Monument to commemorate the Lithuanians

In 1992, on the initiative of the then head of the Paneriai Memorial exposition Algis Karosas, the monument to commemorate the Lithuanians was erected in the Paneriai Memorial. The monument was designed and installed by the sculptors of the Artzona Sculpture Club Aloyzas Smilingis, Jonas Meškelevičius and Jonas Šimonėlis.

A cast metal commemorative plaque is attached to the monument and bears the following inscription: “IN MEMORY OF LITHUANIANS KILLED BY OCCUPIERS IN 1941”.

According to the available data, Lithuanian-born Communists or administrators of the Communist regime (Liudas Adomauskas, Valerijonas Knyva, Andrius Bulota) were killed in Paneriai in 1941, together with the Jagomast family, the defenders of Lithuanian national identity in Lithuania Minor.

Before the monument to the Lithuanian Territorial Defence Force was erected in 2004, this obelisk was visited every May by veterans of the Lithuanian military unit that was formed in spring of 1944 to fight Soviet and Polish partisans.

According to Lithuanian historians, during the Nazi occupation, at least 5,000 Lithuanians were killed in direct mass killings in the territory of Lithuania: residents of villages were burnt during criminal operations, farmers who failed to fulfil their obligations to occupation authorities, members of Lithuanian police and military units, hostages, intellectuals and others.