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At a moving and emotionally charged ceremony, human remains and clothing belonging to some of the thousands of kedoshim murdered by the Germans during World War 2 and their Lithuanian assistants the Tautinio Darbo Apsaugos Batalionas (TDA), at the Seventh Fort, near Kaunas (Kovno), Lithuania, were reburied on Wednesday.

The reburial was carried out by members of the Committee for the Preservation of Jewish cemeteries in Europe (CPJCE) and its American Counterpart the Admas Kodesh Organization with the participation and cooperation of leaders of the Jewish communities of Vilnius (Vilna) and Kaunas.

The Seventh Fort is a notorious Holocaust murder site occupying a defensive fortification built in the Žaliakalnis district of Kaunas, Lithuania. It was the first concentration camp in Nazi-occupied territories after the beginning of the war with the Soviet Union. Up to 5,000 victims were killed in the fort’s territory from 30 June 1941 until its closure on 10 August 1941. Most of them were from the famous Jewish communities of Kaunas, Slabodka and neighbouring towns and villages. The kedoshim killed at the Seventh Fort include the famous Gaon and Tzadik Rav Elchonon Wasserman Hy”d and many other noted Torah scholars.

The fort was used later by the Soviet Army and subsequently by the Lithuanian National Defence Volunteer Forces. In 2009 it was transferred to the Military Heritage Centre and in 2011 during the course of renovation and development work the graves of the Holocaust victims were rediscovered. The site was cleared and a ‘memorial route’ was created, but it seems that not long afterwards somehow human bones and other items were disinterred at the site.

The CPJCE in London and its American counterpart The Admas Kodesh Organization became aware of the disturbance of the site on Erev Sukkos, after the Executive Board Chairman of Admas Kodesh Mr. Gershon Schlesinger received an urgent phone call from the Vilnius Jewish Community, who had been informed by the Kaunas Jewish community that there were unburied bones from the mass graves being held by the authorities. Committee members immediately got to work on the case. An emergency meeting was held on Chol Hamoed and CPJCE/Admas Kodesh representatives travelled to Lithuania on Isru Chag. After the extensive efforts of all concerned, the reburial took place on the original mass grave area, part of which was covered by four tons of earth, all in accordance with the detailed instructions laid down by the Committee’s Rabbinical Board.

Ther reburial was also attended by Mr Zack Gretz, President of the Kaunas Jewish Community, and Mrs Fiona Kukiansky, President of the Federation of Lithuanian Jewish Communities – who has a close connection with the CPJCE and had been instrumental in bringing this case to a successful conclusion. Rabbi Avrohom Chaim Ginsberg, Executive director of the CPJCE who carried out the Kevuro, afterwards addressed a press conference, explaining the importance of respect for Jewish graves and their significance in Jewish law and tradition. He thanked the Director of the Heritage Centre, Mr Vladimir Orlov, for his cooperation and expressed hope that the other mass graves in the area would also be marked and protected in the near future.

For further information and to offer assistance in this matter please contact in Europe Rabbi Ginsberg on 07980 830055 in The United States Gershon Schlesinger 347.971.0023.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)