• Cemetery and memorial to the murdered Jews of Molėtai
A memorial in the Lithuanian small-town of Molėtai commemorates the town's Jewish population which was almost totally annihilated in late August 1941. In the late summer of 2016 Molėtai attracted international attention by staging a memorial march for the victims, hitherto unprecedented in Lithuania.
Image: Molėtai, 1938, Lithuanian president Antanas Smetona is greeted by Jewish citizens, Molėtų krašto muziejus
Molėtai, 1938, Lithuanian president Antanas Smetona is greeted by Jewish citizens, Molėtų krašto muziejus

Image: Molėtai, 2016, The new memorial, lrytas.lt, Foto: Vladas Ščiavinskas
Molėtai, 2016, The new memorial, lrytas.lt, Foto: Vladas Ščiavinskas
Molėtai (German also: Mulau, Yiddish: Maliat oder Malat) is a small-town about 60 km northeast of the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. Jews lived there since the 18th century. According to the census of 1897, Molėtai, at that time part of the Russian Empire, had a population of 2,400, of which more than 80% were Jewish.
After the First World War Lithuania became independent. At first most citizens of Molėtai were worse off economically, many Jews emigrated to the United States, South Africa or South America. Molėtai remained a predominantly Jewish town, 19 of the town's mostly very small 21 businesses belonged to Jews. 1940 Molėtai was occupied by the Red Army and shortly afterwards incorporated into the Soviet Union. Most of the shops and businesses were nationalised which deprived many Jews of their livelihood. Also, most of the Jewish organisations and institutions were closed.
One year later the Wehrmacht attacked the Soviet Union and on June 26, 1941 marched into Molėtai. Immediately afterwards Lithuanian nationalists hunted down people who they accused of having supported the Soviet regime and killed many of them. Shortly afterwards approximately 60 Jewish men and boys were murdered.
On August 23, 1941 the police chief of Molėtai Tomas Valiukonis had all Jews arrested and locked up in a synagogue. They weren't given any food. On August 26 German officers arrived. They and Lithuanian collaborators, marked by white armbands, forced a group of about 180 Jewish men to dig a large pit near town. After that the men had to undress and were shot. Then all the other Jewish children, women and men were led to the pit in several groups and shot there.
Image: Molėtai, 1938, Lithuanian president Antanas Smetona is greeted by Jewish citizens, Molėtų krašto muziejus
Molėtai, 1938, Lithuanian president Antanas Smetona is greeted by Jewish citizens, Molėtų krašto muziejus

Image: Molėtai, 2016, The new memorial, lrytas.lt, Foto: Vladas Ščiavinskas
Molėtai, 2016, The new memorial, lrytas.lt, Foto: Vladas Ščiavinskas
All in all German and Lithuanian units shot between 700 and 1,200 Jews from Molėtai on August 26, 1941. The exact number of victims is not known.
Image: Molėtai, 1939, Synagogues in Molėtai, Molėtų krašto muziejus
Molėtai, 1939, Synagogues in Molėtai, Molėtų krašto muziejus

Image: Molėtai, 1989, A relative standing at the old Soviet memorial plaque at the victims' mass grave, Molėtų krašto muziejus
Molėtai, 1989, A relative standing at the old Soviet memorial plaque at the victims' mass grave, Molėtų krašto muziejus
Today the town has a population of 6,400. After the war only a handful of the surviving Jews returned to Molėtai but left the town again soon afterwards.
The mass grave of the murdered Jews was marked after the war. In Soviet times a memorial plaque with a red star commemorated the victims, without mentioning that they were Jews. In the early 1990s the plaque was replaced by a memorial with a Lithuanian and a Hebrew inscription.
On August 26, 2016, 75 years after the massacre a memorial march with about 3,000 participants took place in Molėtai which drew international attention. Various famous Lithuanian personalities took part in it, president Dalia Grybauskaitė among them. Highlight of the event was the dedication of a new granite memorial at the site of the mass grave.
The memorial march had been preceded by an intensive public debate ignited by Lithuanian intellectuals about the Lithuanian share of the responsibility for the Holocaust. The writer Marius Ivaškevičius (born 1973) who devoted himself to the history of his hometown Molėtai wrote: »I'm not Jewish, I'm Lithuanian and I know that we can do it: to show our strength and solidarity. To acknowledge our faults and even our crimes. This is not a sign of weakness but of strength.« The book »Our People« by the journalist Rūta Vanagaitė (born 1955) about Lithuania's role in the Holocaust also fuelled the debate.
Image: Molėtai, 2010, The memorial stone erected in the early 1990s, holocaustatlas.lt, Lukas Dünser
Molėtai, 2010, The memorial stone erected in the early 1990s, holocaustatlas.lt, Lukas Dünser

Image: Molėtai, 2016, Memorial march on the 75th anniversary of the crime, lrytas.lt, Foto: Vladas Ščiavinskas
Molėtai, 2016, Memorial march on the 75th anniversary of the crime, lrytas.lt, Foto: Vladas Ščiavinskas
Name
Molėtų žydų žudynių vieta ir kapas
Address
Vilniaus g.
33112 Molėtai
Open
The memorial is accessible at all times.