Elektrėnai Tourism Information Center

Wayside Shrine for Mitkiškės Martyrs

Mass murder affecting almost the entire village was committed in Mitkiškės in 1941.

The tragedy occurred on June 29, 1941, when the front line was moved across the Neris near the water mill. The Germans were putting pressure on the Russian soldiers. As they ran from Lithuania, the Bolsheviks exacted their revenge on the Lithuanians. The following residents were murdered in Mitkiškės: Antanas Valantavičius (55 years old, father), Jonas Valantavičius (28 years old, son), Vaclovas Valantavičius (25 years old, son), Kazys Čiuras (46 years old), Jonas Čiuras (27 years old), Stasys Dimša (16 years old), Antanas Roslekas (60 years old), Mykolas Medveckas (25 years old), Zigmas Batėnas (25 years old). A nameless fourteen-year-old shepherd boy was killed. Andrius Čiurinskas, a teacher at Aleksandriškiai School, was tortured cruelly to death. He was a gunner and could have been ratted out to the Russians by someone. The locals could collect the bodies of their tortured family members only four days later, when the Germans forced the Russians to leave. A mass funeral was held and the bodies were laid to rest in coffins in the same large grave. All these martyrs were buried in Kazokiškės Village Cemetery.

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