Antisemitic Lithuanians in Kovno went on wild killing sprees directed against the Jews during the first days of the Nazi invasion. Thousands of Jews were transferred to locations outside the city, including the Seventh Fort, which was one of a chain of forts built around Kovno during the nineteenth century. The Jews brought there were brutally abused and then shot by local Lithuanian guards. In all, some 10,000 Jews were murdered within the first six weeks of the German invasion.
