We drove through the once again boring, flat scenery towards Kaunas with only a brief stop in a petrol/gas station with a cafe. Forward thinking us again decided to buy sandwiches to eat for dinner since the e.t.a. to Kaunas was late.

Signe surprised us with a stop on the outskirts of Kaunas at the Kaunas Fort Museum Holocaust Memorial. It was 6:00 p.m. and too late to visit the museum inside but at least we could walk around the outside memorial grounds. The Kaunas Fortress was constructed between 1882-1915 to protect the Russian Empire’s western borders and used as a prison until 1940. The Soviets then began using it as a prison and temporary holding area for prisoners being transported to Gulags in Siberia. After the Soviets, the Nazis used the Ninth Fort to execute Jews, captured Soviets and dissidents. The victims were simply marched into the forests and shot.

Fort Museum Memorial to Fascism, Kaunas, Lithuana
There were different plaques that told how many victims were interred under each one, including a plaque from Bavaria stating …In sorrow and shame – and appalled by the silence of the bystanders – the provincial capital of Bavaria, Munich commemorates the 1000 Jewish men and women who were deported on the 20th November, 1941 from Munich to Kaunas and were brutally murdered at this site 5 days later…

Approximately 80,000 people were killed in this field, 30,000 of them Jews from Lithuania and other European countries. The stark memorial to the victims was designed by A. Ambraziunas and erected in 1984.

Kaunas had a heavily Jewish population until 1941 even though anti-semites did their best to disseminate literature blaming the Jews for Soviet occupation. Soviet authorities did their part by arresting, confiscating goods, eliminating organizations and sent Jews to Siberia. The Nazis then occupied Kaunas and establish the Kaunas Gheto that was nearly completely liquidated by the end of the war. Kaunas now has exactly 400 Jews and one synagogue left

the way of death, Kaunas, Lithuania
We walked the “Way of Death” leading from Kaunas Fort Prison to the green fields, choking back sobs, adding prayers and then somberly walked back to the bus for the drive into Kaunas.