The Šiauliai Ghetto

LTŠiame leidinyje apžvelgiama Šiaulių žydų bendruomenės ir geto istorija nacių okupacijos laikotarpiu, išskirti svarbiausi geto istorijos etapai ir būdingi bruožai, pateikta aukų statistika, apibūdinta geto vidaus administracijos struktūra ir jos funkcionavimas.

ENThe Jews of Šiauliai took part in all kinds of activities during the independence of Lithuania: they had their labor unions, banks, sections of political parties, synagogues, religious schools, gymnasiums, libraries, kindergartens, a hospital, and other institutions. There were some 6,500-8,000 Jews living in Šiauliai on the eve of WWII. In 1939, after the Nazi Germany occupied the Lithuania’s Klaipėda region and Poland, many Jews, who fled from the Klaipėda region and Poland, found refuge in Šiauliai. Jewish refugees hoped to find a job to get some means for living in the big Jewish community of Šiauliai. However, only until the Nazi invasion of 1941, refugees lived in some peace there. There were 98 Poland-born Jews (without including Jews from the Lithuania’s Vilnius region) and 68 Klaipėda region-born Jews in the Šiauliai Ghetto, according to the data by the general region of Lithuania (Generalbezirk Litauen) of May 26-27, 1942.After the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, living standards dropped. All the big Jewish-owned industrial and trade enterprises were nationalized by the Communist government. All the non-Communist political parties and organizations were banned as well as all the schools and gymnasiums, where lessons were taught in Hebrew. Jewish pupils were forced attending school on Saturdays. The Red Army officers’ families moved into the houses of many Jews. The NKVD carried out arrests of Jewish political activists and rich Jews. During the mass deportation of June 14, 1941, the Soviets deported 202 Jews of Šiauliai to Siberia and other remote areas of the USSR. [p. 11-12].