Ninth Fort
{{Short description|Historic fort in Šilainiai elderate, Kaunas, Lithuania}}
File:Kauno IX forto vaizdas.jpg
File:Paminklas IX forte nužudytoms aukoms.jpg
The Ninth Fort ({{langx|lt|Devintas Fortas}}) is a stronghold in the northern part of Šilainiai elderate, Kaunas, Lithuania. It is a part of the Kaunas Fortress, built in the late 19th century. During the Soviet occupation, the fort was used as a prison and way-station for prisoners being transported to labour camps. After the occupation of Lithuania by Nazi Germany, the fort was used as a place of execution for Jews, captured Soviets, and others.{{cite web|title=Kaunas' 9th Fort Museum|url=http://www.muziejai.lt/kaunas/forto_muziejus.en.htm|publisher=muziejai.lt|access-date=11 November 2012}}
History
{{See also|Kaunas massacre of October 29, 1941}}
File:Kaunas KZ IX. Fort Festung Innen 02.JPG
File:IX Fort (2008-09-20)23.jpg
File:Kaunas Fortress.Ninth Fort 3.jpg
At the end of the 19th century the city of Kaunas was fortified and by 1890 was encircled by eight forts and nine gun batteries. Construction of the Ninth Fort (its numerical designation having become its name) began in 1902 and was completed on the eve of World War I.{{cite web|title=The Ninth Fort|url=http://www.way2lithuania.com/en/travel-lithuania/ninth-fort|publisher=way2lithuania.com|access-date=11 November 2012}} From 1924 on, the Ninth Fort was used as the Kaunas Prison.
During the Soviet occupation in 1940–1941, the Ninth Fort was used by the NKVD to house political prisoners pending transfer to Gulag forced labor camps.
During Nazi occupation, the Ninth Fort was a place of mass murder
{{cite web
|title=KAUNAS, LITHUANIA
|url=http://www.gutstein.net/kaunas/kaunas-ninthfort.htm
|publisher=gutstein.net
|access-date=11 November 2012
}} and 45,000 to 50,000 Jews, most from Kaunas and largely the Kovno Ghetto, were transported to the Ninth Fort and murdered by Nazis and Lithuanian collaborators in what became known as the Kaunas massacre.
Notable among the victims was Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman of Baranovitch. In addition, Jews from as far as France, Austria and Germany were brought to Kaunas during the Nazi occupation, and executed in the Ninth Fort. In 1943, the Germans operated special Jewish squads to dig mass graves and burn the remaining corpses. One squad of 64 people managed to escape the fortress on the eve of 1944. That year, as the Soviets moved in, the Germans liquidated the ghetto and what had by then come to be known as the "Fort of Death". The prisoners were dispersed to other camps. After World War II, the Soviets again used the Ninth Fort as a prison for several years. From 1948 to 1958, farm organizations were managed from the Ninth Fort.
In 1958, a museum was established in the Ninth Fort. In 1959, an exhibition was prepared in four cells, telling of the Nazi war crimes carried out in Lithuania. In 1960, the discovery, cataloging, and forensic investigation of local mass murder sites began.
Museum
The Ninth Fort museum contains collections of historical artifacts related both to Soviet atrocities and the Nazi genocide, as well as materials related to the earlier history of Kaunas and Ninth Fort.{{cite web |title=IX Fortas (Ninth Fort) |url=http://www.lonelyplanet.com/lithuania/central-lithuania/kaunas/sights/museum/ix-fortas-ninth |publisher=lonelyplanet.com |access-date=11 November 2012}} Most exhibits are labelled in English.{{cite web |url=http://www.inyourpocket.com/lithuania/kaunas/sightseeing/Museums-and-Galleries/Ninth-Fort-Museum_51121v |title=Ninth Fort Museum - Sightseeing - Kaunas |access-date=2014-10-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008110257/http://www.inyourpocket.com/lithuania/kaunas/sightseeing/Museums-and-Galleries/Ninth-Fort-Museum_51121v |archive-date=2012-10-08 |url-status=dead}}
Memorial
{{main|Ninth Fort memorial}}
The memorial to the victims of Nazism at the Ninth Fort in Kaunas, Lithuania, was designed by sculptor A. Ambraziunas. Erected in 1984, the monument is 105 feet (32 m) high. The mass burial place of the victims of the massacres carried out in the fort is a grass field, marked by a simple yet frankly worded memorial written in several languages. It reads, "This is the place where Nazis and their assistants killed about 45,000 Jews from Lithuania and other European countries."{{cite web | title=History:The Museum | website=Kauno IX Forto Muziejus | url=http://www.9fortomuziejus.lt/istorija/muziejus/?lang=en | access-date=2019-02-15}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.kaunastic.lt/index.php/en/dovan-kuponai/product/40-museum-of-the-ninth-fort.html |title=MUSEUM OF THE NINTH FORT - Kaunas tourist Information centre and cenference bureau |access-date=2014-10-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141023013354/http://www.kaunastic.lt/index.php/en/dovan-kuponai/product/40-museum-of-the-ninth-fort.html |archive-date=2014-10-23 |url-status=dead }}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category-inline|IX Fort}}
- [http://www.muziejai.lt/kaunas/forto_muziejus.en.htm Kaunas' 9th fort Museum]
- [http://www.gutstein.net/kaunas/kaunas-ninthfort.htm Kaunas Ninth Fort Web Page] by Jose Gutstein
- [http://www.unearthing-project.org Kaunas Ninth Fort Unearthing Project Web Page] by Burkhard von Harder
- [http://www.cincinnatijudaicafund.com/index.php/Detail/collections/82.html Catalog of Medals and Pins Commemorating the Nazi Prison Camp at Kaunas (Lithuania) IX Fortas (9th Fort)]
{{external media|image1=[https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa11919 Mass grave] at the Ninth Fort by George Kadish}}
{{Holocaust Lithuania}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Coord|54|56|41|N|23|52|14|E|type:landmark|display=title}}
Category:Buildings and structures in Kaunas
Category:Kaunas in World War II
Category:Nazi concentration camps in Lithuania
Category:Prison museums in Lithuania