Press release, 3 June 2014

Today the Seimas has commemorated the 70th anniversary of the tragedy in Pirčiupiai Village. Seimas Speaker Loreta Graužinienė recalled that during World War II, on 3 June 1944, the Nazi invaders burned alive 119 residents of Pirčiupiai Village. “Decades have passed, but the pain caused by the brutal murder of innocent people has never worn off. Women, men, and half a hundred children were burned alive. This unfathomable cruelty reminds us of the great price that our nation has paid fighting without surrender and going through massacres, deportations, and physical and spiritual genocide. By remembering the names of the people tortured and killed not only in Pirčiupiai Village, but also throughout Lithuania, let us treasure independence and peace and a chance to create a safe and secure future for our country,” said the Speaker of the Seimas inviting parliamentarians to observe a minute of silence in honour of those who died.

Pirčiupiai massacre

The massacre was provoked by actions of the 14th Squad subordinate to the Intelligence Board of the Red Army General Headquarters. On the morning of 3 June 1944, on the road Eišiškės–Vilnius, a few kilometres away from Pirčiupiai Village, the squad attacked the motor convoy of the 16th SS and Police Regiment and killed six German soldiers while eight went missing. The squad was sent to Rūdninkai Forest, a combat zone of Soviet partisans, from Belarus in the autumn of 1943 for diversionary and intelligence activities. The Nazi invaders frequently responded to attacks against the Nazi German army and police by staging massacres of innocent civilians, which had to deter Soviet partisans and diversionists from similar actions.

The Nazi revenge was cruel and ruthless. By order of Walter Titel, Commander of the 16th SS and Police Regiment, its 3rd Battalion rounded up the part of Pirčiupiai Village, called New Pirčiupiai at the noon of 3 June 1944. All the people there –– 69 children, 29 women, and 21 men –– were driven to houses and barns and burned alive. Only those away from home survived. As many as 26 homes were burnt; livestock and property were looted. The burial of the killed was allowed as late as on 11 June. Their remains rest in two common graves.

In commemoration of the tragedy, the Monument “Mother” by sculptor Gediminas Jokūbonis was unveiled on 23 July 1960.

Rimas Rudaitis, Public Relations Unit, Communications Department, Office of the Seimas, tel. +370 5 239 6132, e-mail: [email protected]