On 14 May 1972, a student Romas Kalanta killed himself by setting himself alight in the City Garden (Miesto Sodas) in protest at Soviet occupation in a similar way to the better known Jan Palach in Prague in 1969.
A memorial comprising 19 stones (one for each of the years of his short life) is laid out in the park.

At the City Garden (Miesto Sodas) off the main pedestrian steet Laisves Aleja.
Google map: bit.ly/hd1oKs

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Early 20th century Russian fort, part of the defences used to defend the western flank of the Russian Empire.
However its claim to infamy is as a site of mass murder of the Jews by the Nazis and their Lithuanian helpers.
Figures of the number of people murdered here differ but anything upwards of 30,000 were killed and buried in pits on this site.
It was not just Lithuanian Jews killed here but also Jews from France.
One of the original prison buildings remains as well as a giant Soviet era memorial to those killed here. Within the prison building you will see where Abraham Wechsler of Limoges etched into the wall before his untimely death: 'We are 500 Frenchmen.'
On your way you will probably pass through the old Jewish ghetto area on the west bank of the Neris river bounded by Jurbarko, Paneriu and Demokratu streets.
Interesting article by Jonathan Freedland when he visited this site:
www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/14/double-genocide-lithuania-holocaust-communism

Žemaičių pl. 73, LT-47435, Kaunas
+370 37 37 77 50
A few miles (7) outside the city off a motorway on the north western outskirts. Really have to get a taxi here.
Open daily 10.00 - 18.00 (except Tuesday). Admission 5 / 3Lt (about £1).
muziejai.mch.mii.lt/Kaunas/forto_muziejus.en.htm
www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Kuanas2.html
Google map: bit.ly/ehCf1D

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With Ryanair setting up a new base in Kaunas, this is very much the cheapest way of getting to Vilnius.
Vilnius is only 1.5 - 2 hours away from Kaunas by train and costs about £4 each way.
Having said that Kaunas is worth a visit itself for it's old town and Nazi era 9th Fort concentration camp.

English language website for train times can be found at www.litrail.lt though they do tend to change train times frequently.

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