Shooting is heard from the forest…
Ponary, the murder site of the Jews of Vilna and the surrounding area, was situated 10 km south of Vilna on the road to Grodno. Before the war it was a forested area used for holidays and recreation. Vilna residents used to go there for their summer holidays and to gather berries and mushrooms. The site was chosen for murder due to its proximity to the train track and also because there were pits 12-23m wide and 5-8m deep. There were high embankments with ditches between the pits, which had been dug by the Soviets in 1940 as a planned emergency fuel store.
![Jews with their heads covered being taken to the murder site at Ponary by members of the Lithuanian militia, 1941](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/main_image_1block/public/2725_23.jpg?itok=89OdCuN2)
Yad Vashem Photo Archives 2725/23
![Jews with their heads covered being taken to the murder site at Ponary by members of the Lithuanian militia, 1941](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2725_23.jpg?itok=dg0ynreF)
Excerpt from: Ponar - Testimonies from the Killing Pits
Directed By: Noemi Schory
Producers: Liat Benhabib, Noemi Schory, Liran Atzmor
Production Company: Belfilms Ltd.
![Shalom Shorenson's Testimony: Murder of the Jews of Lithuania](https://img.youtube.com/vi/nVGo0OUJ6oc/0.jpg)
![Jews being taken to the murder site in Ponary, June-July 1941](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/main_image_1block/public/2725_22A.jpg?itok=Sp6dMiXM)
Yad Vashem Photo Archives 2725/22A
![Jews being taken to the murder site in Ponary, June-July 1941](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2725_22A.jpg?itok=gWhwm0zX)
![Jews being taken to the murder site in Ponary by members of the Lithuanian militia, 1941](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/main_image_1block/public/75FO4__0.jpg?itok=AJEwV80g)
Yad Vashem Photo Archives FO475
![Jews being taken to the murder site in Ponary by members of the Lithuanian militia, 1941](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/75FO4__0.jpg?itok=Nnbjvqhz)
![Ladder used for removing the bodies from the murder pits in the forest to be burned, Ponary](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/main_image_1block/public/3380_410.jpg?itok=eGkFWJN0)
Yad Vashem Photo Archives 3380/410
![Ladder used for removing the bodies from the murder pits in the forest to be burned, Ponary](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/3380_410.jpg?itok=HT4iv6SU)
![Fence in the forest at Ponary, with a warning sign: "Mines - Danger of Death"](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/main_image_1block/public/3380_412.jpg?itok=ddy9qSqO)
Yad Vashem Photo Archives 3380/412
![Fence in the forest at Ponary, with a warning sign: "Mines - Danger of Death"](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/3380_412.jpg?itok=ySdfNkVS)
![One of the pits at Ponary originally prepared for fuel storage, but which was used for the murder of Jews from Vilna and the surrounding area](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/main_image_1block/public/3380_409.jpg?itok=hUSQID01)
Yad Vashem Photo Archives, 3380/409
![One of the pits at Ponary originally prepared for fuel storage, but which was used for the murder of Jews from Vilna and the surrounding area](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/3380_409.jpg?itok=x3azXooD)
![Handwritten page of poetry in Yiddish written by Shmerke Kaczerginski in the Vilna ghetto in 1943](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/main_image_1block/public/ponar-poetry.jpg?itok=0xZ6vQJW)
"My Lullaby"
At the bottom of the page is part of the well-known poem, "Ponary"
Yad Vashem Archives O.76/12
![Handwritten page of poetry in Yiddish written by Shmerke Kaczerginski in the Vilna ghetto in 1943](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/ponar-poetry.jpg?itok=kdQOK0KF)
![Inscription in Yiddish on a prison wall in the Vilna ghetto](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/main_image_1block/public/3380_430.jpg?itok=3qzqsk2i)
"Tomorrow they'll take us to Ponar
Chayele Swirtko/Swirski
Rachele Swirtko/Swirski"
Yad Vashem Photo Archives, 3380/430
![Inscription in Yiddish on a prison wall in the Vilna ghetto](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/3380_430.jpg?itok=p2fmpUMg)
![The river leading to Ponary](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/main_image_1block/public/3380_411.jpg?itok=h1ptPD-b)
Yad Vashem Photo Archives, 3380/411
![The river leading to Ponary](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/3380_411.jpg?itok=zXocBw1e)
![Rocks from the murder pit at Ponary, near Vilna](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/main_image_1block/public/7779.jpg?itok=e_iF2SOn)
Yad Vashem Artifacts Collection
Gift of Tzila Szafalowa-Gorniecka, Tel Aviv, Israel
![Rocks from the murder pit at Ponary, near Vilna](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/7779.jpg?itok=xTSre4aj)
![Spoon with a bullet-hole found at the Ponary murder site in 1955](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/main_image_1block/public/664_1_0.jpg?itok=olW-D01K)
Yad Vashem Artifacts Collection
Gift of Tzila Szafalowa-Gorniecka, Tel Aviv, Israel
![Spoon with a bullet-hole found at the Ponary murder site in 1955](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/664_1_0.jpg?itok=hkCO3Nbj)
![Ribbon from a girl's dress found at the Ponary murder site in 1955](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/main_image_1block/public/664_2_0.jpg?itok=O5l7dSeN)
Yad Vashem Artifacts Collection
Gift of Tzila Szafalowa-Gorniecka, Tel Aviv, Israel
![Ribbon from a girl's dress found at the Ponary murder site in 1955](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/664_2_0.jpg?itok=NcyP7kDb)