Paneriai (Polish: Ponary, German: Ponaren) is a suburb of Vilnius, situated about 10 kilometres away from the city centre. The town is located on low forested hills, on the Vilnius-Warsaw road. Paneriai was the site of a mass killing of as many as 100,000 people (mostly Jews and Poles) from Vilnius and nearby towns and villages during World War II. Location Ethnographic region DzÅ«kija County Vilnius County Municipality Vilnius city municipality Elderate Number of elderates 20 Coordinates 54°40′N 25°19′E General information Capital of Lithuania Vilnius County Vilnius city municipality Vilnius district municipality Population (rank) 540,318 in 2005 (1st) First mentioned 1323 Granted city rights... Motto: Contemnit procellas (It defies the storms) Semper invicta (Always invincible) Voivodship Masovian Municipal government Mayor MirosÅ‚aw Kochalski (acting) Area 516,9 km² Population  - city  - urban  - density 1,692,900 (2004) 2,760,000 3258/km² Founded City rights 13th century turn of the 13th century Latitude Longitude 52... World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a large scale military conflict that took place between 1939 and 1945. ...

History

The village was probably founded some time in 14th century. In 1390 it was acquired by the Vilnius bishopric chapter and soon became the main supplier of bricks to the nearby city. It shared the fate of the nearby city. After the Partitions of Poland in 1795 it became a part of Imperial Russia. During the November Uprising, on June 19, 1831, a Battle of Ponary took place near the village, in which the forces of Dezydery Chłapowski and Antoni Giełgud were defeated by Russian infantry. This 14th-century statue from south India depicts the gods Shiva (on the left) and Uma (on the right). ... Events Births December 27 - Anne de Mortimer, claimant to the English throne (died 1411) Domenico da Piacenza, Italian dancemaster (died 1470) John Dunstable, English composer (died 1453) Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson, Swedish statesman and rebel leader (died 1436) Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (died 1447) John VIII Palaeologus Byzantine Emperor (died 1448) Deaths... A weathered brick wall. ... The Partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, commonly known as the Partitions of Poland (Polish: Rozbiór Polski or Rozbiory Polski; Lithuanian: Padalijimas) took place in the 18th century and ended the existence of the sovereign Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. ... 1795 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Imperial Russia is the term used to cover the period of history from the expansion of Russia under Peter the Great, through the expansion of the Russian Empire from the Baltic to the Pacific Ocean, to the deposal of Nicholas II of Russia, the last tsar, at the start of... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... June 19 is the 170th day of the year (171st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 195 days remaining. ... 1831 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Dezydery ChÅ‚apowski Dezydery ChÅ‚apowski (1788-1879) was a Polish general, business and political activist. ...

During World War I, in the effect of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk it was acquired by Germany and transferred to Belarusian People's Republic, but in the effect of the Polish-Bolshevik War it eventually became a part of Poland. In 1939, after the Polish Defence War the village was captured by the Soviet Union and transferred to Lithuania, only to be reannexed by Soviet the following year. Since 1991 yet again part of Lithuania, recently incorporated to the city of Vilnius as one of its districts. World War I, also known as the First World War, and (before 1939) the Great War, the War of the Nations, and the War to End All Wars, was a world conflict lasting from August 1914 to the final Armistice (cessation of hostilities) on November 11, 1918. ... The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on March 3, 1918, at Brest, formerly Brest-Litovsk, between Russia and the Central Powers, marking Russias exit from World War I. The treaty was practically obsolete before the end of the year but is significant as a chief... National motto: None Official language Belarusian Capital Minsk, Currently in Exile in Canada National anthem Vajacki marÅ¡ Chairperson of the Rada Ivonka Survilla Independence  - Declared  - Forced into Exile Treaty of Brest-Litovsk March 25, 1918 January 5, 1919 The Belarusian Peoples Republic (Belarusian: Белару́ская Наро́дная Рэспу́бліка, eng. ... Polish-Bolshevik War Conflict Polish-Bolshevik War Date 1919–1921 Place Central and Eastern Europe Result Polish victory The Polish-Soviet War (also known as the Polish-Bolshevik War or the Polish-Russian War) was the war (February 1919 – March 1921) that determined the borders between the Russian Soviet Federated... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Polish Defence War of 1939 Conflict World War II Date 1 September - 6 October 1939 Place Poland Result Decisive German and Soviet victory The Polish September Campaign (alternatively refered to as the German plan Fall Weiss) refers to the conquest of Poland by the armies of Nazi Germany and the... State motto (Russian): Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! (Transliterated: Proletarii vsekh stran, soedinyaytes!) (Translated: Workers of the world, unite!) Capital Moscow Official language None; Russian (de facto) Government Federation of Socialist republics Area  - Total  - % water 1st before collapse 22,402,200 km² Approx. ... 1991 (MCMXCI in Roman) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Massacre

