Paneriai (known in Polish as Ponary) is a forested area about 10 km southwest of Vilnius where German Einsatzgruppen and Lithuanian auxiliary police murdered approximately 70,000–100,000 people between 1941 and 1944, the majority of them Jews from Vilnius and the surrounding region. This was one of the largest single killing sites in all of occupied Europe.
The memorial at Paneriai includes the original pits where bodies were buried, a small museum, and memorials in Lithuanian, Hebrew, Polish, and Russian marking the victims of each national group. The scale is almost impossible to absorb. The site is solemn and well-maintained. A train runs from Vilnius railway station to Paneriai station (about 15 minutes); the memorial is a ten-minute walk from the station. Plan to spend at least an hour.