Alternate names: Rumšiškės [Lith], Rumshishok [Yid], Rumshishki [Rus], Rumszyszki [Pol], Rumškės, Rumshishkes, Romshishok, Rumiske, Russian: Румшишки. רומשישאָק-Yiddish. 54°51' N, 24°12' E, 12 miles ESE of Kaunas (Kovno), on the Nieman River. 1900 Jewish population: about 450.
- Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego (1880-1902), X, pp. 11-12: "Rumszyszki" #2.
- Yidishe Shtet, shtethlekh un dorfishe yishuvim in Lite: biz 1918: historish-biografishe skitses (New York, 1991)
- Pinkas ha-kehilot; entsiklopediya shel ha-yishuvim le-min hivasdam ve-ad le-aher shoat milhemet ha-olam ha-sheniya: Lithuania (Jerusalem, 1996).
CEMETERY: The ancient Jewish cemetery of Rumshishok (Rumsiskes), Lithuania was dug up and the remains transferred in 1958 to Kaunas Aleksota Cemetery, just prior to the flooding of the region by the Soviets. Prior to the flooding of the old town, every grave from the Jewish cemetery in Rumshishok was dug up and the remains moved to the Rumshishok section of Kovno Jewish cemetery. The Soviets prevents relocation of the headstones. Shoah victims' remains also were removed from the mass grave in the Rumshishok ravine and reburied in the same cemetery in Kovno. The result is one well-maintained mass grave about 50 feet by 30 feet. No Jews from the town are beneath the Kaunos Marios Sea as previously thought. Source: Rabbi Ben-Zion Saydman, California. photo [June 2003]
Cemetery information. [September 2010]
MASS GRAVE: During the first week of WWII, a "partisan" (white-band) squad of 30 men organized. By June 26, they started arresting communists, pro-Soviet Jews, small groups of the Red Army soldiers, and Jews retreating from Kaunas to Vilnius. About 50 Jewish families lived in Rumsiskes with Jews who escaped from Kovno and its suburbs, Shanz and Petrashun, and could not return. . The arrested Jews often were robbed by the squad. In August, the local white-bands arrested almost all the Jews in the town and locked them in Rumšiškes synagogue leaving only the family of the local pharmacist free. Young Jewish men and arrested fugitives were transferred to Kaunas. Only 140 Jewish women, children, and elderly were left in the synagogue to do manual labour. On August 15 , German units and Lithuanian soldiers arrived. All Jewish persons ages 15 to 70, who had contributed to Bolshevik activities, were transported from Rumšiškes leaving 78 Jews, basically children and the elderly, who were gathered and settled in one neighborhood. Before the shooting, the Jews, including the pharmacist and his family, paid 8,000 rubles on August 23 and were murdered on August 29 on the edge of Rumšiškes forest near the old Rumšiškes-Pieveliai road by the Kaunus "self-defense unit". photo and memorial. Their property was sold at auctions on August 19, 25, 26 and September 20 for 30,123 rubles. VIDEO: A ravine (Pieveliu) of 1941 murders of Rumsiskes Jews. [March 2009]
