Story of familys murder in Lithuania in 1941

The story of my family's murder in Lithuania--may their memories be for a blessing:

My paternal grandmother's family came from Kruk, Lithuania. Those who didn't emigrate, were murdered the day after Yom Kippur, 1941*. Emelia, a 90 year old woman in Kruk whom I met when I traveled there, remembered the family and the day the Jews were forced from the synagogue on Yom Kippur. Tears ran down her face. She said she watched them walk by her and stare at her. She wanted the earth to open up and swallow her. She was so ashamed that the ones taking her friends and neighbors were not the Germans, but were her own countrymen, the Lithuania Guard.

The Jews were all marched to Zagare, about 40 kms away and were murdered the following day, shot into a mass grave. One man survived to tell the story.

Although the story of the demise of our family in Kruk was tragic and sad, I felt some relief in that there was at least one person in their village who cared about them and it affected her, too.

Paula Beth Lutzin

* October 2nd, 1941