (mentioned above), we simply take the left option and drive another 6km or so. Metres before the turn-off to Milunai on the left, there is a turn off to a parking lot by the lake on the right. This is the place my map led me to.

What I suspect is the memorial at Milunai - on the Western side of the road, across from the turn-off to the parking lot by the lake.

On the left hand side of the road is the place of execution of 493 prisoners (385 Jews, 107 Russian Orthodox activists). They had been arrested and kept in the prison and in the cellars by the Gestapo in the buildings that formerly belonged to the Count (which at the time, housed the KGB). On the right hand side, is their mass grave. Unfortunately, I had a lot of trouble finding these sites. All I could find was a small memorial on the left hand side of the road which not only didn't have Hebrew or English text on it, but the text that was there was carved into the stone and had eroded so badly over the years that apart from the odd character, I could not make anything out. So, I cannot even be 100% sure this was the correct site.

The beautiful scenery at Milunai, in contrast to its history

These two sites are obviously very rarely visited, yet like Paneriai, are set amongst beautiful forest and water scenery. And I can only imagine that with the passing of a short amount of time, they will get visited less and less frequently, and their horror will simply end up in the books history.