Koniuchy massacre – 38+ lifes

On January 29, 1944, Soviet partisans of Genrikas Zimanas and Jewish partisans of Jaakow Prenner carried out a massacre in the village of Koniuchy - then located in the Second Polish Republic - on men, women and children. The youngest was 2 years old.

Before the attack, the village was inhabited by about 300 Polish inhabitants, there were about 60 buildings in it. Previously, partisans often commandeered food, clothes and cattle from the villagers, which is why the local residents set up a small volunteer self-defense unit.

During the pogrom, most of the houses were burnt in the village, apart from the murdered, at least a dozen inhabitants were injured, and at least one of them died as a result of the wounds they received.

On the night of January 28-29, 1944, a group of partisans surrounded the village and around 5 am they launched an attack that lasted 1.5-2 hours. The straw roofs of houses were set on fire with torches, and the awakened, fleeing residents were shot blindly. As a result of the attack, at least 38 people were killed and a dozen were injured. Some of the victims burned down in their homes, others died from a shot with a firearm. Neither women nor children were spared. Most of the buildings were burned down, only a few houses survived.

The attack on Koniuchy was carried out by a group of 120-150 partisans from various units stationed in the Rudnicka Forest. These branches were multinational. They included, among others Jewish partisans, refugees from the ghettos in Kaunas and Vilnius. The Jewish unit consisted of 50 people. According to one of Chaim Lazar's attackers, the aim of the operation was the extermination of the entire population, including children, as an example to intimidate the rest of the villages.

In May 2004, a monument commemorating the victims was unveiled in Koniuchy, containing 34 established names of the victims.