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Before World War II Vilnius was one of the most important centres of Jewish life in eastern Europe. The Jews - first invited to settle in 1410 by Grand Duke Vytautas - made up around a third of the city's population, mainly concentrated in the eastern fringes of the Old Town around present-day Vokieciu gatve, Zydu gatve and Antokolskio gatve. The Great Synagogue was located just off Zydu gatve, on a site now occupied by a kindergarten. Massacres of the Jewish population began soon after the Germans occupied Vilnius on June 24, 1941, and those who survived the initial killings found themselves herded into two ghettos . The smaller of these ghettos centred around Zydu, Antokolskio, Stikliu and Gaono streets and was liquidated in October 1941, while the larger occupied an area between Pylimo, Vokieciu, Lydos, Mikalojaus, Karmelitu and Arkliu streets and was liquidated in September 1943. Most of the Jews of Vilnius perished in Paneriai forest on the southwestern edge of the city. Today, the Jewish population of Vilnius numbers only a few thousand. The city has one surviving synagogue at Pylimo 39 (Mon-Thurs 8am-10am, Sun 7pm-9pm), out of the 96 that once existed. To find out about the history of Jewish Vilnius head for the Lithuanian State Jewish Museum (Lietuvos valstybnis Zydu muziejus), housed in various parts of the labyrinthine Jewish community offices at Pylimo 4 (Mon-Thurs 10am-5.30pm, Fri 10am-4pm; 2Lt; free on Wed in winter). The display includes items salvaged from the Great Synagogue, including puppets used during the Purim festival and pictures of wooden synagogues from small towns in Lithuania. Some of the museum staff speak English and exhibits are captioned in English. A second branch of the museum, the Catastrophe Exhibition, occupies a small green house nearby at Pamenkalnio 12 (Mon-Thurs 9am-5pm, Fri 9am-4pm; donation requested). It contains a harrowing display about the fate of Vilnius Jews during the war - captions are in Lithuanian, Russian and English, but by and large the exhibits speak for themselves. The museum can also arrange "history of Jewish Vilnius" tours (tel 2/620 730).
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