Alternate names: Vištytis [Lith], Wisztyniec [Pol], Vishtinetz [Yid], Wystiten [Ger], Vištyčio, Vishtyney, Vishtitis, Vishtenitz, Vishtinits, ווישטינעץ-Yiddish. 54°27' N, 22°43' E, 19 miles SW of Vilkaviškis (Wyłkowyszki), 27 miles WSW of Marijampolė, on the border with Kaliningrad oblast, Russia. 1900 Jewish population: 799. Yizkor: Lite (vol. 1) (New York, 1951). ShtetLink. Vistytis is situated in SW Lithuania near the Polish and Russian borders on Lake Vistytis in the municipality of Vilkaviskis and the county of Marijampole. Before WWI, Vistytis was in Wolkowyszk powiat of Suwalki guberniya in the Russian Empire. [March 2009]
CEMETERY:
New Jewish Cemetery: Used until the Holocaust, the site is located about 500 meters from the last buildings in the townat or near #1 on the Vištytis town map. photos. The stones in both cemeteries were desecrated, but in the newer cemetery some are still intact, [March 2009]
Old Jewish Cemetery: Difficult to reach because of its location on the border, the border police must be notified for permission in order to see the site. The road is very rough and rutted. Little remains to be seen. No tombstones are visible. Their location is unknown, possibly taken for construction. A memorial stone placed by the town remains. [March 2009]
MASS GRAVES: Near Vistytis, ravine, E of town; 185; pic. # 336-337; source: US Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad.
US Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad
Memorial. The mass grave for 222 Jewish residents murdered there by local Nazi collaborators is next to the Grist Mill at #11 on the Vištytis Town map. The memorial located about 20 m from the grist mill had been overturned several times. Behind it is another memorial erected by the Soviets that does not mention that the victims were Jewish, only that the victims were killed by fascists. Another 160 Jewish residents murdered at the same or about the same time are buried in the adjacent field. 222 Jews were murdered. The men were taken to the windmill and forced to dig their graves, then shot and buried. The women and children were killed later in the forest. [March 2009]