Mass murder of Jews and Soviet officials in Kretinga (214 people)

The leader of LAF Kretinga, Pranas Jakys (Lukis), and other members of LAF began compiling lists of communists, Komsomol members, and Soviet activists on the first day of the war and handed the lists over to the Gestapo and the German military command in Kretinga.

On June 23, 1941, an order from the military commandant was distributed throughout the city instructing all male residents aged 14 to 60 to gather at the market square at 10 a.m. on June 24. Several hundred people gathered at the market square, and the Germans with white armbands surrounded them. The commander ordered the communists and communist youth to step forward, and some did so. The white armbands of Kretinga forced others to step forward as well. In total, between 100 and 120 people were selected. Jews were separated from the rest. Soviet activists and Jews were driven to a small fenced square. German guards watched over them. In total, 189 people of various nationalities were lined up in rows of three. The detainees were subjected to mockery and cruel treatment. In the evening, they were taken to the Tiškavičius estate and locked up.

The next day, June 25, 1941, the Germans (30-40 soldiers) loaded the Soviet activists and Jews onto trucks and took them to the Kveciai forest (about 3 kilometers from Kretinga). Some Jews were given shovels and ordered to dig a pit. Shortly after, Jakys and a high-ranking German officer arrived. Mass executions were carried out near the pit. Soviet activists were interrogated before the shooting, and about twenty were released.

The USSR operational situation report No. 14 dated July 6, 1941, states that 214 people were shot in Kretinga that day. During a trial in Ulm at EK-Tilsit, it was revealed that of these 214 people, about 180 were Jews, and the rest were Lithuanian communists. Among those executed were the chairman of the Kretinga executive committee Padleckas, Jeronimas Galdikas, lawyer Šmučkovičius, doctor Karlinskas, Mendalovičius with his two sons, and others.

Sources:

http://www.holocaustatlas.lt/EN/#a_atlas/search//page/1/item/70/