Alternate names: Troškūnai [Lith], Trashkon [Yid], Troshkuny [Rus], Traszkuny [Pol], Troškūnų, Troshkunay, Troshkunai, Trashkin, Troshkon, Traskianai, Russian: Трошкунай. 55°36' N, 24°51' E, 21 miles ESE of Panevėžys (Ponevezh), 24 miles N of Ukmergė (Vilkomir) in Panevezys district. 1900 Jewish population: 779. ShtetLink. 1897 Jewish population: 779, 78%. In 1915 during World War I, the Jews were exiled to central Russia, their houses destroyed and their possessions stolen. After the war, most returned to Trashkon and rebuilt. Two synagogues served the surrounding villages. In the inter-war period, the community had a school and a library. The Jewish artisans and farms also had a winery. Thursday was market day. The Jewish folksbank had 96 depositors in 1929. 1939 Jewish census: about 120 families. [March 2009]
CEMETERY: photos. [March 2009] CEMETERY: The inactive cemetery is not land-marked. Access is open to all with no caretaker. The isolated, urban hillside has no gate. Current is one acre. The limestone tombstones date from 19th century. 20-100 gravestones are in original location with 75% of surviving stones toppled or broken. Some have portraits on stones. Inscriptions are in Yiddish. The present owner of the cemetery property is unknown. The cemetery property is now derelict. Properties adjacent to the cemetery are residential. The cemetery is visited rarely. The cemetery is not known to have been vandalized. No care, maintenance, or structures. Weather erosion is serious threat. The vegetation overgrowth in the cemetery is a seasonal problem preventing access and damaging stones. Completing this survey on 15 Jul 1997: Herb Trace, MD, 747 Michigan Ave., Evanston, Ill. 60202, tel. 847/475-3461. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . He visited the site in 1991. [1997]
MASS GRAVE: Forest of Pajuoste, about 8 km E of Panevezys 133; pic. # 188-190. Troskkunai, Jewish cemetery; 81; pic. # 60 US Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad
At the start of WWII, even before the Germans entered Lithuania, a local gang of nationalistic Lithuanians took over the town, murdered a Jewish man in the street and a Jewish woman in her home. They looted Jewish homes. When the Germans arrived, the gang collaborated with the Germans, forced the Jews into a poor neighborhood, harassed young Jews, and murdered them in the Jewish cemetery. Jews who resisted the gangs paid with their lives. On August 21-22, 1941, all Trashkon Jews were taken to Pajuoste near Ponevezh, the killing field for the Jews in the region. On August 23, all were murdered and buried in a mass grave in Pajuoste. After the war, survivors of the community erected a memorial for the Pajuoste victims with an inscription in Russian and Yiddish. In Trashkon itself, the authorities permitted a memorial and under pressure and allowed an inscription only in Lithuanian that did not mention that the victims were Jews. [March 2009]