Ponary (Paneriai)

Lithuania

At this forest site around 6 miles from Vilnius, Lithuania, 70,000-100,000 persons, mostly Lithuania and Polish Jews, were murdered from the summer of 1941 to the summer of 1944. Pits originally built for large fuel tanks became “death pits” where prisoners were shot and buried. Beginning in Sept 1943 mass graves were opened and corpses burned as part of Aktion 1005.