Alternate names: Tirkšliai [Lith], Tirkshla [Yid], Tyrkshlye [Rus], Tyrkszle [Pol], Tirkshle, Tirkosla, Tirkshlyay, Tirkšlių, Tėrkšlē, Russian: Тыркшле. טירקשלע-Yiddish. 56°16' N, 22°19' E, 20 miles N of Telšiai (Telz), 4 miles S of Mažeikiai (Mazheik). Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego (1880-1902), XII, p. 720: "Tyrkszle" #2. [March 2009]
MASS GRAVES: 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. At the beginning of July, all Zagare Jews were relocated to one neighborhood in Zagare, which was declared a ghetto and cordoned off by an unguarded barbed wire fence. Surviving Jews were brought to Zagare from Kursenai, Papile, Tryskiai, Joniskis, Zeimelis, Kriukai, Radviliskis, Saukenai, Kelme, Tirksliai, Krakes, Joniskelis, Linkuva, Pakruojis, Laukuvas, Lygumai and other places. A total of seven thousand Jews were gathered in the ghetto during this period. Mass killings of the men occurred on August 3 and the women on August 9. 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. The mass graves were left unmarked and abandoned and by 1946 site still evidenced lines of white lime with a pink hue, lime mixed with the blood of the victims. Only one corner was fenced: where murdered Lithuanian Communists were buried in mass graves that were neat and decorated with flower wreaths. Now, 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. Next to the cemetery, a series of narrow black granite pillars a few feet apart hold up a third cross-piece inscribed in Yiddish commemorate the slaughter and mass burial of 4,000 Jewish men, women and children including the Jews of Sede (Siad), Viekshniai (Veckshna), Tirksliai (Tirkshla), Zidikai (Shidik), Pikeliai (Pikeln), Klykoliai (Klilul) and other towns. A few feet behind the tall granite Holocaust memorial is another shorter pair inscribed in Lithuanian on the top cross-column. [March 2009]
A black marble memorial marker was set up to mark Mazeikiai Jewish cemetery, 3 km from the town on the Vetna river where about 4000 men, women and children were murdered between 1941-1944.