Ninth Fort
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The Ninth Fort is a stronghold in the northwest section of the Lithuanian city of Kaunas. When the city was controlled by the Soviets, the stronghold was used as a prison and way-station for prisoners being transported to the gulags, after the Nazis occupied the area, they used the fort as their place of execution for Jews, captured Soviets, and others.
History
At the end of 19th century the city of Kaunas was fortified, and by 1890 it was encircled by eight forts and nine gun batteries. The construction of the Ninth Fort (its numerical designation having stuck as a proper noun) began in 1902 and was completed on the eve of First World War. From 1924-on Ninth Fort was used as the city of Kaunas' prison.
During the years of Soviet occupation, 1940-1941, Ninth Fort was used by the NKVD to house political prisoners on their way to the gulags of Siberia. During the years of Nazi occupation, Ninth Fort was put to use as a place of mass murder. At least 5,000 citizens of Kaunas, largely taken from the city's Jewish ghetto, were transported to Ninth Fort and killed. In addition, Jews from as far as France, Austria and Germany were brought to Kaunas during the course of Nazi occupation and executed in Ninth Fort. In 1944, as the Soviets moved in, the Germans liquidated the ghetto and what had by then come to be known as the "Fort of Death," and the prisoners were dispersed to other camps. After the Second World War, the Soviets again used Ninth Fort as a prison for several years. From 1948 to 1958 farm organizations were run out of Ninth Fort.
Museum
The Ninth Fort museum contains collections of historical artifacts related both to Soviet and Nazi genocides, as well as materials related to the earlier history of Kaunas and Ninth Fort.
The memorial to the victims of fascism at Ninth Fort in Kaunas, Lithuania, was designed by sculptor A. Ambraziunas. Erected in 1984, the monument is 105 feet (32 metres) high. The mass burial place of the victims of the massacres carried out in the fort is a grass field, marked by a simple yet frankly worded memorial written in several languages. It reads, "This is the place where Nazis and their assistants killed more than 30000 Jews from Lithuania and other European countries."