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Translation of the “Mauruciai” chapter from
Pinkas Hakehillot Lita
Written by Josef Rosin
Published by Yad Vashem
Published in Jerusalem, 1996
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Our sincere appreciation to Yad Vashem
This is a translation from: Pinkas Hakehillot Lita: Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities, Lithuania,
Editor: Prof. Dov Levin, Assistant Editor: Josef Rosin, published by Yad Vashem, Jerusalem.
JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of
the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material
for verification.
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(Page 365)
Written by Josef Rosin
Translated by Shimon Joffe
A town in the Marijampole district.
| Year | General Population |
Jews |
| 1827 | 97 | .. |
| 1884 | 266 | .. |
| 1940 | .. | A few families |
Mauruciai lies in the Veiveriai county, near the Kaunas - Kybartai railway line, some 20 km. north east of the railway junction Kazlu-Ruda. The road Kaunas-Marijampole traverses the town. The town expanded after the laying of the railway line in the eighties of the nineteenth century. Between the years 1795-1815 the region, including the town, belonged to Prussia. And after 1815-it came under Russian rule. In 1866 the town was included in the Suwalki province.
There are no precise statistics as to the number of Jews who lived in the town during the period of Lithuanian independence (1918-1940). Before the Second World War, a few Jewish families lived in the town.
According to a survey conducted by the Lithuanian government in 1931, the local Jews owned 2 heating materials and wood shops, 2 sawing mills, a flour mill, a grocery and a tavern.
After the annexation of Lithuania to the Soviet Union in June 1940, the Jewish owned shops and plants were nationalized.
After the German army conquest of Lithuania in June 1941, the local Lithuanians began to harass the Jews. The killing of the Jews began, it appears, on August 28, 1941. A few days earlier, the Jewish men from Mauruciai and neighboring towns were taken to a valley near the Jesia river, in the vicinity of Garliava, and there forced to dig a pit 80 meters long and 2 meters wide. At the end, after having dug the pit, they were forced to hand over all their money and possessions, stripped of their clothes and shoes and pushed into the pit, where they were murdered by the Germans, assisted by their Lithuanian helpers. The same, or the next day, the women and children were murdered in the same place and buried in a huge mass grave. According to German sources, 73 Jewish men, 113 women and 61 children were murdered in this place between August 28 and September 2, 1941.
The Soviet commission which investigated the Nazi crimes in Lithuania, concluded in 1944, after part of the mass grave was opened, that approximately 400 Jews from Mauruciai, Garliava, Pakuonis, Veiveriai and other small communities of the vicinity were buried in this grave.
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