Pinkas Hakehillot Lita: Pakuonis

“Pakuonis” - Encyclopedia of Jewish
Communities in Lithuania
(Lithuania)
54° 43' / 24° 03'

Translation of the “Pakuonis” chapter from
Pinkas Hakehillot Lita

Written by Josef Rosin

Published in Jerusalem, 1996

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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.

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(Pages 500-501)

Pakuonis

Written by Dov Levin
Translated by Shaul Yannai
In Yiddish, Pakon or Pakun

A village and the center of a county in the district of Kaunas, 12 km northeast of Prienai. 8-10 Jewish families live in Pakuonis in the 19^th century. They made their living by trading with the villages in the surrounding areas. In 1923, the village had 409 residents and among them were 51 Jews, who made their living from storekeeping and by trading with the villages in the surrounding areas.

Among the natives of the town were Mordekhai Katz (born in 1907), one of the leaders of the Revisionists in Lithuania and the editor of the daily “Moment” (1935-1936). He emigrated to Eretz-Yisrael in 1936; Yakov Kozlovski, who subsequently became a famous artist in Paris.

Not more than 10 Jewish families remained in Pakuonis on June 22, 1941, the day of the outbreak of the war between Germany and the Soviet Union. The local doctor was also Jewish. At the end of August or at the beginning of September, 1941, the Jews, accompanied by armed Lithuanians, were transferred to Garliava, where they were murdered and buried together with the local Jews. The murder site and the mass grave are located in the Rinkunai valley, on the beach of the Jiesia River, 1 km south of Garliava.

A different source states that the Jews of Pakuonis were transferred to Darsuniskis and were murdered there together with the local Jews. Only a very few survived.

Bibliography:

Yad Vashem Archives, Jerusalem, Koniukhovsky Collection 0-71, file 147.
Gar, Viderklangen (Yiddish), Vol. 1, pages 274, 346.
Masines Zudynes Lietuvoje (Mass Murders in Lithuania), Vol. 2, p. 391.

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Pakuonis

Written by Dov Levin Translated by Shaul Yannai In Yiddish, Pakon or Pakun

Bibliography:

Written by Dov Levin
Translated by Shaul Yannai
In Yiddish, Pakon or Pakun