After the annexation of Lithuania the Soviet authorities started to build a huge oil warehouse for the nearby military airfield. The construction was never finished as in 1941 the area was occupied by Nazi Germany. Between July 1941 and August 1944 Paneriai became the mass murder site of approximately 100,000 victims, the vast majority of them Jews, many from nearby Vilna. The executions were carried out by German units of SD and SS with help from local Lithuanian police unit Ypatingasis Būrys. The victims were usually brought to the edges of huge pits and shot to death with machine gun fire. Selection at the Auschwitz ramp in 1944, where the Nazis chose whom to kill immediately and whom to use as slave labor or for medical experimentation. ... Raul Hilberg, a well-known historian of the Holocaust, identified four distinct Phases of the Holocaust. ... The racial policy of Nazi Germany was the set of rascist policies and laws implemented by Nazi Germany primarily against Jews. ... This poster reads: 60,000 Reichsmark is what this person suffering from hereditary defects costs the community during his lifetime. ... Prior to and during World War II Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps (Konzentrationslager or KZ) throughout the territory it controlled. ... The following is a list of German concentration camps during World War II. are marked with pink, while major concentration camps of are marked with blue. ... German Jews have lived in Germany and contributed to German culture for over 1700 years, through both periods of tolerance and spasms of anti-Semitic violence, culminating in the Holocaust and the destruction of the Jewish community in Germany and much of Europe. ... Pogrom (Russian: ; from громить - to wreak havoc, to demolish violently) is a form of riot, a massive violent attack on a particular group; ethnic, religious or other, primarily characterized by destruction of their environment (homes, businesses, religious centers). ... Die Kristallnacht, also known as die Reichskristallnacht (literally Imperial Crystal Night), die Pogromnacht and in English as the Night of Broken Glass, was a massive nationwide pogrom in Germany and Austria on the night of November 9, 1938 (including the early hours of the following day). ... The IaÅŸi pogrom of June 27, 1941 was one of the most violent pogroms in Jewish history, launched by governmental forces in the Romanian city of IaÅŸi against its Jewish population, resulting in the brutal mass-murder of 13,266 Jews. ... After the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, special Einsatzgruppen were organized to kill as many Jews as it was possible in the Polish areas annexed by Soviet Union. ... Lviv (Ukrainian: Львів, L’viv ; Polish: Lwów; Russian: Львов, Lvov; German: Lemberg; Yiddish: לעמבערג; Latin: Leopolis; see also Cities alternative names) is a city in western Ukraine, the capital city of the Lviv Oblast (province) and one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine. ... Ghettos established by the Nazis in which Jews were confined, and later shipped to concentration camps. ... The Ghetto Heroes Memorial The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest of the Jewish ghettos established by Nazi Germany in General Government during the Holocaust in World War II. In the three years of its existence, starvation, disease and deportations to concentration camps and extermination camps dropped the population of the... The Łódź Ghetto was the second-largest ghetto (after the Warsaw Ghetto) established for Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland. ... Deportation of Jews from the Kraków Ghetto, March 1943 The Jewish ghetto in Kraków (Cracow) was one of the five main ghettos created by the Nazis during their occupation of Poland during World War II. It was a staging point to begin dividing able workers from those who... Location of the concentration camp in the Czech Republic Gate Concentration camp Theresienstadt was a concentration camp set up by the Gestapo in the fortress and garrison city Terezín (German name Theresienstadt), located in what is now the Czech Republic. ... Einsatzgruppen (a German military term meaning mission groups, loosely translated as Task Force) were semi-military groups formed in Nazi Germany before and during World War II. These death squads belonged to the SS