StudyGuide - Courses

Uncovering the Holocaust by Bullets

Watch the testimony video, read accompanying documents and answer related questions.

Access to accompanying documents

Witness

Eugenija S.

Country

Lithuania

Birthdate and Birthplace

1927, Didlaukė

Year of video recording

2013

InEvidence link (YahadMap)

Know more

Bubiai, LITHUANIA

Bubiai is a small village south-west of the administrative capital of Šiauliai. Before the war, almost 8,000 Jews lived in Šiauliai. On June 26th, 1941, German troops occupied the town and subsequently crammed 5,000 Jews into two ghettos. The German archives confirm a shooting in September 1941 where Germans, assisted by Lithuanian nationalists, brought 500 Jewish men, women and children from the Šiauliai ghetto to the town of Bubiai to assassinate them. Eugenija witnessed the arrival and execution of the Jews in Bubiai.

Eugenija S., born in 1927 © Markel Redondo - Yahad-In Unum

Eugenija S. illustrating her story with gestures © Markel Redondo - Yahad-In Unum

Eugenija remembers the fate of Jewish people from Bazilionai © Markel Redondo - Yahad-In Unum

Glossary

The 'White Armbands'
The term 'White Armbands' was one of many designations for the Lithuanian TDA battalion (Lithuanian: Tautinio darbo apsaugos; lit.: "National Labor Service"). At the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, it was set up by the Provisional Government of Lithuania as a paramilitary battalion and was intended to form the basis for a future independent Lithuanian army but was taken over by the Nazis and reorganized into the Lithuanian auxiliary police battalions. These two units actively participated in the mass murder of Jews in Lithuania and Belarus.

Questionnaire

1.- How old was Eugenija at the time of the events ?

2.- Where did the execution take place? Where were the pits dug ? According to Eugenija, who dug the pits ?

3.- How did Eugenija find out that the Jews were going to be shot ?

4.- How were the Jews taken to the execution site ?

5.- How did the Jews react when they saw the “white armbands” ? Why did they react like this ?

6.- What happened when the Jews stepped off the buses ?

7.- Who organized the Jews’ arrival and execution ?

8.- What was the role of the Germans ?

9.- Why do you think that the witness has agreed to give a testimony 80 years after the events ?

10.- Why do you think it is important to collect and teach about this type of testimony ?

Additional Resources

Access supplementary materials, including articles and further reading suggestions, for a comprehensive learning experience.

Historical notes

Bubiai is a small village in Šiauliai region only a few kilometers from the city. Before the war there were more than 8000 Jews who lived in Šiauliai and the Šiauliai region. Therefore, the Šiauliai region had the second largest Jewish community in Lithuania. By forming the majority of manufacturers of leather products and were involved in the iron and chemical industries, as well as forming a large part of the force of clerks, laborers, and craftsmen of the town, they had a large impact on local economy and social life. The position of vice mayor of the town also was held by a Jew. The Jewish community was outstanding for its organizational achievements and for its cultural and social institutions as for example religious secondary schools and kindergartens or libraries. There also were 15 synagogues. Before the arrival of the Germans in World War II, several hundred Jews from Šiauliai region could escape to Russia.[1]

[1] https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/siauliai 21 september 2023, 16:53

A Jewish family native from Šiauliai with their son Liolis killed in Bazilionai © Markel Redondo - Yahad-In Unum

A plague as a part of the memorial, honoring the “500 Jewish, men, women, and children shot by the Nazis and their collaborators on the 14th of September 1941.” © Markel Redondo - Yahad-In Unum

Sources/Archives

German archives

"I know that in the fall of 1941, I don’t remember the exact date, Germans executed several hundred Soviet citizens of Jewish origin in the village of Bubiai, where I lived at that time. In the afternoon, about 4p.m., a truck with Germans came to the farm from Šiauliai. I don’t remember how many there were, but they wore green uniforms and tall caps. Shortly after the arrival of these German soldiers, the trucks with women, men and children of Jewish origin coming from Šiauliai started to arrive. The Jews were guarded by a local executioner, of Lithuanian nationality and an upper-middle class background. They were armed. Neither the driver, the Jew nor the local executioner was familiar to me. The trucks passed by the farm yard and stopped about a hundred meters away from the pit, in the bushes. The Jews got down from the trucks and undressed. After, they were convoyed to the pit where they were shot…I don’t know how many Jews were shot in Bubiai, but, as far as I remember there were about ten trucks with Jews who were brought here for the shooting." [Deposition of Kazis A., born in 1921, Lithuanian, worked as an assistant in the House of Culture in Bubiai; B162-7263 ]

PICTURES GALLERY

YIU TEAM with Eugenija S.

Yahad-In Unum’s team together with Eugenija figuring out where the Jewish family was shot. © Markel Redondo - Yahad-In Unum