Kaunas
The city of Kaunas is located at the confluence of the Nemunas and Neris Rivers. A large concrete bridge, built across the Neris in 1929, joins the suburb of Vilijampole to the Old Town of Kaunas. In 1940, Vilijampole, or Slobodka as the Jews preferred to call it, housed a large population of Jewish citizens and interspersed Lithuanians. It was here in 1941, that the Nazis constructed a ghetto relocating Jews from the city and surrounding suburbs into this high barbed-wire compound. The population exploded from 6,000 people to 30,000 Jews – all at the mercy of the Germans. Their lives would never be the same again. The bridge was destroyed by the retreating German Army (Wehrmacht) in 1944, and rebuilt in 1948. It was renovated in 2008, given a bright coat of paint, and renamed the Petras Vileisis Bridge. For an updated picture of the Petras Vileisis Bridge, refer to the 'Links' page. To enlarge the images below, click once on each picture.
