Alternate names: Jurbarkas [Lith], Yurburg [Yid, Rus], Georgenburg [Ger], Jurbarka [Latv], Jurbork [Pol], Jurgenburg, Jurborg, Jurburg, Yorburg, Yorvorig, Yurbarkas, Russian: Юрбург. יורבורג - Yiddish. 55°04' N, 22°46' E, 46 miles WNW of Kaunas (Kovno), 25 miles SSW of Raseiniai (Rasayn), 23 miles ESE of Tauragė (Tavrig) in Tauragė County on the right-hand shore of the Neman River at its confluence with the tributaries Mituva and Imsre. 1900 Jewish population: 2,350. Sefer ha-zikaron le-kehilat Yurburg-Lita (Jerusalem, 1991). Lite (vol. 1) (New York, 1951). Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego (1880-1902), III, pp. 628-629: "Jurborg". ShtetLink. JOWBR burial list: Jewish Cemetery. Jurbarkas was a multi-ethnic community for centuries. During the 17th century, some of the town's Jewish population were tax collectors for the Lithuanian government. Jewish population: 1714 - 2,333 Jews. 1n 1790 a Jewish cemetery and a wooden synagogue, one of the oldest in the region, existed. 1862 Jewish population: 2,550. In 1843 Emperor Nicholas I ordered that Jews living within 50 km (31 mi) of the Empire's western border should relocate eastward, but Jurbarkas was one of 19 towns that disobeyed the order. The Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah) prospered in Jurbarkas. After centuries of tolerance, in the 1930s Jews suffered from persecution such as suppression of their commerce, physical attacks, and burning of their property. Nazi Germany inaded on June 22, 1941. Locals forced the Jews to destroy the wooden synagogue. The Jewish population of Jurbarkas was systematically killed in 1941 although a few dozen Jews escapeed from the Kaunas Ghetto and formed a partisan group although the majority were killed. A monument at the mass graves was constructed after the war to honor the Holocaust victims. ONLINE VIDEO: Jurbarkas-Kaunas-Sauliai (Shavel)-Pokrojis-Birzai (226KB) - Online video of the cemeteries and synagogues of Jurbarkas, Kaunas and Pokrojis. Watch and listen to interviews with leaders of the Jewish communities in Kovno and Birzh. See views of the streets and meetings with other local Jewish people. [March 2009]
CEMETERY: photos of headstones were taken Summer 1995, commissioned by Donald Levinsohn, Glen Ridge, NJ, 07028, 2/7/96.
Cemetery restoration. entrance gate, fencing, repair and re-erection of headstones, cataloguing and mapping of graves, cleanup, landscaping, and maintenance. The Dartmouth College Hillel sent student volunteers to Yurburg in June, 2007.[March 2009]
MASS GRAVE: Naujasodziu village in Berancynė forest. By the old Jewish cemetery is a mass grave of genocide victims, 7 km from Jurbarkas by the road Jurbarkas-Klaipeda next to the Gystus stream (Raudone neighborhood) in the oak forest of Siline (Skirsnemune area). [March 2009]
[UPDATE] Restoration of Jewish Cemetery in Yurburg/Jurbarkas [October 2015]