Straschun Forest — Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel

There is an amazing memorial site in the Straschun Forest, between Vilna and Kovno. It is composed of statues of 2,400 Jewish victims in a Valley of Death; all the victims had lived in the three surrounding townships.

On the 16^th of October, 1964, at the initiative of local Jews, two monuments were set up at the site of the mass graves in the Straschun Forest.  On the male memorial board, together with a Star of David, the following inscription appears: "At this place, on the 28^th of August, 1941 Nazi murderers and their local collaborators cruelly tortured and buried 2,200 Jews from Kishiador, Z'iz'mir and Z'osale. The second monument bears the same inscription, mentioning also that 1,800 Jewish women and children were buried in the mass grave. In 1991, the mass graves were set up and three wooden carvings from oak, designed by the Lithuanian sculptor, Vidamantas Kapaciunas from Z'iz'mir, were placed there. They were entitled "Pain". Tragically, in 2004, the monuments were vandalized.