Dukszty — Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel

Vilna district, Poland, today Belarus. Jews began arriving after the laying of the Petersburg-Warsaw railroad line in 1863 and numbered about 600 in 1897. Jews lumber merchants set up sawmills and wood working factories to produce railroad ties and paper products. Jews flax merchants became big enough to necessitate the employment of others to clean, package and transport the raw material. In an atmosphere of general prosperity, Jews later opened stores around the railway station as well as restaurants and overnight sleeping facilities. In the post-WW1 economic crisis Jews livelihoods were undermined. The Zionists and the Bund contended for influence in the community, operating Tarbut (Hebrew) and CYSHO (Yiddish) schools.

The Jews population in 1925 was 643. The arrival of the Germans in June 1941 unleashed Lithuanian attacks against the Jews, after which they were put to work laying a railroad line. On 27 August 1941 they were led to the forest and shot down as they fled from the awaiting mass graves.