Alternate names: Simnas [Lith], Simne [Yid], Simno [Rus, Pol], Simna [Latv], Russian: Симно. סימנע-Yiddish. 54°24' N, 23°39' E, 17 miles SE of Marijampolė, 17 miles E of Kalvarija, 16 miles W of Alytus (Olita). 1900 Jewish population: 493.
Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego (1880-1902), X, p. 614: "Simno". [March 2009]
ShtetLink [October 2000]
photos. [September 2010]
CEMETERY:
- I can definitely report that there is no longer a Jewish cemetery. We were taken to a site just north of the center of town and shown that the former Jewish cemetery now contains several homes. Source: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. [July 1997]
- Cemetery information. [September 2010]
MASS GRAVE: Wooded area of Kalesninkai, 3 km from Simnas; 78; pic. # 53-54 US Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad
- There is an impressive marker [photo and photo] west of town at the site* where the Germans and their Lithuanian partners in WWII murdered Simnas Jewry. To get there, drive west from the center of town and leave the highway, turning south, after a small railway viaduct. Then turn right (west) through open fields heading west into thick woods. After several kilometers, you reach a clearing and on the right (north) side of the dirt road you come to a statue and marker in Lithuanian, Russian, Yiddish and Hebrew. No names are given. . Source: Yosef Sa'ar;: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- On September 12, 1941), the death squad under command of B. Norkus shot 414 Jews--68 men, 197 women, and 149 children. [March 2009]
