Cekiske Jewish Cemetery

Given the oldest tombstone is dated 1909, it can be inferred the cemetery was founded no later than the early 20th century.

It is likely that Jews first settled in Čekiškės (Pl. Czekiszki, Yid. צײַקישאָק) in the late 18th century. In 1887, a fire left 160 Jewish families homeless with only three houses intact. In 1897, the Jewish population was 432, or 65% of the total. In 1915, the Jews were expelled from the town by the retreating Russian army. The expulsion was preceded by a brutal pogrom. According to the first census of independent Lithuania in 1923, Čekiškės had a Jewish population of 324, or 56% of the total. Zionist parties were influential in the interwar period. The Jewish People’s Bank (Folksbank), established in 1920, was one of the first in Lithuania. The community had a brick synagogue and a Yiddish primary school with a library. At the time of the Soviet occupation in 1940, there were about 60 Jewish families in the town. After the German invasion in 1941, all of the Jews were murdered.