and followed the Wehrmacht in their attacks first on Poland and then the Soviet Union. ... The massacre at Babi Yar Babi Yar, Russian:Бабий яр, (Ukrainian:Бабин яр, Babyn Yar) is the name of a ravine situated outside the Ukrainian city of Kiev. ... Rumbula Forest is a pine forest enclave in Riga, Latvia. ... The Odessa Massacre was the extermination of Jews and Communists in Odessa during the autumn of 1941. ... In a February 26, 1942 letter to Martin Luther (diplomat), Reinhard Heydrich follows up on the Wannsee Conference by asking Luther for administrative assistance in the implementation of the Endlösung der Judenfrage (Final Solution of the Jewish Question). ... The Wannsee Conference was the discussion by a group of Nazi officials about the Final Solution of the Jewish Question (Endlösung der Judenfrage). ... Operation Reinhard (Aktion Reinhard, Einsatz Reinhard, Aktion Reinhardt or Einsatz Reinhardt in German) was the code name given to the Nazi plan to murder Polish Jews in the former General Government and rob their possessions. ... Majdanek - crematorium Extermination camp (German: Vernichtungslager) or Death Camp was the term applied to a group of facilities set up by Nazi Germany during World War II for the express purpose of killing the Jews of Europe, although members of some other groups whom the Nazis wished to exterminate, such... CheÅ‚mno concentration camp was a Nazi extermination camp that was situated 70 km from Łódź near a small village CheÅ‚mno nad Nerem (Kulmhof an der Nehr, in German), in Greater Poland (which was, in 1939, annexed and incorporated into Germany under the name of Reichsgau Wartheland). ... Bełżec was the first of the Nazi German extermination camps created for implementing Operation Reinhard during the Holocaust. ... Sobibór was a Nazi extermination camp that was part of Operation Reinhard. ... Monument at Majdanek Memorial. ... Treblinka was an extermination camp operated by the Nazis as part of the Holocaust, the systematic murder of Jews and others. ... Auschwitz is the name loosely used to identify the largest Nazi extermination camp along with two main German concentration camps and 45-50 sub-camps. ... Other languages FAQs | Table free Welcome to Wikipedia, the free-content encyclopedia that anyone can edit. ... Å»ydowski ZwiÄ…zek Walki (Å»ZW, Polish for Jewish Fighting Union) was an underground organisation operating during World War II in the area of Warsaw Ghetto and fighting during Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. ... Ghetto Uprising refers to an armed struggle by people incarcerated in German Ghettos during World War II against the plans to resettle all the inhabitants to concentration and death camps. ... Combatants Nazi Germany Jewish resistance (Å»OB, Å»ZW) Commanders Jürgen Stroop Mordechai Anielewicz Strength 2,054, including 821 Waffen SS 40,000 civilians, 750-1000 fighting Casualties 300 KIA, official reports acknowledge 16 KIA and 85 wounded about 13,000 killed, almost all of the rest sent to extermination camps... Dachau concentration-camp inmates on a death march through a German village in April 1945. ... Berihah (literally escape in Hebrew) was the organized effort to help Jews escape post-Holocaust Europe for the British Mandate of Palestine. ... Sherit ha-Pletah is a biblical (First Chronicles 4:43) term used by Jewish survivors of the Nazi Holocaust to refer to themselves and the communities they formed following their liberation in the spring of 1945. ... Generalplan Ost (GPO) was a Nazi plan to realize Hitlers new order of ethnographical relations in the territories occupied in Eastern Europe during World War II. It was prepared in 1941 and confirmed in 1942. ... Gypsy arrivals in the Belzec death camp await instructions The Porajmos (also Porrajmos) literally Devouring, is a term coined by the Roma (Gypsy) people to describe attempts by the Nazi regime to exterminate most of the Roma peoples of Europe during the Holocaust. ... The German word Gleichschaltung (help· info) (literally synchronising, synchronization) is used in a political sense to describe the process by which the Nazi regime successively established a system of totalitarian control over the individual, and tight coordination over all aspects of society and commerce. ... 