Righteous Among the Nations Square (Monument)
Memorial site

On October 22, 2021, the Righteous Among the Nations Square was opened in Šiauliai, at the intersection of Ežeros and Vilniaus Streets. This is the first monument to the Righteous Among the Nations in Lithuania. The author of the monument is designer Adas Toleikis, originally from Šiauliai, and the initiator is the chairman of the Šiauliai County Jewish Community, Sania Kerbelis.
The created monument “Union” features the names of the Righteous Among the Nations of the Šiauliai County, immortalizing 148 rescuers of Jews, and artistic accents mark the locations of the gates of the Šiauliai ghettos. Two ghettos were established in the city of Šiauliai: in the so-called Kaukaza quarter and in the Ežero–Trakų g. quarter. Physically strong and fit persons were sent to the first ghetto, and specialists (doctors, mechanics, and others) to the second. The ghetto in Šiauliai was established in the summer of 1941 by order of the military commandant of the city of Šiauliai, and was liquidated in 1944, when Nazi Germany retreated and the remaining Jews were transported to the Stutthof and Dachau concentration camps. More than 5,950 Jews were imprisoned in the ghettos. During the interwar period, about 6,500–8,000 Jews lived in Šiauliai, some of whom voluntarily fled to the depths of Russia, and after the Holocaust, only about 350–500 residents of Jewish origin remained.