The Righteous Among the Nations of the World II WW2

On 22 October 2021, the Square for the Righteous Among the Nations (monument) was inaugurated in Šiauliai, at the intersection of Ežero and Vilniaus streets. It is the first monument to the Righteous Among the Nations in Lithuania. The monument was created by the designer Adas Toleikis, a native of Šiauliai, and the idea of the monument was initiated by Sania Kerbelis, the chairman of the Jewish community of Šiauliai County.
The monument “Jungtis” is engraved with the surnames of the “Righteous Among the Nations” of Šiauliai County, thus commemorating 148 Jewish rescuers, while artistic accents mark the gates of the Šiauliai Ghetto. There were two ghettos in Šiauliai: in the so-called Kaukazo Quarter and in the Ežero-Trakų Street Quarter. Physically strong and able-bodied people were sent to the first one, and specialists (doctors, mechanics, etc.) to the second. The Šiauliai Ghetto was established in the summer of 1941 on the orders of the Šiauliai Commandant and liquidated in 1944 with the retreat of Nazi German troops. The remaining Jews were transferred to Stutthof and Dachau concentration camps. More than 5,950 Jews were imprisoned in the Ghettos. During the inter-war period, Šiauliai was home to about 6,500–8,000 Jews, some of whom left voluntarily into mainland Russia. After the Holocaust, there were only about 350–500 Jews left.

In the village of Kaušėnai (Plungė district), a memorial to the victims of the Kaušėnai Holocaust has been established at the site of the murder of the Jews. The memorial is dedicated to the Jewish communities of Plungė and the surrounding villages that were destroyed during World War II.
The memorial was established based on the initiative of the last Jew of Plungė, Jakovas Bunka. The first monument to the victims of the Second World War was erected in 1952, and in 1986–1989, a memorial to commemorate the murdered Jews was created from oak monuments. 1,800 bricks of the demolished Plungė Synagogue were used to build the Memorial Wall in 2011, where each brick is dedicated to the memory of someone murdered,
and plaques with the known names of 1,200 (out of 1,800) Jews are affixed to the wall. The Alleyway of the Rescuers is located near the memorial, and the names of those who rescued the condemned Jews in Plungė and its surroundings during the Nazi occupation are inscribed on the posts in the alleyway.
On 12 and 13 July 1941, about 1,800 Jews from the Plungė district were murdered on Kaušėnai Hill, having been held for two weeks in brutal conditions in the Plungė synagogue before that. On the day of the genocide, those who could were made to walk five kilometres to the place of execution, while the rest were transported in separate groups by lorry. The victims were ordered to dig their own graves and then they were shot.
The memorial is one of the ten most impressive memorials in Europe reflecting the tragedy of the Jewish people.

In the village of Šarnelė, Plungė district, in the birthplace of the Lithuanian poet Vytautas Mačernis, a path to the poet's birthplace has been established. Walking along this 545 m long path, you will reach the poet's grave. The poet died on October 7, 1944, during the Battle of Seda, when he was accidentally hit in the head by a fragment of an artillery shell. After his death, the poet's relatives returned the deceased back to Šarnelė to be buried in his homeland.

While walking along the V. Mačernis hiking trail, don't miss the nearby Kerpauskas spring and information stand. This spring commemorates an important historical period - the genocide of the Jewish people during World War II. The Kerpauskas spring is located by the path leading from the parking lot to the poet's grave. During World War II, the family of Juozas and Adolfina Kerpauskas hid Jews in underground bunkers installed at the foot of a small hill near the spring and in the homestead below. For three and a half years, the family took care of several Jewish families - 16 people in total - and protected them from destruction. During the Soviet era, Adolfina and Juozas Kerpauskas and their children Bronė and Tomas were deported to Siberia. Juozas Kerpauskas in 1992 and Adolfina Kerpauskienė in 2009 were awarded the Salvation Cross.

The Venclauskiai House-Museum is an outstanding example of historical architecture from the inter-war period in Šiauliai. The building, also known as the White Castle, was built for the family of Kazimieras Venclauskas and Stanislava Venclauskienė in 1926 on the land of the former suburb of Šiauliai City. Kazimieras and Stanislava Venclauskiai – members of the Lithuanian national movement and the restoration of the Lithuanian state, are also famous as guardians of many orphans and abandoned children.
During the Second World War, Stanislava Venclauskienė and her daughters Danutė and Gražbylė became famous as rescuers of Jews. Ignoring the fact that, during the war, the German commandant’s office was stationed in their house, they helped the Jews imprisoned in the Šiauliai ghetto by hiding them in the house. Danutė Venclauskaitė had a permit to enter the Šiauliai ghetto, so she secretly brought food and medicine with her when she visited. All three women have been awarded the honorary title “Righteous Among the Nations” and the Life Saving Cross.
In 1991, Gražbylė and Danutė Venclauskaitės donated their family house to the Aušros Museum in Šiauliai. The Venclauskiai House-Museum was opened in 2019 after the reconstruction of the building. The permanent exhibition of the museum tells the story of the Venclauskiai family, while the semi-basement rooms are dedicated to the Holocaust and the rescue of the Jews.