Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) lauded the efforts of local Lithuanian authorities near the Lithuanian town of Užventis, United States Ambassador to Lithuania Anne E. Derse, and the United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad for restoring a site memorializing the mass execution of 96 Užventis Jews during World War II.

In 1941, 96 Jews were brutally murdered by Lithuanian collaborators of the Nazis in the forest outside of Užventis. The Soviets erected a memorial to the victims after World War II but, in recent years, according to observers, the Užventis memorial was neglected and fell into a state of disrepair, with dilapidated signs and markers, overgrown grass, and no ongoing oversight or maintenance.

“I am very pleased to hear that the memorial site of the brutal and senseless murder of Jews in Užventis has been restored,” Nadler said. “I thank the local Lithuanian authorities, the U.S. Embassy in Vilnius, and the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad for their responsiveness to this situation. This monument will honor the memory of the victims and ensure that visitors do not forget the terrible atrocities that occurred nearby.”

The condition of the site was brought to the attention of Congressman Nadler by a constituent, whose family members were among the Jews rounded up, murdered and buried there in mass graves. Nadler immediately contacted Lithuanian Ambassador Audrius Bruzga, U.S. Ambassador Anne E. Derse, and the United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, requesting their intervention. Ambassador Derse reported to the Congressman that the local Lithuanian government has replaced the memorial stones, erected clear directional markers, and agreed to restore the path leading to the site and maintain the surrounding grass.

The memorial stone reads in Lithuanian: “In this place, in the months of July and December 1941, the Nazis and their collaborators killed 96 Jews of Užventis.”