Alternate names: Pikeliai [Lith], Pikeln [Yid], Pikeli [Rus], Pikiele [Pol], Pikelyay, Pikelių, Russian: Пикели. פּיקעלן-Yiddish. 56°25' N, 22°07' E, 30 miles N of Telšiai (Telz), 11 miles NW of Mažeikiai (Mazhaik), near the Latvian border. 1900 Jewish population: 1,206. Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego (1880-1902), VIII, p. 124: "Pikiele" #3. [March 2009]
ONLINE VIDEO: Pikeliai-Saldus (579KB) - All Jewish sightseeing of Pikeliai in Lithuania and of Saldus/Frauenburg in Kurland province of Latvia in bright colors and melodic Yiddish songs. [March 2009]
MASS GRAVES IN MAZEIKIA: Mazeikiai, Jewish cemetery; 123; pic. # 165-166 US Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad . The Germans entered Mažeikia (Mazheik) on Wednesday, June 25, 1941. Mass killings of the men occurred on August 3, 1941 and the women on Saturday, August 9th--a total of possibly 1,000 people. On the outskirts of the town is a road-sign on the edge of thick woods is a sign marking the mass grave. A footpath inside the woods teads to the Jewish cemetery. A large rock with a memorial plaque on grassy areas with a low iron fence to mark the site where hundreds of Mazheik residents lie. Subsequently, none remained. Next to the cemetery, a series of narrow black granite pillars a few feet apart hold up a third cross-piece inscribed in Yiddish to commemorate the slaughter and mass burial site of 4,000 Jewish men, women and children, who perished at that spot with the Jews of Mazeikiai: Sede (Siad), Viekshniai (Veckshna), Tirksliai (Tirkshla), Zidikai (Shidik), Pikeliai (Pikeln), Klykoliai (Klilul) and other towns. a little further away are several non-Jewish graves (communists also killed there.) A few feet behind the tall granite Holocaust memorial is another shorter pair inscribed in Lithuanian on the top cross-column. [March 2009]
