Eržvilkas : History Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eržvilkas

Town in Tauragė County, Lithuania

Coat of arms

55°15′50″N 22°42′30″E / 55.26389°N 22.70833°E / 55.26389; 22.70833Country

LithuaniaCountyTauragė CountyMunicipalityJurbarkas District MunicipalityPopulation

(2011)

• Total429Time zoneUTC+2 (EET) • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)

Eržvilkas (Samogitian: Eržvėlks) is a town in Taurage County, Lithuania. According to the 2011 census, the town has a population of 429 people.^[1]

History

Jewish history

Before World War II and the Holocaust, the village had an important Jewish community. In 1923, they were 46% of the total population.

Among others, Hermann Schapira (1840-1898), a mathematician and important forerunner of the Zionist movement, was born in the village.

At the beginning of the Second World War there were 180 Jews living in the village.^[2]^[3]

In 1941 these Jews were exploited as forced labour.^[4] In September 1941, they were murdered in mass executions perpetrated by an Einsatzgruppen of Lithuanian policemen at the Gryblaukis forest.^[5]

References

^ "2011 census". Statistikos Departamentas (Lithuania). Retrieved August 16, 2017.
^ "Pinkas Hakehillot Lita: Erzvilkas". jewishgen.org. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
^ "ERZVILKAS: Kovno | lithuania - International Jewish Cemetery Project". iajgsjewishcemeteryproject.org. Archived from the original on April 19, 2017. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
^ "המכון הבין-לאומי לחקר השואה - יד ושם". yadvashem.org. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
^ "Taurage county - Online Guide of Murder Sites of Jews in the Former USSR - Yad Vashem". yadvashem.org. Retrieved July 15, 2017.