1932 KPD poster, End This System The Communist Party of Germany (in German, Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands – KPD) was formed in December of 1918 from the Spartacist League, which originated as a small factional grouping within the Social Democratic Party (SPD), and the International Communists of Germany (IKD). ... Once vibrant Eldorado gay night club in Berlin after being shut down, displaying banners promoting Hitler List 1. Prior to the Third Reich, Berlin was considered a liberal city, with many gay bars, nightclubs and cabarets. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... (help· info) (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945) was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 and Führer (Leader) of Germany from 1934 until his death. ... Reinhard Heydrich as SS-Gruppenführer Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich (March 7, 1904 – June 4, 1942) was an SS-Obergruppenführer, chief of the Reich Main Security Office, and Reich governor of Bohemia and Moravia. ... Adolf Eichmann, Germany 1940 Photo from United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo Archives. ... Heinrich Himmler (help· info) (October 7, 1900 – May 23, 1945) was the commander of the German Schutzstaffel (SS) and one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany. ... The infamous double-sig rune SS insignia. ... The Deaths Head emblem similar to Skull and crossbones, often used as the insignia of the Gestapo The â–¶ (help· info) (acronym of Geheime Staatspolizei; secret state police) was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. ... The Independent State of Croatia (Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH) is a was a Nazi puppet state founded during World War II when in April 1941, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was invaded by the forces of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, geographically encompassing most of modern-day Croatia and Bosnia... Presidential flag of Vichy France Vichy France, or the Vichy regime was the de facto French government of 1940-1944 during the Nazi Germany occupation of World War II. Now known in French as the Régime de Vichy or Vichy, during its existence it referred to itself as L... Functionalism versus intentionalism is a historiographical debate about the origins of the Holocaust. ... The Nuremberg Trials is the name for two sets of trials of Nazis involved in World War II and the Holocaust. ... Chief prosecutor Telford Taylor opens the prosecution case in the Krupp Trial The Subsequent Nuremberg Trials (or, more formally, the Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals (NMT)) were a series of twelve U.S. military trials for war crimes against surviving members of the military, political, and... There are many famous Holocaust survivors who survived the Nazi genocides in Europe only to go on to achievements of great fame and notability. ... This is a list of people who helped victims to escape from the Nazi Holocaust during World War II, often called rescuers. The list is not exhaustive, concentrating on famous cases, or people who saved the lives of many potential victims. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... State motto (Russian): Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! (Transliterated: Proletarii vsekh stran, soedinyaytes!) (Translated: Workers of the world, unite!) Capital Moscow Official language None; Russian (de facto) Government Federation of Socialist republics Area  - Total  - % water 1st before collapse 22,402,200 km² Approx. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Vilnius Old Town Vilnius (sometimes Vilna; Polish Wilno, Belarusian Вільня, Russian Вильнюс, see also Cities alternative names) is the capital city of Lithuania. ... SD or sd is an acronym that may mean: Sales and Distribution, business San Diego, a U.S. city SanDisk, a company that created the widley used SD Card Secure Digital, memory card format Sicherheitsdienst (German), Security Police, the intelligence service of the Nazi SS Snare drum Social Democrats (Slovenia... SS or ss or Ss may be: The Schutzstaffel, a Nazi paramilitary force Steamship (SS) (ship prefix) The United States Secret Service A submarine not powered by nuclear energy (SS) (United States Navy designator), see SSN A Soviet/Russian surface-to-surface missile, as listed by NATO reporting name Shortstop...

