Palanga Jewish Community chairman Vilius Gutmanas, Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, members of the Palanga Jewish Community, Lithuanian MPs Mindaugas Lingė, Dalia Asanavičiūtė-Gružauskienė and Paule Kuzmickienė, Palanga mayor Šarūnas Vaitkus, deputy mayor Akvilė Kiljonienė, Palanga municpal Vulture Department director Robertas Trautmanas, staff from the Jonas Šliūpas Museum and high school students gathered to remember the first mass murder of Jews in Lithuania on June 27.

On June 22, 1941, a Young Pioneers summer camp of mainly Jewish children saw the brunt of the Nazi invasion with a building burnt down from aerial bombardment and children fleeing in panic. On June 26 all Jews in Palanga were arrested and crowded into two synagogues, one designated for females and young children and the other for males. The males were taken out and shot in the city’s main park on June 27. Around 111 people were murdered there that day, including 106 Jews and 5 Lithuanians. Remaining Jews were subjected to mass murder again on October 12, 1941. It is believed more than 400 Jews from Palanga were killed during both mass murders.