The massacres began in July, 1941 when Einsatzkommando 9 rounded up 5,000 Jewish men of Vilnius and took them to Paneriai where they were shot. Further mass killings, often aided by Lithuanian police, took place throughout the summer and fall. By the end of the year, more than 40,000 Jews had been killed at Paneriai. Einsatzgruppen (a German military term meaning mission groups, loosely translated as Task Force) were semi-military groups formed in Nazi Germany before and during World War II. These death squads belonged to the SS and followed the Wehrmacht in their attacks first on Poland and then the Soviet Union. ... Location Ethnographic region Dzūkija County Vilnius County Municipality Vilnius city municipality Elderate Number of elderates 20 Coordinates 54°40′N 25°19′E General information Capital of Lithuania Vilnius County Vilnius city municipality Vilnius district municipality Population (rank) 540,318 in 2005 (1st) First mentioned 1323 Granted city rights...

The total number of victims by the end of 1944 was between 70,000 and 100,000. According to post-war exhumation by the forces of 2nd Belorussian Front approximately 70 to 90% of the victims were Jews from nearby Polish and Lithuanian cities, while the rest were mostly members of Polish intelligentsia and Home Army, including 7,500 Polish POWs shot in 1941. At later stages there were also smaller numbers of victims of other nationalities, for instance local Russians, Roma and Lithuanian communists. The executions at Paneriai are currently a matter of an investigation by the Gdańsk branch of the Polish IPN. By other animals Humans are not the only species to bury their dead. ... The 2nd Belorussian Front (alternative spellings are 2nd Byelorussian Front and 2nd Belarusian Front) was one of the Soviet Army fronts during World War II. The term front was used by the Soviets army in World War II to describe a grouping of two or more armies in the same... The intelligentsia (from Latin: intelligentia) is a social class of people engaged in complex mental and creative labor directed to the development and dissemination of culture: intellectuals and social groups close to them (e. ... The Armia Krajowa or AK (Home Army) functioned as the underground army in German-occupied Poland, which was active in all areas of the country from September 1939 until its disbanding in January 1945. ... Geneva Convention definition A prisoner of war (POW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... The Roma people (pronounced rahma, singular Rom, sometimes Rroma, and Rrom) along with the closely related Sinti people are commonly known as Gypsies in English, and as Tsigany in most of Europe. ... Motto: Nec temere, nec timide (Neither rashly nor timidly) Voivodship Pomeranian Municipal government Rada miasta GdaÅ„ska Mayor PaweÅ‚ Adamowicz Area 262 km² Population  - city  - urban  - density 460 524 (2004) - Ranked 6th 1,100,000 (Tricity) 1761/km² Founded City rights 997 1263 Latitude Longitude 54°40N 18°60... Institute of National Remembrance (IPN, Instytut PamiÄ™ci Narodowej) is a Polish institution created by the IPN Act in 18 December 1998. ...

As Soviet troops advanced in 1943 the German-led units tried to cover up the crime. A unit of 80 workers was brought form a nearby Stutthof concentration camp in order to dig out the bodies, pile them with wood and burn them. The ashes were then mixed with sand and buried. After 6 months of such actions the brigade managed to escape on April 19, 1944. 11 of them managed to survive the chase in order to tell the tale. Stutthof (Sztutowo) was the first concentration camp built by the Nazi regime outside of Germany, on September 2, 1939. ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The site of the massacre is commemorated by the memorial to the victims of the holocaust and a small museum.

External links

• Ponary Forest
• [1], [2] IPN documents on the ongoing investigation (in Polish)
• +article US Holocaust Museum article on Vilna with Ponary timeline (search under Vilna)